Porygon turns your vault into a local chat workspace. It connects Obsidian to Ollama so you can ask questions, mention specific notes, and keep the model grounded in the files you choose.
Porygon is designed around privacy-first usage: your selected note content is sent to the Ollama host you configure, which can run entirely on your machine.
- Open the Porygon view from the ribbon icon.
- Send chat messages to your configured Ollama model.
- Stream responses as they are generated.
- Render Porygon responses as Markdown.
- Start a fresh conversation from the composer.
- Use Mention Notes to search Markdown files in your vault.
- Filter notes by title or path.
- Navigate results with arrow keys and select with Enter.
- Remove mentioned notes before sending if you change your mind.
- Mentioned notes are shown above the user message so the conversation makes the context visible.
When a message is sent, Porygon reads the latest content of each mentioned note and includes it as context for Ollama.
Porygon can use these vault tools during a conversation:
| Tool | Signature | Description |
|---|---|---|
current_timestamp |
current_timestamp() |
Returns the current timestamp in ISO 8601 format. |
list |
list(filter?: string) |
Lists Markdown note paths. If filter is provided, it is used as a regex against note filenames and paths. |
search |
search(queryString: string) |
Searches all Markdown notes with Obsidian's prepareSimpleSearch and returns matching note paths with 1-based line numbers. |
view |
view(linkToMarkdownfile: string, line?: number, surrounding?: number, offset?: number, limit?: number) |
Reads a note with line numbers. If line is provided, returns that line with surrounding context; otherwise supports offset and limit. |
edit |
edit(file_path: string, old_string: string, new_string: string, replace_all?: boolean) |
Creates notes, deletes content, or replaces exact text in existing notes. |
list, search, and edit return JSON strings so the local agent can consume them reliably.
For Ollama models that support thinking, enable Settings → Porygon Assistant → Model thinking.
When enabled:
- Thinking is streamed separately from the final answer.
- The thinking section is rendered as Markdown.
- It collapses after completion and shows how long the model thought.
- You can expand it again if you want to inspect the reasoning.
The first run guides you through:
- Ollama host
- Chat model
- Embeddings model
You can later update these values from the Porygon Assistant settings page.
- Obsidian
0.15.0or newer - Ollama running locally or at a reachable host
- A chat model installed in Ollama
Recommended starting point:
ollama run gemma4The default settings are:
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Ollama host | http://localhost:11434 |
| Chat model | gemma4 |
| Embeddings model | nomic-embed-text |
| Thinking | Disabled |
- Install and start Ollama.
- Download a chat model, for example
gemma4. - Enable Porygon in Obsidian.
- Open Porygon from the ribbon icon.
- Complete the onboarding steps.
- Start chatting or mention notes with the @ button.
If Ollama is unreachable, the send button shows an unavailable state and the tooltip explains that Ollama cannot be reached.
Porygon does not add telemetry.
When you send a message, the following data may be sent to your configured Ollama host:
- Your chat message
- The latest content of notes you explicitly mention
- Prior conversation history in the current Porygon session
If your Ollama host is local, this stays on your machine. If you configure a remote Ollama host, data is sent to that host.
- Mentioning notes is explicit; Porygon does not automatically retrieve every relevant note yet.
- Conversation history is currently session-based.
- Response quality depends on the selected Ollama model and the context you provide.
- Thinking only works with Ollama models that support the
thinkoption.