Smart Graph

Smart Graph maps indexed notes into a semantic landscape. Start from one current note when you want a related note. Open Whole vault when you want a wider pattern.

Explore semantic clusters in Obsidian with Smart Graph

Smart Graph presents indexed source notes as a semantic landscape. Clusters, representatives, and affinities are current hypotheses for inspection, not permanent authored categories.

The Whole vault view establishes the current Graph surface and cluster landscape. Narrow it before you act. Clustering and scores are exploration signals, not final judgments.

Before opening Smart Graph

Smart Graph requires eligible Smart Sources and current embeddings. To start from the active note, that note must be indexed. Use Inspect active note or Environment stats when Graph reports that the note or source set is unavailable.

Open Smart Graph

Choose the entry that matches the task:

Foreground nodes represent indexed source notes. Blocks resolve to their owning notes rather than appearing as separate foreground nodes.

What to notice:

1. The active tab identifies the Smart Graph workspace.
2. Smart Graph - Whole vault states the current scope.
3. Search is available before narrowing or selecting the graph.

Use the view title to confirm whether you opened Whole vault or Neighborhood of source.

Choose a graph scope

Smart Graph supports:

• Whole vault
• Neighborhood
• Focus cluster
• Focus nodes

The current scope is shown in the view title after Smart Graph -.

Add notes and folders by dropping them into Smart Graph

Drop indexed notes, supported folders, Connections or Lookup results, or a graph source onto Smart Graph.

• Whole vault becomes a Focus nodes scope containing the dropped indexed sources.
• An existing focused scope keeps its current members, adds newly dropped sources, and becomes a Focus nodes scope.
• A dropped folder expands recursively to indexed source notes.
• A dropped block resolves to its owning indexed source note.

The resolved dropped sources become the current selection when the scope changes. A duplicate-only drop leaves the scope unchanged. Unindexed items and ambiguous paths are rejected.

Understand source nodes

Foreground nodes represent indexed source notes. Visual emphasis can reflect stronger members or the current representative without changing the note's identity.

Understand cluster regions

Semantic regions sit behind source nodes and can be selected as a group. They are current clustering results, not permanent topic objects.

Are semantic regions permanent topics?

No. They can change after note edits, reindexing, reclustering, model changes, or scope changes.

Understand visible bridges

Smart Graph can show two different edge types:

• Semantic bridges connect current cluster representatives. They are generated from the current index and scope. Treat them as exploration signals.
• Authored source links appear after Show links. They come from note links, use arrowheads for direction, and can show arrows in both directions.

Use Hide links to remove authored-link edges. Do not describe a semantic bridge as an authored link, or an authored link as proof of semantic similarity.

Select sources and clusters

• Click a source to add it to the selection.
• Alt/Option-click removes only that source.
• Drag across the graph to select by area.
• Click a semantic region to add its members.
• Click the background to clear the selection.
• Hold Space while dragging to pan without changing selection.
• Mod-click a source to open it while preserving the previous selection.

Use the Notes panel

The Notes panel changes its visible heading with its contents:

• Selection for an ordinary source selection
• Selected cluster or Selected clusters when the selection contains complete semantic regions
• Focus nodes scope, Focus cluster scope, or Neighborhood scope when no source is selected and the panel is listing an explicit scope

Hover a row to highlight its node. Select a row to move the camera to that source without changing the graph selection. Use the row remove control to subtract a selected source.

Search the graph

The Newsletter Launch query highlights matching sources while preserving the surrounding landscape.

What to notice:

1. The query defines the current visual search filter.
2. Select matches adds the visible matches to the selection.
3. Matching nodes are emphasized but are not selected until committed.
4. Nonmatches remain visible in a dimmed surrounding landscape.

Search matches source labels and full source paths.

• Matches are emphasized without being selected.
• Nonmatches are dimmed.
• Selected nonmatches remain visible.
• A zero-match query leaves the graph usable instead of hiding everything.
• Select matches adds all current matches to the selection.
• Clear or press Escape to close search while preserving the committed selection.

Does selecting a search match change the graph scope?

No. Search, selection, and scope are separate. Use Select matches or a scope action explicitly.

Use graph context menus

Right-click behavior depends on the target:

• source: include that source in the selection and show relevant actions
• semantic region: include its members and show relevant actions
• background or visible bridge: preserve the current selection and show graph-wide actions

Camera and viewport behavior

A graph rebuild refits the rendered scope so its visible elements return to view.

Why did the camera refit after refresh?

A graph rebuild refits the current rendered scope.

Empty and error states

Use Smart Graph actions

The actions overlay and right-click menus provide the same selected-source, scope, creation, and save actions.

Actions overlay

The actions overlay exposes operations for the current source selection and the current graph scope. Controls appear only when their required selection or scope is available.

Its primary controls are Open, Copy selection links, Create, and Scope. Open Create to choose an artifact or Scope to change the rendered source set.

What to notice:

1. The selected-source panel shows the reviewed source that remains active while the menu is open.
2. Open acts on the reviewed source.
3. Copy selection links copies the reviewed source identity.
4. Create exposes note, Canvas, graph-image, and Context choices. Scope remains a separate boundary.

After you use an action, check its destination. Make sure that the applicable output matches the reviewed selection or scope. The output can be opened notes, pasted links, a created note or Canvas, a saved image, or sources transferred to Context Builder.

Open

Open launches the selected source notes. For a large selection, read and confirm any warning before opening many notes at once.

Why did Open ask for confirmation?

More than ten sources were selected. The second click confirms the large open action.

