English | 简体中文

Echo Notes

Echo Notes is an Obsidian plugin that turns audio files referenced in your vault into readable, searchable, and linkable Markdown transcripts.

The workflow is simple: insert or link an audio file in a Markdown note, run a transcription command, and Echo Notes creates a transcript file and inserts a link back into the original note.

Privacy notice: Echo Notes uploads the selected audio file to the transcription provider you configure. Do not transcribe audio that you do not want to send to that external service.

Features

• Configure a transcription provider, API key, base URL, model, and language in Obsidian settings.
• Transcribe the selected audio link in the current note.
• Scan and transcribe all supported audio links in the current note.
• Generate a Markdown transcript file with source metadata.
• Insert a transcript link below the source audio reference.
• Skip existing transcripts and insert missing transcript links.
• Analyze transcript Markdown files with a separate AI model using work minutes, study notes, or product requirement mining templates.
• Run AI analysis in the background and write the result back into the matching transcript.
• Automatically choose an AI analysis template from keywords found within three lines above or below the source audio link, with a configurable default template as fallback.
• Configure each analysis template with a name, recognition keywords, system prompt, and custom prompt.
• Optional automation for newly added Markdown audio links.
• Optional automation for newly created audio files.

Providers

Implemented providers:

• 硅基流动（SiliconFlow） with TeleAI/TeleSpeechASR
• 阿里百炼（Alibaba Bailian） with qwen3-asr-flash
• OpenAI（OpenAI） with OpenAI-compatible audio transcription
• Groq（Groq） with OpenAI-compatible audio transcription
• Ollama, Ollama Open WebUI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, LM Studio, 302.AI, Anthropic, Mistral AI, Together AI, Fireworks AI, Perplexity AI, DeepSeek, xAI, Novita AI, DeepInfra, SambaNova, Cerebras, and Z.AI as OpenAI-compatible transcription presets
• 自定义兼容接口（Custom OpenAI-compatible） for custom /audio/transcriptions endpoints

Provider defaults can be changed in settings.

AI analysis uses a separate provider configuration. The default is DeepSeek deepseek-v4-pro through an OpenAI-compatible /chat/completions endpoint.

Network and Data Use

Echo Notes makes network requests only when a transcription or AI analysis is triggered.

• SiliconFlow default endpoint: https://api.siliconflow.cn
• Alibaba Bailian default endpoint: https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1
• OpenAI default endpoint: https://api.openai.com/v1
• Groq default endpoint: https://api.groq.com/openai/v1
• AI analysis default endpoint: https://api.deepseek.com/v1
• Custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint: user configured

Transcription uploads the selected audio file to the configured transcription provider. AI analysis uploads the transcript text to the configured analysis provider. Transcription and analysis API keys are stored separately with Obsidian SecretStorage. Transcript files and inline AI analysis results are written inside your Obsidian vault.

Supported Audio Formats

• mp3
• mp4
• mpeg
• mpga
• m4a
• wav
• webm

Provider limits:

• SiliconFlow: files over 50 MB are blocked before upload.
• Alibaba Bailian qwen3-asr-flash: local files are encoded as Base64 Data URLs, and payloads over 10 MB are blocked before upload.
• OpenAI-compatible providers: files over 25 MB are blocked before upload.

Configure a Provider

1. Open Obsidian settings.
2. Open the Echo Notes settings tab.
3. Choose a provider.
4. Confirm or edit Base URL and Model.
5. Enter the provider API key.
6. Keep Language as auto, or set a provider-supported language code.
7. Choose the copy language for inserted links and generated template labels.

Recommended defaults:

Provider	Base URL	Model
硅基流动（SiliconFlow）	https://api.siliconflow.cn	TeleAI/TeleSpeechASR
阿里百炼（Alibaba Bailian）	https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1	qwen3-asr-flash
OpenAI（OpenAI）	https://api.openai.com/v1	whisper-1
Groq（Groq）	https://api.groq.com/openai/v1	whisper-large-v3-turbo
自定义兼容接口（Custom OpenAI-compatible）	your endpoint	whisper-1

Configure AI Analysis

1. Open the Echo Notes settings tab.
2. Enable AI analysis.
3. Keep the default provider as DeepSeek, or choose another OpenAI-compatible chat endpoint.
4. Keep Base URL as https://api.deepseek.com/v1 and Model as deepseek-v4-pro, or edit them.
5. Enter the separate analysis API key.
6. Choose the default analysis template used when no keyword is found near the audio link.
7. Edit, enable, disable, restore, or add templates in the analysis template settings.

