How to Build an Automated Meeting Notes Vault in Obsidian

For builders, researchers, and knowledge workers, Obsidian is the go-to tool for managing personal databases. Because Obsidian is a local-first application that operates on a folder of plain-text Markdown (.md) files, it is fast, durable, and highly customizable.

However, getting meeting notes into Obsidian has traditionally been a manual chore: transcribing audio using online tools, copying and pasting text, and formatting headers manually.

Since justREC is also local-first and exports meetings directly in Markdown, you can connect the two applications to build a fully automated, private meeting notes system.

The Concept: Direct Directory Sync

You don't need plugins or webhooks. Because both Obsidian and justREC operate on standard macOS folder directories, you simply configure justREC to save its files directly inside your Obsidian Vault.

Every time you finish recording and transcribing a meeting, the raw transcript and AI-structured summaries are automatically created inside your vault, ready to be linked and tagged.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up the Workflow

Here is how to set up the integration on your Mac:

Step 1: Create a Meetings Folder in Obsidian

1. Open Obsidian.
2. In your file explorer, create a new folder where you want your meetings to live (e.g., Meetings or Log/Meetings).

Step 2: Configure justREC's Storage Path

1. Open justREC.
2. Go to Settings > Storage & Projects.
3. Under the default storage directory, click Browse and select the folder you just created inside your Obsidian Vault.
4. (Optional) If using the lifetime version of justREC, you can map specific justREC Projects to subdirectories inside your vault (e.g., mapping a justREC project Client Acme to your Obsidian folder /Clients/Acme/Meetings/).

Step 3: Customize the Markdown Template in justREC

justREC allows you to define the structure of your AI summaries using custom templates. You can format this template to leverage Obsidian-specific features:

• Frontmatter Properties: Include YAML metadata at the top of your meetings so Obsidian can index them.
• WikiLinks: Instruct the LLM to format project names or participant names as internal Obsidian links (e.g. [[John Doe]] or [[Project Apollo]]).

Example justREC Summary Template for Obsidian:

---
type: meeting
date: {{date}}
project: [[{{project_name}}]]
participants: [{{participants}}]
tags: [meeting, summary]
---

# Meeting Summary: {{title}}

## 🎯 Key Decisions
- [ ] List key decisions made during the call.

## 📝 Action Items
- [ ] [[{{participants}}]] - Task description

## 📌 Context & Discussion
{{summary_body}}

The Obsidian Result

Once set up, the workflow is seamless:

1. You trigger recording from your macOS menu bar during a Zoom or Google Meet call.
2. When the call ends, justREC transcribes it and runs your custom summary template.
3. Instantly, a new .md file appears in Obsidian.
4. You can open the file in Obsidian, edit the AI-generated tasks, and click on backlinked pages (like [[Project Apollo]]) to view the meeting in relation to your broader project notes.

Why This Beats Cloud-Based Note-Takers

1. No Data Silos: Your meeting notes are not locked on a startup's server. If justREC or Obsidian shutdown tomorrow, your notes remain as standard text files on your hard drive forever.
2. Local Search Speed: Obsidian indexing allows you to search across years of meeting transcripts instantly using local keyword search, without waiting for cloud pages to load.
3. Graph View Integration: Seeing your meetings linked to client records, design documents, and task lists in Obsidian's Graph View helps you visualize connections in your work.

Automate Your Knowledge Vault

Keep your thoughts, meetings, and project documentation in one secure, local space. Download justREC for Mac, set your export directory to your Obsidian vault, and let your meeting notes organize themselves.