Settings reference

All Obsilo settings are in Obsidian Settings > Obsilo Agent. This page documents every section.

Models

Configure AI models and providers. You can add multiple models and switch between them.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Model list	All configured models with provider, name, and status	Empty	Add at least one model to start
Active model	The model used for conversations	First added	Use a capable model (Claude Sonnet, GPT-4o)
+ add model	Opens the model configuration dialog	--	Start with one cloud + one local model
Import from code	Import model configurations shared as code snippets	--	Useful for team setups
Test connection	Verify that a model's API key and endpoint work	--	Always test after adding a new model

Multiple models

Add several models and assign them to different modes. Use a fast/cheap model for Ask mode and a powerful one for Agent mode.

Embeddings

Configure the semantic index for meaning-based vault search.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Embedding model	The model used to generate text embeddings	None	OpenAI text-embedding-3-small (cheapest)
API key	Separate key for the embedding provider	None	Can share the OpenAI key from Models
Auto-index	Automatically index notes when they change	Off	Enable for vaults under 5,000 notes
Rebuild index	Re-index the entire vault from scratch	--	Run after first setup or major vault changes
Reranking	Re-rank semantic search results for better relevance	Off	Enable if search results feel imprecise
Implicit connections	Discover hidden relationships between notes	Off	Enable for knowledge discovery use cases
Graph enrichment	Add semantic similarity data to the Obsidian graph	Off	Enable if you use the graph view heavily

Index size

The semantic index stores embeddings locally. For a vault with 1,000 notes, expect roughly 10-20 MB of storage.

Web search

Enable tools for accessing the internet.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Enable web tools	Allow the agent to use web_fetch and web_search	Off	Enable when you need current information
Search provider	Which search API to use	Brave	Brave (free tier) or Tavily (better results)
API key	Key for the selected search provider	None	Get a free key from your chosen provider

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

Connect external tool servers and expose Obsilo as a server.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Client servers	List of MCP servers the agent can call tools on	Empty	Add servers for external integrations
+ add server	Configure a new MCP server connection (SSE or streamable-http)	--	Only SSE and streamable-http transports work
Test server	Verify connectivity to a configured server	--	Test after adding
Obsilo as MCP server	Expose Obsilo's tools to external clients like Claude Desktop	Off	Enable to use Obsilo from Claude Desktop

Transport limitation

Obsilo runs inside Electron (Obsidian's runtime), so only SSE and streamable-http transports are supported. Stdio-based MCP servers do not work.

Modes

Configure agent modes. Each mode defines which tools, skills, and model the agent uses.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Ask mode	Read-only mode with only read and vault intelligence tools	Built-in	Keep as your safe exploration mode
Agent mode	Full-access mode with all tools enabled	Built-in	Your primary working mode
Custom modes	User-defined modes with custom tool sets and system prompts	Empty	Create modes for specific workflows (Researcher, Writer)
Per-mode model	Override which model a mode uses	Global model	Set a fast model for Ask, a powerful one for Agent
Per-mode tools	Select which tool groups are available in each mode	Varies by mode	Restrict tools to what the mode actually needs
Per-mode skills	Attach specific skills to a mode	None	Attach relevant skills for the mode's purpose

Permissions (auto-approve)

Control what the agent can do without asking. See Safety & Control for details.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Read operations	Auto-approve file reads, searches, listings	Off	Safe to enable. Nothing changes.
Note edits	Auto-approve editing existing notes	Off	Enable after you trust the agent's edits
Vault changes	Auto-approve creating, moving, deleting files	Off	Keep off until comfortable
Web operations	Auto-approve web fetches and searches	Off	Enable if you use web tools frequently
MCP calls	Auto-approve calls to external MCP servers	Off	Enable per-server based on trust
Subtasks	Auto-approve spawning sub-agents	Off	Safe to enable. Inherits parent permissions.
Plugin skills	Auto-approve plugin command execution	Off	Enable for trusted plugin workflows
Plugin API reads	Auto-approve reading plugin data	Off	Safe to enable. Read-only.
Plugin API writes	Auto-approve modifying plugin settings	Off	Keep off. High risk.
Recipes	Auto-approve multi-step CLI recipes	Off	Keep off. Runs external commands.
Sandbox	Auto-approve code execution in the sandbox	Off	Keep off unless you trust generated code

Permissive combination

Enabling both web operations and note edits (or vault changes) triggers a security warning. This combination lets the agent fetch internet content and write it to your vault without asking.

