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Connect Obsidian Vault: From Zero to Usable

This page is for first-time users.

Goal: make your vault usable in about 10-20 minutes.

Before You Start (1 minute)​

Confirm these 3 points:

  1. You already use an Obsidian vault
  2. The vault is accessible on your local disk
  3. You know your main note directories

Step 1: Select Vault Root Folder​

Choose your Obsidian vault root folder inside GPT AI Flow.

Recommendations:

  • Choose the vault root, not a random subfolder
  • Avoid temporary download folders

After connection, the app will detect your structure.

Step 2: Run First Indexing​

After connection, start first indexing.

About the indexing mechanism: The system calls the OpenAI Embedding API (or any other Embedding model you configure) to convert your notes into vector representations, enabling semantic-level retrieval. This means:

  • You need to configure a valid API Key in settings beforehand (see API Key Setup for details)
  • The first indexing run incurs Embedding API usage costs, which depend on your total note volume
  • Subsequent incremental indexing only processes new or modified files, significantly reducing API calls

Progress updates during this step are expected.

When indexing is done, you can:

  • find old notes in natural language
  • ask AI based on your own content
  • save organized results back to your vault

Step 3: Run 3 Quick Checks​

Use these checks immediately:

  1. Ask about a topic you wrote before and confirm retrieval quality
  2. Ask AI to summarize a topic and check alignment with your notes
  3. Save one conversation result as a new note and confirm file output

If all three pass, your setup is ready.

Common Questions​

Q1: Why are some old notes missing?​

Possible reasons:

  • first indexing is still running
  • files are outside included folders
  • file naming or format inconsistency

Finish indexing first, then retry.

Q2: Will indexing change my original notes?​

Normally no.

Your source notes remain under your control.

Q3: Results feel weak at first. What should I do?​

Start with these:

  1. write real daily notes for 2-3 days
  2. run one round of extract + linking workflow

Richer context improves quality quickly.

Suggested First-Week Rhythm​

Day 1: Connect vault + first indexing
Day 2-3: short records + retrieval queries
Day 4-5: run one topic organization round
Day 6-7: publish one short draft

Next Steps​