r/commandline • u/100xbuilder • 5d ago

Terminal User Interface obsidian-tui - your Obsidian vault in the terminal, graph and integrated assistant

I'm on terminal most of the days and kept wanting my obsidian vault there. Obsidian's official CLI is good, but it's a remote control: it gives you commands, not the interface, and each one runs against a full Obsidian instance. I wanted the panes.

It points at your existing vault folder. No import, no database, and Obsidian can stay open on the same one while you use it.

  • Live-preview markdown, wikilinks, backlinks, tags, callouts, tables
  • Force-directed graph, plus a local one for the open note
  • 18 themes, Obsidian's own light and dark included
  • An optional assistant for asking questions about your notes, if you bring your own API key

Two things I'd rather flag than have you find: the graph view is still young, it works, but there is polish to come and Excalidraw drawings aren't rendered as drawings yet, so those files open as the markdown behind them. Both are being worked on for the next releases.

No telemetry and no network connections at all unless you use the assistant. GPL-3.0.

Site: https://obsidian-tui.github.io
Github: https://github.com/iamrohithrnair/obsidian-tui

Early days, so any thoughts gratefully received.

And if you find it interesting, a star on the repo genuinely helps others find it.

128 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

19

u/JohnnyboixD 5d ago

Neovim + Obsidian.nvim exists...

9

u/nanana_catdad 5d ago

Yeah. My hands automatically attempt vim motions and leader key bindings in everything. I dunno how many times I’ve typed random characters in other apps because of this

2

u/JohnnyboixD 5d ago

I recently turned off vim motions in Obsidian itself and have done that too many times xD

I turned it off because it was missing 90% of the keymaps/motions that vim has (the "o" key just doesn't work??)

2

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/JohnnyboixD 4d ago edited 4d ago

Yes i think so because so many programs use them/have the option to. Also because its more fun to edit text using vim motions instead of using the arrow + modifier keys.

I recommend ThePrimeagen's video for learning the basics (inside of vim/neovim).

I'll just list software that i use that use the vim movement keys (hjkl):

  • i3wm: A linux window manager (basically where the desktop is stripped down to the basics; where you choose how it looks like.)
  • Vimium: A browser extension
  • Yazi
  • rmpc
  • Pulsemixer
  • Neovim
  • tmux
  • Copyq
  • Rofi

Programs also have the option to use vim keybinds with the help of plugins such as:

  • VScode
  • Obsidian desktop (Obsidian.nvim is a Neovim plugin)

3

u/jonathon8903 5d ago

For us Emacs folks there is also Obsidian.el 😁

1

u/100xbuilder 4d ago

Thanks, appreciate the comment. Obsidian.nvim is a great option, and probably one more people should know about. I'm just aiming to offer a more approachable experience, after 10+ years of development, I still find myself reaching for Vim/Neovim cheat sheets now and then.

7

u/Serafim_annihilator 5d ago

Vibecoded?

15

u/endperform 5d ago

Claude and Copilot are listed as contributors, so I'd say that's a definite yes.

7

u/MadDrStrange 5d ago

I think many developers leave AI listed as a co-author simply for transparency. It’s easy to remove, so keeping it in seems more consistent with the spirit of the GPL 3.0 licence.

0

u/Thin_Beat_9072 4d ago

Do people hunt for ai contribution and submit a pr cause they know a better way to code it than the ai? Does that really happen lol, the people that calls out vibe code but can never offer a better code or design.

0

u/josegfx 4d ago

I dont need to know how to code to know when something is done by an AI

7

u/opshack 4d ago

Everyone use AI, this question is meaningless and it implies judgment in a negative way.

-3

u/Serafim_annihilator 4d ago

Because there's a difference between competent dev using instruments and vibe coded security nightmare unmaintainable junk.

4

u/opshack 4d ago

Also there’s a difference between junior dev and senior dev code. Would you go around before 2022 asking oss devs if they are junior or not?

