Dictate Notes
Into Your Vault

Step 1: Know your vault path

Obsidian vaults are just folders. Set the path once as an environment variable — that's the only configuration you need.

# Common locations
~/Documents/Obsidian/
~/Obsidian/MyVault/
~/vaults/notes/

export OBSIDIAN_VAULT="$HOME/Documents/Obsidian"

Step 2: SpeechButton config.toml

Two hotkeys: ⌘8 appends to today's daily note, ⌘9 drops into a quick inbox. The transform is a local prompt file — no API call, no internet.

# ~/.config/speechbutton/config.toml

[general]
scope = "global"
platform = "macos15"

# Daily journal — append timestamped entry
[[hotkey]]
key       = "RightCommand+8"
channel   = "8"
name      = "obsidian"
transform = "prompts/obsidian_note.md"
exec      = "OBSIDIAN_VAULT=~/Documents/Obsidian integrations/send_obsidian.py"

# Quick inbox — drop a thought into inbox.md
[[hotkey]]
key       = "RightCommand+9"
channel   = "9"
name      = "obsidian-inbox"
transform = "prompts/obsidian_note.md"
exec      = "OBSIDIAN_VAULT=~/Documents/Obsidian integrations/send_obsidian.py --inbox"

Step 3: Local AI transform prompt

SpeechButton runs this prompt through the on-device model. No network request. No API key. Plain text file you can edit anytime.

You are a note formatter for Obsidian.

Convert the following spoken text into clean markdown suitable for an
Obsidian vault. Rules:
- Use ## headings to separate topics if there are multiple
- Use bullet points for lists and decisions
- Use **bold** for names, key terms, and action items
- Format action items as: - [ ] Task description
- Keep it concise — remove filler words
- Do NOT add a title heading (the filename serves as title)
- Output ONLY the markdown content, nothing else

File lives at ~/.config/speechbutton/prompts/obsidian_note.md. Edit to taste — the model runs locally, so no costs, no rate limits.

Step 4: The Python script

One script handles all three modes. Reads from stdin, writes to vault. Pure stdlib — no dependencies to install.

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Append text to Obsidian vault. 100% local."""
import os, sys
from datetime import datetime
from pathlib import Path

def main():
    text = sys.stdin.read().strip()
    if not text: sys.exit(0)

    vault = Path(os.environ.get("OBSIDIAN_VAULT", "~/Documents/Obsidian")).expanduser()

    # Default: daily note
    if "--file" in sys.argv:
        target = vault / sys.argv[sys.argv.index("--file") + 1]
    elif "--inbox" in sys.argv:
        target = vault / "inbox.md"
    else:
        target = vault / f"{datetime.now():%Y-%m-%d}.md"

    target.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%H:%M")
    sep = "\n\n---\n\n" if target.exists() and target.stat().st_size > 0 else ""
    with open(target, "a") as f:
        f.write(f"{sep}**{timestamp}** — {text}\n")
    print(f"Obsidian: → {target.relative_to(vault)}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Save and make executable:

mkdir -p ~/.config/speechbutton/integrations ~/.config/speechbutton/prompts
# save script to:  ~/.config/speechbutton/integrations/send_obsidian.py
chmod +x ~/.config/speechbutton/integrations/send_obsidian.py

1. 1 Download SpeechButton — free 15 minutes/day, no account needed
2. 2 Set your vault path — export OBSIDIAN_VAULT="$HOME/Documents/Obsidian"
3. 3 Copy the config, prompt, and script from this article into ~/.config/speechbutton/ — no API keys, no accounts
4. 4 Hold RightCommand+8, speak, release. Your first voice note appears in Obsidian. Everything ran locally on your Mac.