Smart Graph
Explore semantic structure, clusters, and graph actions from one Smart Graph reference. Edition-specific requirements are labeled where they apply.
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.
A selected semantic region becomes an explicit source set while the surrounding whole-vault landscape remains visible.
Availability and graph requirements
Smart Graph requires prepared Smart Sources and a current vector index. Empty states can occur when no eligible sources exist, a scope resolves to nothing, or the graph runtime is unavailable.
Open Smart Graph
Open Smart Graph from its ribbon action or Command Palette entry. The display contains indexed source notes; blocks do not appear as independent foreground nodes.
Choose a graph scope
Smart Graph supports:
- Whole vault
- Neighborhood
- Focus cluster
- Focus nodes
The current scope is shown in the graph breadcrumb.
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
A sparse set of current relationships between semantic groups appears as subdued bridges. Treat them as exploration signals, not authored links or proven relationships.
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 keeps selected sources, cluster membership, and panel controls visible beside the graph.
The notes panel shows selected sources. When nothing is selected, it can show the current 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
An active graph query highlights matching sources, preserves the surrounding landscape, and keeps selection actions available.
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
A source-node context menu applies actions to the current selected source set.
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
Smart Graph distinguishes:
- no indexed source notes
- no sources in the selected scope
- graph generation failure
- display failure
Follow the recovery shown for source readiness, scope reset, or retry.
Use Smart Graph actions
The actions overlay and right-click menus dispatch the same selected-source, scope, creation, and capture actions.
Actions overlay
Selected search matches expose the graph actions that can open, copy, package, or rescope the chosen sources.
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.
Open
Open launches the selected source notes. Ten or fewer open on the first click. More than ten require a second click after the label changes to Are you sure?
Why did Open ask for confirmation?
More than ten sources were selected. The second click confirms the large open action.
Copy selected links
Copy links copies the selected source notes as Obsidian wikilinks.
Copy scope links
Copy scope links copies every source in the current explicit graph scope.
Add the selection to Smart Context
Add to context opens Smart Context with the selected source notes.
Add the scope to Smart Context
Add scope to Smart Context opens Smart Context with every source in the current explicit scope.
Create a note
A multi-source graph selection can become a reviewable synthesis note with source groups and explicit prompts for judgment.
One selected source creates a compact source note. Multiple selected sources create a synthesis-ready note with:
- 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
Create Canvas preserves the selected source set as an editable spatial artifact.
Create Canvas creates an Obsidian Canvas containing the selected sources. Cards are arranged around their current semantic-group representative, using current graph positions and colors when available.
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
The exported graph image preserves the visible scope and selected-source key for later review.
Save graph image captures the current viewport, scope breadcrumb, and selected-source markers. The PNG is saved to the vault root and copied to the clipboard when image copy is available.
Focus nodes
Focus nodes changes the graph to the selected-source scope. The manual action is available when at least three sources are selected.
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.
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 rendering is dense or slow. Search, Focus nodes, Focus cluster, and Neighborhood reduce the visible set without turning current cluster IDs into durable taxonomy.
Troubleshooting Smart Graph
Confirm source and vector readiness, reset empty scopes, clear search dimming, distinguish selection from scope in the Notes panel, reopen after runtime failures, and treat cluster changes as current-run results.