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Cleft integrates with Obsidian via Local Sync on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Local Sync itself is free; Cleft Plus lets you point exports at your Obsidian vault (or any folder you choose). On Free, exports land in Cleft’s Documents/Cleft Notes folder.

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What you get

When you enable Local Sync and point Cleft to your Obsidian vault, your notes are automatically saved as .md files with:
  • Readable filenames like 2026-05-06-meeting-with-jonny-12431.md (date + title slug + unique ID)
  • YAML frontmatter that renders as Obsidian Properties: title, tags, timestamps, and the full transcript
  • Inline hashtags at the end of the body for easy tag navigation
  • Smart title renames that preserve your wikilinks when you retitle a note
  • Audio companion. The original .m4a recording sits next to each markdown file, ready for ![[…m4a]] embeds (free toggle)
Here’s what a synced note looks like in your vault: 
---
cleft_id: 12431
title: "Meeting with Jonny"
tags: ["work", "ideas"]
created: 2026-05-06T10:30:00Z
updated: 2026-05-06T11:15:00Z
source: cleft
transcript: "full transcript on one line, newlines collapsed to spaces"
---
AI-generated summary body goes here.

#work #ideas
In Obsidian, this renders as:
  • Properties panel showing title, tags (clickable chips), created, updated, source, cleft_id, and transcript
  • Body with the AI summary as the readable artefact
  • Tag pane picks up #work and #ideas from the inline hashtags at the end of the body
This is one-way sync: Cleft → Obsidian. Edits you make in Obsidian are overwritten on the next Cleft sync (same contract as Notion auto-send).

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Setup

1

Pick your Obsidian vault as the destination

Open Settings → Local Sync and click Choose Custom Folder… (Plus).
  1. Select your Obsidian vault root folder
  2. On Mac, Cleft creates a dedicated subfolder inside it. On iPhone and iPad, Cleft writes to the exact folder you select in Files.
  3. Use the selected folder and you’re done
Full setup guide: Local Sync
2

That's it

Your notes sync automatically. Open the active Local Sync folder in Obsidian and you’ll see .md files with readable names and YAML frontmatter (and .m4a audio next to them if the audio toggle is on).

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Obsidian-specific tips

  • Properties panel: Frontmatter renders as searchable, clickable properties. Use source: cleft filters in Dataview to see only Cleft notes.
  • Wikilinks: When you title-regenerate a note, Cleft renames the file before updating content. This helps Obsidian’s sync recognize the rename and preserve your [[wikilinks]]. (Best-effort; slow disks or iOS-only Obsidian may coalesce into delete+create.)
  • Timestamps for sorting: Created/updated fields are ISO 8601 UTC, so Dataview queries like WHERE created >= date("2026-05-01") work naturally.
  • Audio embeds: With the audio companion toggle on, each note’s .m4a lives next to its .md with the same basename. Embed it in another note with ![[2026-05-06-meeting-12431.m4a]] for inline playback.
  • Recovery by ID: Every note carries a cleft_id field in frontmatter. If you ever rename files manually, grep "^cleft_id: 12431" *.md finds the original note even in a mixed vault.

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Legacy: Front Matter Title Plugin

If you’re on an older build or using the legacy cleft_{noteId}.md format, you may have been using the Front Matter Title Plugin. As of v1.14.0, Local Sync eliminates the need for this plugin. Cleft now emits readable filenames and proper YAML frontmatter that Obsidian recognizes natively. You can uninstall the plugin if you’re on the latest version. If you do keep it for other vaults, enable all features in its settings to ensure properties render correctly.