Copy selected links

Use Copy selection links. Paste the result into a clean note. Make sure that every intended source appears as an Obsidian wikilink.

Copy scope links

Use Copy scope links. Paste the result into a clean note. Make sure that the links match the current explicit Graph scope.

Add the selection to Smart Context

Choose Create context from selection. Confirm every transferred source in Smart Context Builder. Then copy or save the package.

Add the scope to Smart Context

If Create context from scope is unavailable, check Smart Context in Browse Smart Plugins. Install it if it is not installed. Enable it if it is not enabled. Then choose Create context from scope. Make sure that Builder contains every intended source from the explicit Graph scope.

Create a note

With one selected source, choose Create note. With two or more selected sources, the label becomes Create synthesis note. Inspect the new note. Depending on the selection, it can include:

• current scope
• selected-source count
• editable synthesis prompts
• source links grouped by current semantic group
• possible bridge candidates when the graph contains them

Group and bridge suggestions are review aids, not conclusions.

Does Create note infer a final topic name for each group?

No. It creates an editable synthesis scaffold from the current graph.

Create a Canvas

Choose Create canvas. Inspect the new Canvas. Make sure that every selected source appears. Cards can use Graph positions and colors when available. Adjust the layout before you treat it as a durable artifact.

The generated Canvas does not add Canvas group boxes.

Does Create canvas add Canvas group boxes?

No. It arranges file cards spatially without adding group boxes.

Save graph image

Choose Save graph image. Open the saved PNG. Make sure that it contains the intended viewport, scope label, and selected-source markers. If image copy is available, verify the pasted image separately.

Focus nodes

Focus nodes changes the graph to the selected-source scope. The manual action is available when at least three sources are selected.

After the scope changes, the view title reads Smart Graph - Focus nodes. Clear the selection to review the full focused set under Focus nodes scope in the Notes panel. Treat the topic interpretation and node positions as current exploration results.

What to notice:

1. Focus nodes scope lists the five sources now visible in the graph.
2. The Newsletter query remains a search filter inside the focused scope.
3. A matching source stays emphasized without changing the scope.
4. Visible relationships are recomputed Graph signals, not new authored links.

Focus cluster

Focus cluster limits the graph to the selected semantic group's members.

Neighborhood

Neighborhood creates a local graph around a source or selected semantic group.

Reset scope

Reset scope returns a scoped graph to Whole vault. It is hidden while Whole vault is already active.

Why is Reset scope missing?

The graph is already in Whole-vault scope, or the active view does not have a narrower scope to reset.

Right-click menus

• Right-click a source or semantic region for selection actions and graph-wide actions.
• Right-click the graph background or a visible bridge to keep the current selection and open graph-wide actions.
• With no selection, background and bridge menus omit selection-only actions.

Replay and link controls

Graph-wide actions can include Show links or Hide links, Replay graph reveal, and Replay semantic cascade. Replay actions animate the existing view. They do not change source content or create a durable artifact.

Interpret clusters, representatives, and affinities

Clustering describes the current index and scope. Identifiers and affinities can change after edits, reindexing, or another run.

Whole-vault clustering

Whole-vault scope groups the currently indexed notes by semantic similarity. The groups are recomputed from the current index rather than stored as permanent folders or tags.

Scoped clustering

Focused scopes cluster only the source notes included in that scope. Block-based entry points resolve to their owning notes before graph construction.

Neighborhood clustering

Neighborhood scope uses the selected source or cluster as a seed so the local graph stays centered on that starting point.

Cluster representative

Each group uses one current note as its representative. The representative is the note nearest the group's semantic center. It is not an authored title or permanent category name.

Is the representative note the official group name?

No. It is only the current note nearest the group center.

Group members

A note's strength inside a group is relative to the current clustering run. Use it for visual emphasis and review, not as a durable score to store in notes.

Relationships between groups

Smart Graph ranks current relationships between groups. These signals can support layout, visible bridges, and bridge candidates in generated notes, but they remain hypotheses for inspection.

Interpret clustering scores

Compare scores only within the same graph generation and scope. Reindexing, changing models, editing notes, or changing scope can change membership and score ranges.

Durability limits

Do not treat current group numbers, positions, representatives, or bridge scores as permanent identifiers. Use normal note links or durable note metadata when a relationship must persist beyond the current graph.

Why did a note move to another group?

The graph was recomputed from a changed index, scope, model, or note content.

Can I save a group number as a permanent label?

No. Current group identities are not durable.

Large-vault and performance guidance

Use a bounded scope when Whole vault is dense or slow. Start with Create graph from current note. You can also use Search, Focus nodes, Focus cluster, or Neighborhood. A ready view or a smaller scope is not a speed benchmark.

Troubleshooting Smart Graph

1. Read the Graph view title to identify the current scope.
2. Clear Search if nonmatches are merely dimmed.
3. Read the Notes panel heading: Selection describes selected sources, while a heading ending in scope describes the visible scope.
4. Choose Reset scope when a focused scope is empty.
5. Check Source Inspector or Environment stats for missing sources or embeddings.
6. Run Smart Graph Pro: Refresh Smart Graph.
7. If rendering still fails, reopen the tab.

Requirements and availability

This page documents Smart Graph Pro on desktop. The current Store lists Smart Graph in the main Pro catalog rather than under Experimental. Use the live Store as the authority if that grouping changes. Context creation actions require Smart Context. Graph image, note, Canvas, and Context actions should be considered complete only after their destination opens and matches the reviewed selection or scope.

Related documentation

• Explore a current-note result list
• Review a Smart Context source package