ghostbrain documentation
ghostbrain is a local-first listener that quietly mirrors the apps you use — gmail, slack, notion, linear, calendar — into a plain-markdown obsidian vault, then lets you query the archive in natural language. these pages cover everything from a five-minute install to running the indexer from source.
start here
quickstart
install the plugin, connect your first app, run your first query.
connectors
per-app authentication walk-throughs, scopes, disconnect & purge.
query syntax
natural language plus the operators that narrow it down.
vault layout
how ghostbrain writes to disk — folders, frontmatter, backlinks.
api & cli
loopback http endpoints and the ghostbrain command line.
self-host
build the indexer from source, manage updates, handle backups.
privacy & security
where your data lives, how tokens are stored, what we never see.
source & issues
read the code, file bugs, follow releases. mit-licensed plugin, fair-source indexer.
conventions in these docs
commands you'd run in a terminal look like ghostbrain status. paths to files on disk look like vault/people/marie chen.md. anything you type into the ghostbrain query bar inside obsidian is shown as a plain block of mono:
? what did marie say about the q3 launch
# or with operators
? q3 launch from:marie after:2026-04-01callouts flag the three things worth pausing for:
information you'll want to read but won't break anything if you skim.
a non-obvious shortcut. ignore at no cost to correctness.
read this. either it'll save you a support thread or it's about something destructive.
still missing something?
open an issue on github or, if it's a security concern, follow the disclosure process on the privacy page.