book254 pages; a chapter a day for two weeks, then 30 days of makeoverEbook (PDF + EPUB); Complete edition adds the Findability Starter Pack and 6 worksheets
The Obsidian Search Handbook
How to find any note you already wrote: note design first, then built-in search, navigation, plugins, the terminal and AI search. Exercises in every chapter.
What it is
My book on getting your notes back. It’s the method I use on the vault I run my business from (about 30,000 notes). Twelve chapters, starting with the notes themselves (names, aliases, types, metadata, vault structure), then Obsidian’s built-in search, navigation, plugins, the terminal (ripgrep, fzf, the Obsidian CLI), AI search (keyword, semantic, hybrid, agentic) and resurfacing. Every chapter ends with a “Try this” exercise. Appendix A puts all the cheat sheets in one place; Appendix B compares the tools and gives the order I search in myself.
The Complete edition adds the Findability Starter Pack (5 note templates, 6 Bases, 35 saved searches, terminal scripts, a qmd configuration, an AGENTS.md snippet) and six printable worksheets, including the 20-query test and the 30-day makeover tracker.
Where to find it
Bought on Gumroad or the store: your purchase email and your Gumroad library. PDF and EPUB; Complete buyers also get the Starter Pack zip.
Everything Knowledge Bundle: the Complete edition is in the same Gumroad library, as a separate product.
Updates: free for the whole 2026 edition (every 1.x version). New versions land in the same library entry.
Do this first
Read “How to use this handbook”, then run the 20-query test on your own vault (Complete edition: it’s one of the worksheets). Write down the score. That’s your baseline, and it tells you which chapters matter for YOU.
Then
- Chapters on note design and structure first, even if you came for AI search. Findability is decided when you write the note, not when you search for it.
- Then the 30-day makeover from chapter 4: 15 minutes a day on the vault you already have. No restart.
- Redo the 20-query test at the end. Same queries, compare the two scores.
- Terminal and AI chapters once the notes are in shape. An agent searching a messy vault returns mess faster.
Skip it if
You already name, alias and type every note at capture time and find anything in under ten seconds. Then the free cheat sheet is all you need.
What it leads to
The Obsidian Starter Kit, if you want the note types, templates, properties and Bases the book relies on already built. Knowledge Management for Beginners for the practice behind them.