Skip to content

Obsidian Integration

Use Inkwell output with Obsidian for powerful knowledge management.

Overview

Inkwell's output is designed for Obsidian with:

  • YAML frontmatter - Dataview-compatible metadata
  • Wikilinks - Connect concepts across episodes
  • Tags - Easy filtering and search
  • Folder structure - Works as vault or subfolder

Setup

Option 1: Use Output as Vault

Point Obsidian directly to Inkwell's output:

  1. Open Obsidian
  2. Click "Open folder as vault"
  3. Select ~/inkwell-notes

Option 2: Add to Existing Vault

Copy episodes to your vault:

# Copy single episode
cp -r ~/inkwell-notes/podcast-2025-01-15-title ~/my-vault/podcasts/

# Or configure output to write directly to vault
inkwell config set default_output_dir ~/my-vault/podcasts

Output Format

Each episode creates Obsidian-ready markdown:

---
title: Summary
podcast: Lenny's Podcast
episode: Building a Growth Team
episode_date: 2025-11-10
duration_minutes: 45
rating: 4
status: inbox
tags: [podcast, growth, product-management, startups]
topics: [Growth Teams, A/B Testing, Experimentation]
has_wikilinks: true
cost_usd: 0.0055
---

# Building a Growth Team

## Overview

In this episode, Lenny discusses how to build a growth team with
[[Elena Verna]]. They cover [[Growth Loops]], [[A/B Testing]], and
[[Product-Led Growth]].

## Key Takeaways

- **[[Growth Teams]]** should be cross-functional
- **[[Experimentation Velocity]]** matters more than individual wins
- Start with [[Activation]] before [[Retention]]

Inkwell automatically creates wikilinks for:

  • People mentioned - [[Elena Verna]]
  • Concepts - [[Growth Loops]], [[A/B Testing]]
  • Products/Tools - [[Amplitude]], [[Mixpanel]]
  • Books - [[Thinking, Fast and Slow]]

Building a Knowledge Graph

Click any wikilink to:

  1. Create a new note for that topic
  2. See backlinks from other episodes
  3. Build connections over time

Tags

Inkwell adds contextual tags:

tags: [podcast, growth, product-management, startups]

Use Obsidian's tag pane to filter by topic.

Dataview Queries

With the Dataview plugin, query your podcast notes.

Recent Episodes

TABLE podcast, episode_date, rating, duration_minutes
FROM "podcasts"
SORT episode_date DESC
LIMIT 10

By Rating

TABLE episode, podcast, duration_minutes
FROM "podcasts"
WHERE rating >= 4
SORT rating DESC

By Topic

TABLE episode, podcast
FROM "podcasts"
WHERE contains(topics, "growth")
SORT episode_date DESC

Cost Tracking

TABLE episode, cost_usd
FROM "podcasts"
SORT cost_usd DESC
LIMIT 10

Unprocessed (Inbox)

LIST
FROM "podcasts"
WHERE status = "inbox"
SORT episode_date DESC

Frontmatter Fields

Field Type Description
title string Note title (template name or summary)
podcast string Podcast name
episode string Episode title
episode_date date Episode publish date
duration_minutes number Episode length
rating number Your rating (1-5)
status string Processing status (inbox, reviewed, archived)
tags list Contextual tags
topics list Key topics discussed
has_wikilinks boolean Whether wikilinks are included
cost_usd number Extraction cost
template string Template that generated this file
source string Episode URL

Workflow Example

Daily Processing

# Process latest episodes from favorite podcasts
inkwell fetch lennys --latest
inkwell fetch syntax --latest

Weekly Review

In Obsidian, create a weekly review note:

# Week of 2025-01-13

## New Episodes
```dataview
TABLE podcast, episode, rating
FROM "podcasts"
WHERE episode_date >= date(2025-01-13) AND episode_date <= date(2025-01-19)
SORT episode_date DESC

Top Quotes This Week

![[lennys-2025-01-15-growth/quotes]] ![[syntax-2025-01-16-typescript/quotes]] 

### Topic Deep Dive

Create a MOC (Map of Content) for a topic:

```markdown
# Growth

Episodes about growth:

```dataview
LIST
FROM "podcasts"
WHERE contains(topics, "growth") OR contains(tags, "growth")
SORT episode_date DESC

Key Concepts

  • [[Growth Loops]]
  • [[Product-Led Growth]]
  • [[Activation]] 
    ---

## Custom Frontmatter

Configure additional fields in `config.yaml`:

```yaml
obsidian:
  extra_frontmatter:
    vault: podcasts
    type: podcast-note
    project: learning

Tips

Add manual connections in your notes:

This connects to [[other-podcast-2025-01-10-topic/summary]].

Use Templates

Create an Obsidian template for manual notes:

---
related_episodes: []
action_items: []
---

## My Thoughts

## Connections

## Action Items

Rating System

Update ratings after reviewing:

rating: 5  # Must listen
rating: 4  # Very good
rating: 3  # Good
rating: 2  # Okay
rating: 1  # Skip

Query for highly rated episodes later.

Troubleshooting

Ensure wikilinks are enabled in Obsidian:

  1. Settings → Files & Links
  2. Enable "Use [[Wikilinks]]"

Dataview Not Working

Install the Dataview plugin:

  1. Settings → Community plugins
  2. Browse → Search "Dataview"
  3. Install and enable

Tags Not Showing

Check your tag pane:

  1. Click the tag icon in the left sidebar
  2. Or use Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+T

Next Steps