Voice Note to Obsidian Router

A tool that routes STT voice notes into an Obsidian vault, based on keywords in voice note. Take your voice notes and have them automatically saved to custom locations.

What it does

• Watches a directory for audio files (.m4a)
• Transcribes audio to text using Whisper AI model
• Routes notes to different Obsidian files based on keywords in content
• Creates separate files with previews for longer notes
• Archives processed files
• Logs all operations

Setup

1. Make sure you have Python and the required dependencies installed:

# Install uv 
# See https://github.com/astral-sh/uv for more installation methods
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Create a virtual environment and install dependencies
uv venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install openai-whisper

2. Update these paths in transcribe.py to match your system:

# Base directories
FLEET_BASE = Path("/home/mat/Documents/ProgramExperiments/fleetingNotes")  # Project directory
OBS_BASE   = Path("/home/mat/Obsidian/")                                   # Your Obsidian vault location

# Obsidian directories
INBOX_NOTE      = OBS_BASE / "gtd - inbox.md"  # Default note for unclassified notes
DAILY_NOTES_DIR = OBS_BASE / "Daily Notes"     # For daily reflections
ZETTLE_DIR      = OBS_BASE / "ZettleKasten"    # For other categorized notes

3. Update the recording directory in whisper_loop.sh:

LOCATION="/home/mat/Documents/ProgramExperiments/fleetingNotes/recordings"

4. Make the setup script executable and run:

chmod +x daemon_setup.sh
sudo ./daemon_setup.sh

Usage

1. Use Syncthing to send your phone recordings in the recordings directory
2. The service will automatically:
   • Transcribe them using Whisper
   • Route them to appropriate notes based on keywords
   • Archive the processed files

Notes Routing

The system routes transcriptions based on keywords found in the content:

• "concept digest" → ZettleKasten/concept digest.md
• "memory dump" → ZettleKasten/memory dump.md
• "daily reflection" → Daily Notes/YYYY-MM-DD.md (based on recording date)
• Any other content → Default inbox note

Adding Your Own Routes

You can add your own keyword-destination pairs by modifying the NOTES_MAP in transcribe.py:

# Note mapping
NOTES_MAP = {
    "concept digest": ZETTLE_DIR / "concept digest.md",
    "memory dump": ZETTLE_DIR / "memory dump.md",
    "daily reflection": "daily",
    # Add your custom routes here, e.g.:
    "shopping list": OBS_BASE / "Lists/shopping.md",
    "project ideas": ZETTLE_DIR / "project ideas.md",
}

To add a new route:

1. Choose a keyword that you'll say in your voice note
2. Specify a destination path in your Obsidian vault
3. Add the pair to the NOTES_MAP dictionary
4. Restart the service: sudo systemctl restart whisper-loop.service