Obsidian Integration

WikiNow projects are pre-configured Obsidian vaults. Open ~/.wikinow/<project>/ in Obsidian and everything works -- wikilinks, graph view, backlinks, tags, frontmatter.

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The Setup

wn init creates .obsidian/ with three config files so you don't have to configure anything manually:

• Wikilinks enabled -- [[page]] links work natively, matching how the AI writes cross-references
• Shortest path linking -- Obsidian resolves links using the shortest unique path
• Images folder -- downloaded attachments go to images/
• Frontmatter visible -- YAML metadata shown in editor
• 8 core plugins -- file explorer, global search, graph, backlinks, tags, page preview, outgoing links, canvas
• Cmd+Shift+D -- hotkey to download remote images locally

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The Workflow

The ideal setup is Obsidian on one side, AI tool on the other:

┌─────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┐
│                         │                          │
│   Obsidian              │   Claude Code / Cursor   │
│                         │                          │
│   Browse the wiki       │   "Ingest this URL"      │
│   Follow wikilinks      │   "What does X mean?"    │
│   Check the graph       │   "Run lint"             │
│   Read updated pages    │   "Compare A vs B"       │
│                         │                          │
└─────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘

The AI makes edits via MCP tools. Obsidian picks them up in real time. You browse the results, follow links, check the graph, and guide the AI on what to focus on next.

This is Karpathy's workflow: "Obsidian is the IDE; the LLM is the programmer; the wiki is the codebase."

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Graph View

Open the graph view (Ctrl/Cmd+G) to see how your wiki is connected.

What to look for:

• Large nodes -- hub pages like index.md and heavily-linked concepts. These are the backbone of your wiki.
• Clusters -- groups of tightly connected pages. These represent topic areas.
• Isolated dots -- orphan pages with no inbound links. Run wn lint to find them, then ask the AI to add [[wikilinks]] from related pages.
• Growth over time -- after each ingest, the graph gets denser. A single source can add 5-10 new connections.

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Backlinks

Click any page and open the backlinks pane to see what links to this page. This is one of the most powerful features for a compiled wiki:

• A concept page for "Attention" might have backlinks from 8 source summaries and 3 comparison pages
• Following backlinks is how you trace claims back to their sources
• The AI maintains these links automatically via [[wikilinks]] and ## Related sections

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Tags

Every wiki article has tags in its frontmatter:

tags: [ml, attention, architecture]

Use the tag pane (sidebar) to browse articles by topic. The AI assigns tags during compilation, and wiki/tags.md maintains a master index with counts.

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Editing in Obsidian

You can edit wiki pages directly in Obsidian. WikiNow's self-healing database detects file changes automatically -- the next time the database opens, it re-indexes any modified pages.

However, keep in mind:

• The AI "owns" the wiki -- your manual edits might be overwritten on the next ingest if the AI updates the same page
• For persistent changes, tell the AI: "From now on, always include X in concept pages" -- this updates the schema so the change sticks

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Recommended Plugins

These are optional but useful alongside WikiNow:

Plugin	Why
Dataview	Query frontmatter -- e.g., "show all pages with confidence: conflict"
Calendar	Browse log.md entries by date
Kanban	Track which sources still need compilation
Marp	Generate slide decks from wiki content (Phase 2)