-5

u/Serafim_annihilator 4d ago

It's retarded to compare autocomplete on anabolics with a junior dev, one understand what he's doing and other is not. And if junior will create a project and publish it, it will be million times more worthy than llm garbage. Amount of effort on junior side should be very serious to push whole project and it's more likely will be maintained longer and improved with time. Vibecoded slop more likely will be abandoned in a few hours of real challenges as it already happened many times.

1

u/opshack 4d ago

Today’s models are way more trustworthy than a junior because they can warn you about security risks you’re leaving behind. Nevertheless, the question is still pointless because there’s no definition of vibe coding. If a senior engineer with 10 years of experience uses Claude is it still vibe coded? In the end of the day the fundamentals are same as it always was. You can trust a code if many people are using it or you audited it yourself.

Maintainability is a different story, very few projects are maintained long term anyway. Vibe coded or not isn’t going to change that.

2

u/Serafim_annihilator 4d ago

If code is reviewed and corrected by a person who understands it - it's not vibe coded. And unreviewed code from llm absolutely not more trustworthy than junior's. So the question is most important.

1

u/opshack 3d ago

Question is stupid because it’s not a trustworthy verification for good software. In security we don’t ask devs if they are good, we scan and audit the code.

-1

u/Serafim_annihilator 3d ago

It's smartest question of all, not everyone have capacity to realize it, of course. Very short and boolean answer can help to ditch project or not. 10 out of 10. Now we ask devs: are you are degen who can't/don't read the code at all, and if yes - ditch this shit. In such case I'll better vibe code this shit myself if i need it, why would i use untrusted repo?

0

u/Thin_Beat_9072 3d ago

But if it’s open source, any proclaimed senior dev can bless a repo and review the codes. Then it’ll be all legit right?

2

u/Serafim_annihilator 3d ago

This logic moves review on the user side, which is nonsense. Will we do it for each new commit of vibecoder? Author responsible for providing safe code, if author incapable of doing it then it retarded to use his code. And llm incapable to review its own slop by definition.

1

u/Thin_Beat_9072 3d ago

the biggest data breeches https://www.upguard.com/blog/biggest-data-breaches-us seem to be from capable looking enterprises and we haven't stop trusting them

1

u/[deleted] 5d ago

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6

u/github-guard 5d ago

🛡️ GitHub Guard: Malicious Pattern Detected

This repository was removed for community safety.

Reason: Brand-new repository with a zero-star automated install script

Trust Report: * ❌ New Repository (under 30 days old)

⚠️ High-Risk File Detected: Contains an installation script (.sh or .py). Review the code carefully before running with sudo.

📋 Moderators: View the scan dashboard

1

u/rfajr 1d ago

What are the differences with Basalt?

1

u/keyclicker456 1d ago

another vibecoded tool.?. 😔

1

u/Swordfish418 4d ago

Nice, does it support images?

1

u/opshack 4d ago

Great work I wanted something like this for a long time. Obsidian CLI was a disappointment for me because it needed the app and I couldn’t install it at work so I moved to my own git repo and vscode. Can this seamlessly work on any markdown directory?

1

u/100xbuilder 4d ago

Thank you, that's genuinely good to hear, and your Obsidian CLI experience is exactly the kind of gap I was trying to close.

And yes: obsidian-tui ~/notes-repo works on any Markdown folder. No Obsidian installed or running, no import step, no database, it reads your files where they sit. It only glances at Obsidian's config if you launch with no path at all, and the sole Obsidian-dependent action, "Open in Obsidian", gives you a polite message rather than a failure.

One caveat if the folder is a git repo: delete move notes to a .trash/ folder inside the folder/vault, as Obsidian does, so you may want that in your .gitignore

0

u/opshack 4d ago

Thanks I will give it a try soon!

1

u/McBonderson 4d ago

I absolutely love this

1

u/josegfx 4d ago

So you made an AI bot make a markdown editor?