Community launch: blog posts, HN/Reddit announcements, positioning

[AlexMikhalev]

Summary

Coordinated community launch for the Obsidian + Logseq plugins. Blog post, Hacker News submission, Reddit posts in targeted subreddits, Obsidian/Logseq forum announcements.

Positioning

One-Liner

"Deterministic semantic search for your vault -- define synonyms in your notes, get instant concept matching. 15 MB RAM, zero LLM, zero cloud."

Elevator Pitch (HN/Reddit)

Your Obsidian aliases: and Logseq synonyms:: properties are already a knowledge graph -- you just don't have a search engine that uses them. Terraphim compiles your synonyms into Aho-Corasick finite state automata (the same algorithm used in grep, antivirus scanners, and network intrusion detection) and runs sub-200ms concept matching across your entire vault. No embeddings, no API keys, no cloud. Just a state machine and your markdown.

Differentiator Matrix

	Terraphim	Obsidian Search	Smart Connections	Omnisearch
Synonym expansion	Yes (aliases/synonyms)	No	No	No
LLM required	No	No	Yes (API key)	Optional
Network required	No	No	Yes	No
Deterministic results	Yes	Yes	No (probabilistic)	Partial
RAM usage	15 MB	Built-in	~200 MB+	~50 MB
Concept relationships	Yes ([[wikilinks]])	No	Embedding similarity	No
Open source	MIT + Apache-2.0	No (proprietary)	MIT	MIT

Blog Post: docs.terraphim.ai

Title: "How Aho-Corasick Automata Make Your Obsidian Vault Searchable"

Outline:

1. The problem: you have 1,000+ notes, search returns noise
2. What most people do: full-text search (regex), or throw an LLM at it (expensive, non-deterministic)
3. What terraphim does: compile your aliases: / synonyms:: into a finite state automaton
4. How Aho-Corasick works (visual: trie -> failure links -> scanning)
5. Demo: search "context management" in vault, find all notes about "context engineering" and its synonyms
6. Performance: benchmark vs Obsidian native search vs Smart Connections
7. Privacy: 15 MB RAM, zero network, runs in-process via WASM
8. How to install the Obsidian plugin
9. How to install the Logseq plugin
10. How to write effective synonyms in your notes

Tone: Technical but accessible. Show the algorithm, not just the product. HN audience respects depth.

Hacker News

Submission title options (A/B test mentally):

• "Show HN: Aho-Corasick semantic search for Obsidian/Logseq vaults (Rust/WASM)"
• "Show HN: Terraphim -- compile your notes' synonyms into a finite state machine for search"
• "Show HN: I compiled my Obsidian vault into an Aho-Corasick automaton for sub-200ms search"

Best time to post: Tuesday-Thursday, 8-10 AM ET (peak HN traffic)

First comment (OP comment, critical for HN engagement):

• Why I built this: personal vault grew to 2,000+ notes, search was broken
• The insight: Logseq's synonyms:: and Obsidian's aliases: are already a knowledge graph
• Technical choice: Aho-Corasick not embeddings because deterministic + offline + fast
• What's different from grep: synonym expansion turns one search into many pattern matches
• Stack: Rust core, WASM for browser/Electron, MIT + Apache-2.0

HN angles that resonate:

• "Deterministic > probabilistic" (anti-LLM-for-everything sentiment)
• "Local-first / privacy-first" (strong HN value)
• "Rust + WASM" (HN loves this stack)
• "Algorithm-first, not model-first" (Aho-Corasick is computer science, not AI hype)

Reddit

r/ObsidianMD (~300k members)

Title: "I built a plugin that compiles your aliases: into a search engine -- no LLM required"

Content:

• Demo GIF: search in command palette, see synonym-expanded results
• "If you write aliases: in your frontmatter, you already have a knowledge graph"
• Link to plugin in community registry
• Comparison with Smart Connections (honest, fair)

r/logseq (~30k members)

Title: "Your synonyms:: properties now power real semantic search"

Content:

• Demo GIF: slash command search with synonym expansion
• "Every synonyms:: line you've written is a search rule"
• Link to Logseq marketplace

r/PKMS (~25k members)

Title: "Built a privacy-first semantic search engine that works with both Obsidian and Logseq"

Content:

• Cross-tool angle: works with both tools via shared markdown syntax
• Privacy angle: 15 MB, zero cloud, zero API keys
• Open source angle: MIT + Apache-2.0, Rust core

r/rust (~300k members)

Title: "Aho-Corasick automata for knowledge graph search: 42-crate Rust workspace with WASM plugins for Obsidian/Logseq"

Content:

• Technical focus: how Aho-Corasick is used for synonym expansion
• Architecture: 42 crates, WASM compilation, Tauri desktop
• Performance numbers: sub-200ms on 2,000+ note vault
• Link to GitHub

r/selfhosted (~400k members)

Title: "Self-hosted semantic search for your markdown notes -- Rust, 15 MB RAM, runs locally"

Content:

• Self-hosting angle: single binary, no dependencies
• Docker support (if available) or binary download
• Integrates with existing Obsidian/Logseq setup

Obsidian Forum

Category: Share & showcase
Title: "Terraphim: Deterministic semantic search using your aliases"

Content:

• Plugin demo with screenshots
• How aliases: drive the search
• Performance comparison
• Link to community plugin listing

Logseq Forum / Discord

Channel: #plugins or #showcase
Title: "Terraphim: Your synonyms:: properties now power Aho-Corasick search"

Content:

• Plugin demo
• How existing synonyms:: properties are used
• Link to marketplace

Discourse (terraphim.discourse.group)

Announcement post: reference all the above, central discussion hub

YouTube / Loom

3-minute demo video:

1. Open Obsidian vault with 1,000+ notes (0:00-0:15)
2. Native search for "context management" -- shows 3 results (0:15-0:30)
3. Install terraphim plugin (0:30-0:45)
4. Same search -- shows 15 results (synonyms expanded) (0:45-1:15)
5. Show aliases: in one of the matched files (1:15-1:30)
6. Show the concept graph in sidebar (1:30-2:00)
7. Performance: search takes <200ms on the full vault (2:00-2:15)
8. RAM usage: 15 MB total (2:15-2:30)
9. Call to action: GitHub stars, community plugin install (2:30-3:00)

Medium

Publication: Submit to "Obsidian Observer" publication (high reach in Obsidian community)
Article: Cross-post of blog post, adapted for Medium formatting

Timing

1. Parser (Obsidian format parser: aliases, wikilinks, and tags extraction #604) and plugin (Obsidian community plugin: WASM-powered semantic search #606, Logseq community plugin: WASM-powered semantic search #607) ship first
2. Blog post written and published on docs.terraphim.ai
3. Demo video recorded
4. HN Show HN submission (Tuesday-Thursday, 8-10 AM ET)
5. Reddit posts same day (stagger by 2-3 hours)
6. Obsidian/Logseq forum posts same day
7. Medium cross-post 2-3 days later (different audience peak)

Success Metrics

Metric	Target (first month)
Obsidian plugin installs	500+
Logseq plugin installs	100+
GitHub stars (terraphim-ai)	+200
HN upvotes	50+
Reddit combined upvotes	200+
Discord members	+50
Blog post views	2,000+

Part of

Epic #603