YouTube notes that open straight from your Obsidian vault

ScribeShot writes notes as plain Markdown files with embedded screenshots into a folder on your Mac. Point your Obsidian vault at that folder and every processed YouTube video appears inside it — searchable, linkable, and indexed alongside everything else you have written. No plugin. No export step. No intermediary app.

Why it works without a plugin

Obsidian reads Markdown files and images directly from the filesystem. ScribeShot's output is exactly that: a notes.md file, a summary.md file, a mindmap.md Mermaid diagram, and screenshot images all in one folder. Because the image references in the notes use relative paths, Obsidian renders them inline without any configuration.

There is no conversion step and no sync to manage. The file is written once and Obsidian reads it like any other note in your vault.

How to set it up

1. Choose your vault folder as the ScribeShot output directory. On first run, ScribeShot asks where to save notes. Pick any folder inside your vault (for example, YouTube/ within it), or use the vault root directly.
2. Process a video. Paste a YouTube URL and let ScribeShot generate chapters, notes, and the mind map. This takes a minute or two depending on video length and which model you are using.
3. Open Obsidian. The video folder appears as a new note group. Open notes.md and screenshots are already embedded under the right headings.
4. Capture screenshots while watching. Each screenshot is saved alongside the notes and inserted at the matching timestamp heading — the image shows up in Obsidian without reopening ScribeShot.

What ScribeShot writes per video

Each processed video produces the following files inside its folder:

• notes.md — structured notes with # chapter headings, ## subsections, and bullet-point takeaways. Screenshot references are embedded at the matching headings.
• summary.md — a compact overview you can read in under a minute.
• mindmap.md — a Mermaid mindmap. Obsidian renders Mermaid natively, so this opens as a visual diagram in Reading View without a plugin.
• Screenshot image files named by timestamp (for example, screenshot-00-04-32.png).

Using Obsidian search and backlinks across your video notes

Because notes land as real Markdown files, Obsidian's full-text search covers them alongside your other notes. You can use [[wikilinks]] to reference a video note from anywhere in your vault, create a dataview query across all video summaries, or tag notes with the same tags you use elsewhere.

The Local Graph also works as expected: a video note that you link to from a project note appears as a connected node, so the relationship between a reference and its source is visible.

Running locally matters for a vault

Processing a video through a web API means sending the transcript to a third-party server. If your vault contains research, client work, or anything sensitive, that is a meaningful exposure — especially across dozens of videos over time.

ScribeShot's built-in local model (Gemma 4 E4B, ~3.6 GB download) processes everything on your Mac with no data leaving the machine. Once the model is downloaded, it works with no network connection at all. For a vault that is meant to stay private, local processing is the right default.

What this does not do

Common questions

Do I need an Obsidian plugin?

No. ScribeShot writes plain Markdown files with relative image paths directly to the filesystem. Obsidian reads those files natively without any plugin.

How do I connect the ScribeShot folder to my vault?

Either set ScribeShot's output folder to a directory inside your existing vault, or add the ScribeShot output folder as a new vault root in Obsidian. Both approaches work.

Do screenshots show up in Obsidian automatically?

Yes. Each screenshot is saved alongside the notes and referenced with a relative Markdown image path. Obsidian renders it inline in Reading View without any configuration.

Does the Mermaid mind map open in Obsidian?

Yes. Obsidian renders Mermaid diagrams natively in Reading View. Open mindmap.md and the mind map displays as an interactive diagram without a plugin.

Can I use wikilinks to connect video notes to other notes?

Yes. Because notes are real files in your vault, you can link to them with [[wikilinks]] from any other note, and Obsidian's backlink and graph views work as expected.

Does the vault sync work?

Yes. ScribeShot writes files to your local filesystem; syncing is handled by whatever you already use (iCloud Drive, Obsidian Sync, Git). ScribeShot does not interact with the sync layer.