Loop (agent behavior)

Control how the agent loop runs.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Consecutive error limit	How many consecutive tool errors before the agent stops	3	Keep at 3. Prevents infinite error loops.
Rate limit	Minimum milliseconds between API calls	0	Set to 500-1000 if you hit rate limits
Max iterations	Maximum tool calls per conversation turn	25	Increase for complex tasks, decrease to limit cost
Context condensing	Summarize older messages when context gets long	On	Keep on. Prevents context overflow errors.
Condensing threshold	Percentage of context window before condensing triggers	70%	Lower if you see 400-error context overflow
Power steering	Re-inject key instructions every N messages	4	Keep at 4 for consistent behavior
Subtask depth	Maximum nesting depth for sub-agents	2	Keep at 2 unless you need deep delegation

Memory

Configure how the agent remembers across conversations.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Chat history	Save conversation history for future reference	On	Keep on. Required for memory extraction.
Chat history folder	Where to store conversation files in the vault	Obsilo/Chats	Change if you prefer a different location
Memory extraction	Automatically extract key facts from conversations	On	Keep on for personalization
Memory model	Which model to use for memory extraction (background task)	Global model	Use a cheap model (Haiku, GPT-4o-mini) to save cost
Memory threshold	Minimum relevance score for a memory to be saved	0.7	Lower for more memories, raise for fewer but higher quality

Rules

Persistent instructions that guide the agent in every conversation.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Rule list	All active rules injected into the system prompt	Empty	Add rules for your writing style, vault conventions
+ add rule	Create a new rule (plain text or Markdown)	--	Keep rules concise and specific
Import	Import rules from a file	--	Share rules across vaults

Workflows & prompts

Pre-defined multi-step instructions and prompt templates.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Workflows	Slash-command triggered instruction sequences (type / in chat)	Built-in defaults	Create workflows for your repeated tasks
Prompts	Reusable message templates with optional variables	Empty	Create prompts for common questions

Skills

Persistent instruction sets matched by keywords. Like mini-manuals the agent follows.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Skill list	All skills with name, trigger pattern, and body	Built-in defaults	Add skills for domain-specific tasks
+ add skill	Create a new skill	--	Include a clear trigger pattern and step-by-step instructions

Interface

Appearance and input behavior settings.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Auto-add active file	Automatically include the currently open note as context	On	Keep on. Helps the agent understand what you're looking at.
Send key	Which key sends a message (Enter or Ctrl/Cmd+Enter)	Enter	Change to Ctrl+Enter if you write multi-line messages often
Show date/time	Display timestamps in the chat	Off	Personal preference
Chat history folder	Vault folder for saved conversations	Obsilo/Chats	Also configurable in Memory tab
Chat linking	Link chat sessions to notes for traceability	Off	Enable for project-based workflows
Task extraction	Detect and extract tasks from agent responses	Off	Enable to auto-create tasks from conversations

Shell (plugin API & recipes)

Configure external tool integrations.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Plugin API	Allow the agent to call JavaScript APIs on other plugins	Off	Enable if you use Dataview, Omnisearch, or similar
Command allowlist	Which Obsidian commands the agent can execute	None	Add specific command IDs you trust
Recipes	Pre-validated CLI tool recipes (e.g., Pandoc export)	Built-in	Add recipes only for tools you have installed

Vault (checkpoints)

Checkpoint and snapshot settings for the undo system.

Setting	What it does	Default	Recommendation
Enable checkpoints	Create snapshots before file modifications	On	Keep on. This powers the undo system.
Snapshot timeout	Maximum time to wait for a snapshot to complete (ms)	5000	Increase for very large files
Auto-cleanup	Automatically remove old checkpoints	On	Keep on to save storage

Other tabs

Tab	What it does
Log	Browse the daily audit trail of all tool calls with timestamps and parameters
Debug	Internal diagnostics: ring buffer viewer, system prompt preview
Backup	Export and import your complete Obsilo configuration
Language	Set the agent's response language (follows Obsidian's language by default)
Visual Intelligence	Enable LibreOffice-based rendering for presentation quality checks