Learn with Vertech AcademyA simple, 2-hour course that teaches you how to understand AI and use Obsidian + AI.
"connecting essay themes across books clicked after this" — Olivia, English Lit
“Act as my AP Biology coach and quiz me 1 step at a time on the light-dependent reactions”Why Prompt B prevents exam blank-outs: By asking the AI to quiz you 1 step at a time with guided hints instead of dumping the full answer, your brain builds the exact recall pathways needed on test day.
Obsidian is popular because it respects your privacy: your notes are just local Markdown files on your hard drive. But introducing AI usually means sacrificing that privacy by uploading your data to OpenAI or Google.
This course is built for people who want the power of AI without handing over their personal data. We cover how to connect open-source, locally run models (using tools like LM Studio or Ollama) directly to your Obsidian vault.
You'll learn how to set up chat interfaces that can 'read' your entire vault to find connections across your notes, generate tags automatically, and query your research—all while completely disconnected from the internet.
Why Obsidian + Local AI?
Total control. You aren't paying a monthly subscription, your notes aren't being used to train corporate models, and you have a system that will outlive any tech company's pricing changes.
Because setting up local models requires a bit more technical legwork, this course walks you through the exact installation steps, the best community plugins to use (like Text Generator or Smart Connections), and what hardware limitations to expect. It's a completely transparent guide to building a private, AI-augmented vault.
Skills you'll build:
Requirements:
It's an educational platform that offers both free and paid content. We teach you how to use AI properly, ranging from open-access starter guides to a full premium professional certification.
We will be adding new features, tools, and materials in the coming weeks.
You don't have to sacrifice your privacy to use AI. I'll show you how to connect open-source models to your local vault so you can chat with your notes securely.
Ask your AI questions and have it find connections across years of your own writing.
Keep all your assignments organized in one place and let AI help you break them down.
Learn how to access your private vault across all your devices so you can study anywhere.
Turn your private markdown notes into clean documents that you can easily share with others.
Use community plugins to automatically categorize and link related ideas that you might have missed.
Here's exactly what we'll cover in this program. 4 modules. 2 hours. Go at your own pace — there's no deadline.
Understand the privacy and ownership advantages of building a local AI-powered second brain.
Install the Copilot plugin to build a secure, private chatbot that reads your specific vault.
Use the Smart Connections plugin to automatically find related concepts you've forgotten about.
Choose your path forward: stick with simple cloud APIs or go 100% offline with local models.
Yes, Obsidian is 100% free for personal use.
Learn how to use Notion AI to summarize lecture notes, automate databases, and extract action items.
Keep LearningLearn how to use Claude for heavy text analysis, tone matching, and generating structured tables.
Keep LearningA guide to running AI locally in Obsidian. Keep your data private while chatting with your notes. Obsidian is popular because it respects your privacy: your notes are just local Markdown files on your hard drive. But introducing AI usually means sacrificing that privacy by uploading your data to OpenAI or Google.
| Module # | Module Title | Lessons | Skills Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Module 1 | Why Obsidian + AI? | Module Intro: Owning Your Data, What is Obsidian?, The Problem with Cloud AI | PKM |
| Module 2 | Chatting with Your Notes | Module Intro: Meet Your Copilot, Installing Community Plugins, Setting Up Obsidian Copilot, How RAG Works (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) | Local Vaults |
| Module 3 | Finding Hidden Connections | Module Intro: Semantic Search, Keyword vs. Semantic Search, Setting Up Smart Connections, Building a Zettelkasten Workflow | AI Chat with Notes |
| Module 4 | What next? | Module Intro: Choosing Your Path, Option A: The Cloud Route (Easy), Option B: The Local Route with Ollama (Advanced), Course Review & Next Steps, Interactive Cheat Sheet | Choose your path forward: stick with simple cloud APIs or go 100% offline with local models. |
Obsidian is popular because it respects your privacy: your notes are just local Markdown files on your hard drive. But introducing AI usually means sacrificing that privacy by uploading your data to OpenAI or Google.
This course is built for people who want the power of AI without handing over their personal data. We cover how to connect open-source, locally run models (using tools like LM Studio or Ollama) directly to your Obsidian vault.
You'll learn how to set up chat interfaces that can 'read' your entire vault to find connections across your notes, generate tags automatically, and query your research—all while completely disconnected from the internet.
Understand the privacy and ownership advantages of building a local AI-powered second brain.
Install the Copilot plugin to build a secure, private chatbot that reads your specific vault.
Use the Smart Connections plugin to automatically find related concepts you've forgotten about.
Choose your path forward: stick with simple cloud APIs or go 100% offline with local models.