Local knowledge base guide
Save Perplexity directly to Obsidian.
Build your local second brain. Configure a folder inside your Obsidian vault, then export Perplexity threads directly to it as fully formatted Markdown files with preserved references.
Configure your Obsidian export folder
- Open the extension settings from the popup or the extensions page.
- Navigate to the Export tab.
- Under Markdown Export Folder, click Choose Folder.
- Select the folder in your local storage that corresponds to your active Obsidian vault (or a subfolder inside it).
- Allow Chrome directory access permissions when prompted.
Local-first & Private. Markdown and Obsidian exports are processed entirely in your browser. No data is sent to external servers, making this ideal for private research or confidential data backup.
Export Perplexity research
- Go to your thread on perplexity.ai.
- Once the AI finishes writing, click the AI Chat Backup icon.
- Click Export Chat.
- The extension compiles the Markdown and writes it directly to your configured folder. Obsidian will automatically index and display the new note.
Optimizing research notes in Obsidian
To make the most of your Perplexity backups inside Obsidian:
- Enable YAML Front Matter: In the extension's Export settings, turn on YAML. This adds metadata (Title, Platform, Date, Source URL) to the top of each note, allowing you to query them using Obsidian plugins like Dataview.
- Clean Citations: The extension automatically formats Perplexity's web citations as clean Markdown links or lists them as references at the bottom of the note for easy back-linking.
- Vault Organization: Create a dedicated folder (e.g., `AI Research/`) in your vault and select it as your default export folder.
Troubleshooting permission issues
- If the extension falls back to downloading files via the browser downlads folder, Chrome may have lost permission to write to your Obsidian vault. Go back to extension settings and select the folder again to restore access.