Use it without Obsidian

The vault is plain Markdown folders (frontmatter, [[links]], - [ ] checkboxes), so any editor can read and edit it: VS Code, Logseq, Typora, or just a text editor. Obsidian is only the viewer, and nothing here needs it.

Turn it off

Set viewer = "none" under [notes] in config.toml, or answer no to the Obsidian question in sb init (or run sb init --no-obsidian):

[notes]
viewer = "none"

What changes:

• sb today prints the path of today's note instead of opening an obsidian:// link, and sb doctor stops asking you to open the folder in Obsidian.
• sb setup clipper explains that the Web Clipper needs Obsidian and stops.

Read and tick

Open today's note with any editor:

sb today

~/Documents/Obsidian/esbi/wiki/daily/2026-10-03.md

Ticking works the same: put an x in - [ ] in the daily note with your editor, save, and run sb index. See Read your notes and tick what you have read. The [[links]] are Obsidian's wiki-link syntax; other editors show them as text, and some (Logseq, Foam, VS Code with a wiki-link extension) follow them.

Browse as a website

sb export

writes a read-only website of the wiki for any browser: Export a website.

Get sources in

sb add URL, dropping PDFs and Markdown files in inbox/, and email all work without Obsidian. The Web Clipper is an Obsidian project and needs it; another tool that saves a page as a Markdown file with title: and source: (the URL) at the top works the same if you drop its files in inbox/. See Get sources in.

Run it every night

Nothing needs Obsidian: Run it every night.

What you give up

The graph view, backlinks panel and live search of Obsidian. The questions you would ask them, you can ask the wiki: sb ask "..." (Ask your wiki).