Semantic search for Obsidian

Find notes by meaning, not exact keywords.

Smart Lookup gives you semantic search inside Obsidian so your vault can answer questions even when your wording changes.

• Ask in plain language
• On-device embeddings by default
• Works great for "I know I wrote this somewhere..."
• Drag results to link and reuse instantly

Start here

• Install Smart Connections
• Start a 14-day Pro trial

Why keyword search breaks at scale

Keyword search fails when:

• you remember the idea but not the exact phrasing
• the concept is spread across multiple notes
• your vocabulary changed over time
• the answer is in a paragraph, not a title

Semantic search fixes that by matching meaning.

What Smart Lookup is

Smart Lookup is the semantic search view inside Smart Connections.

Use it when:

• you start from a question
• you want the best matches across your vault
• you want results even when keywords do not match

Get a first win in 5 minutes

1. Open Smart Lookup.
2. Ask one question like a human:
   • "What did I decide about pricing and why?"
   • "Where did I write about local-first vs cloud?"
   • "What were the key objections people had?"
3. Scan the top results.
4. Drag 1 result into your current note to create a link.

That is the core loop: ask, find, connect.

Make semantic search compound

Semantic search is useful once.
It becomes powerful when you turn results into structure.

Turn retrieval into a "Related" section

When Smart Lookup finds something relevant, link it immediately.
Your future self stops paying the same search tax.

Save the best queries

If a query is useful, keep it in your project note as a repeatable prompt:

• "What are the open questions?"
• "What did we try that failed?"
• "What should happen next?"

Pro adds deeper recall and better surfaces

If you like Smart Lookup, Pro adds more places for semantic retrieval to show up:

• inline connections inside the editor for specific paragraphs or blocks
• footer connections view for faster scanning
• graph visualization for exploration
• Bases tools for similarity scoring and related lists in tables
• advanced controls over ranking and algorithms

Start Pro

• Start a 14-day Pro trial

FAQ

Is this private?

Indexing and retrieval can happen on-device.
If you choose a cloud model, you decide what context is sent.

Do I need an API key?

No for local embeddings and semantic lookup in Smart Connections.

Where is the index stored?

Smart Plugins store shared workspace data inside a .smart-env/ folder within your vault.

Next step

If you are tired of losing ideas to search:

• Install Smart Connections
• Run one Smart Lookup query and link one result