Built-in templates:

• Work minutes: Summary, Key decisions, Action items, Risks/Blockers, Open questions.
• Study notes: Core concepts, Key points, Examples, Common confusions, Review checklist.
• Product requirement mining: Users/Scenarios, Pain points, Requirement opportunities, Feature suggestions, Priority, Acceptance criteria, Open questions.

Custom templates are supported. Each template has a name, recognition keywords, system prompt, custom prompt, and enabled switch. Enabled templates participate in keyword matching; disabled templates keep their configuration but are not used automatically.

Usage

Transcribe selected audio

Select an audio reference in the current Markdown note:

![[Recording 20260531001942.m4a]]

Run the command Echo Notes: Transcribe selected audio.

Echo Notes resolves the audio file, calls the configured provider, creates a transcript, and inserts a transcript link below the audio reference.

If AI analysis is enabled, Echo Notes reads the three lines above and below the audio link and chooses an enabled template by recognition keyword. After the transcript link is inserted, AI analysis runs in the background; when the model returns, the result is written to the bottom of the same .transcript.md file. If no keyword is found, Echo Notes uses the configured default template.

Transcribe all audio files in the current note

Add one or more audio links to a note:

![[Recording 20260531001942.m4a]]
![[Recording 20260531002010.m4a]]

Run the command Echo Notes: Transcribe all audio files in current note.

If AI analysis is enabled, each audio link is matched independently. Different recordings in the same note can use different templates by placing different keywords near each audio link.

AI analysis generation

AI analysis runs automatically after a transcript is created or reused. Echo Notes inserts the transcript link first and does not wait for the model response. If a transcript already exists and "skip existing transcript" is enabled, running the transcription command again reuses the transcript and generates or updates AI analysis in the background.

Echo Notes writes AI analysis into a controlled block at the bottom of the transcript. Running the same template again replaces that template's existing result instead of stacking duplicates; different templates are appended inside the same AI analysis block.

Keywords are matched only against the source note lines around the audio link, not against the transcript body. If multiple templates match the same context, Echo Notes uses the first enabled template in settings order.

Output Example

Input:

![[Recording 20260531001942.m4a]]

Output:

![[Recording 20260531001942.m4a]]
[[Recording 20260531001942/Recording 20260531001942.transcript|查看转写稿]]

Generated file:

Recording 20260531001942/Recording 20260531001942.transcript.md

Inline AI analysis example:

<!-- echo-notes-analysis:start -->
## AI Analysis

<!-- echo-notes-analysis-item:start work-minutes -->
### Work minutes

_Generated at: 2026-06-01T10:00:00.000Z; Provider: deepseek; Model: deepseek-v4-pro_

## Summary

This is the generated analysis content.
<!-- echo-notes-analysis-item:end work-minutes -->
<!-- echo-notes-analysis:end -->

Automation

Echo Notes can optionally watch for Markdown audio links and newly created audio files.

• Markdown audio links: after a Markdown file changes, Echo Notes waits briefly, scans supported audio references, transcribes missing transcripts, and inserts missing transcript links.
• New audio files: after Obsidian finishes loading the workspace, Echo Notes can transcribe newly created audio files without modifying any source note. Without source-note context, AI analysis uses the default template.
• Transcription-time analysis: when AI analysis is enabled, manual transcription commands choose a template automatically from nearby audio-link keywords and write AI analysis back into the transcript in the background.

All automation options are disabled by default.

Future Directions

• Batch analysis across multiple transcripts.
• Structured extraction for tasks, requirements, risks, and acceptance criteria.
• Long-transcript chunking, merge, and review workflows.
• Broader local model support.

Build

npm install
npm run build

Run smoke tests:

npm test

Install for Local Testing

1. Use a dedicated test vault.
2. Copy or symlink this folder to .obsidian/plugins/echo-notes/.
3. Run npm install and npm run build.
4. Enable community plugins in Obsidian.
5. Enable Echo Notes.
6. Configure a provider API key.
7. Insert an audio link and run one of the Echo Notes commands.

Current Limitations

• Speaker diarization is not supported.
• Timestamped transcript segments are not supported.
• Large-file chunking is not supported.
• Local Whisper is not supported.
• AI analysis does not yet support long-text chunking.
• There is no advanced task queue UI yet.