A “local” AI note assistant does not necessarily keep every part of your notes workflow on your device. Your original files, search index, chat history, model, sync service, and backups can each have different storage locations and network behavior. To know what stays private, check each layer—and each feature—separately.
Where are your notes stored?
In Obsidian’s documented storage model, notes are Markdown plain-text files in a vault: a folder on your local file system. You can open those files with a file manager or another text editor. Obsidian also uses local IndexedDB for backend state and a metadata cache for features such as Graph and Outline. That cache is separate from the note files, can become out of sync, and can be rebuilt. Obsidian: How Obsidian stores data
Those source files are only one layer. An AI feature may also create an index, embeddings, conversation history, cached data, or credentials. Their location and network behavior depend on the specific app, plugin, provider, and settings.
What happens when an assistant searches or answers questions about notes?
To answer a question about a collection of notes, an assistant may search the text, retrieve relevant passages, use embeddings, and include conversation context in a prompt. These are distinct operations: a local source file does not prove that indexing, retrieval, or every request is local. Check where each operation runs and what it sends.
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Local indexing does not rule out optional cloud processing
AI-Vault documents a default mode in which its RAG index is built and searched on the machine. It says that the index, projects, and conversation history are stored on disk outside the vault. Its optional semantic-search setting changes the data flow: if enabled and confirmed, the text of every indexed note and each question asked while RAG is on is sent to OpenAI’s embeddings endpoint—even when the selected chat model is local or Claude. AI-Vault documentation
This example shows why “the chat model is local” is not a complete privacy description. The embedding provider and retrieval settings matter too.
Does local AI send notes to the cloud?
It depends on the feature and configuration. A model can run on your computer while another part of the workflow sends data to a cloud service. Conversely, a plugin may route a request to a local model endpoint. Look for the destination and payload for each action, rather than relying only on a “local AI” label.
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Local model endpoints
The Private AI plugin listing describes support for locally hosted models through LM Studio, says it transmits no data to external services, and identifies the plugin as desktop-only. Those are the plugin author’s claims about that plugin, not an independent guarantee for every assistant, platform, setting, or later version. Private AI plugin listing
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Identify the actual payload
For each assistant action, establish whether it sends a whole note, selected excerpts, all indexed note text, a question or prompt, conversation history, audio, a linked URL, or metadata. The answer may differ between summarizing a note, asking a question, transcribing a recording, searching semantically, and reading a link.
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How do sync and AI processing differ?
Cloud AI processing and cloud sync are separate data flows. Sync copies files to another storage destination; an AI request sends data to the service that performs that operation. You can use one without the other, or both, so assess them independently.
Obsidian Sync’s documentation says end-to-end encryption is the default for a new remote vault, with standard encryption also available. In end-to-end mode, the user’s password is needed to decrypt vault contents, and Obsidian says it cannot access the notes. In standard mode, Obsidian manages the encryption key and may decrypt data in circumstances described in its documentation. Sync does not encrypt the local vault. Some metadata—such as which device uploaded or deleted a file and when—is not end-to-end encrypted. Obsidian Sync: Security and privacy
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Apple describes Apple Intelligence as combining on-device processing with Private Cloud Compute. Its iCloud documentation says data is encrypted in transit and stored encrypted; Advanced Data Protection adds end-to-end encryption for many categories for eligible users who enable it. These are Apple platform descriptions, not a guarantee about how a particular note app or AI plugin handles data. Apple privacy
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does local AI work offline?
Only the features whose required services and data are available locally can work without connectivity. A local model endpoint may avoid a cloud inference request, but an optional cloud embeddings provider, cloud model, remote transcription service, link fetch, or sync operation can still require a network connection. Check the specific feature’s documented endpoint and test its offline behavior rather than assuming the whole app is offline-capable.
The cited product documentation does not establish a general hardware minimum for local AI note assistants. Requirements depend on the model, runtime, and device; do not infer a universal specification from the word “local.”
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How to evaluate an assistant’s data handling
Use these questions for the app and for each feature you plan to use:
- Source storage: Are the original notes local files, app-managed records, or both? Can you open them without the assistant?
- Model endpoint: Does inference happen on the device, at a local server, or with a cloud provider? Can you identify and configure the endpoint?
- Retrieval and embeddings: Where is the index built and stored? Does semantic search send selected excerpts, every indexed note, or derived embeddings to a service?
- Triggers and payloads: Which actions make network requests, and what do they send—note text, prompt, audio, linked URL, metadata, or history?
- History and cache: Where are chats, indexes, metadata caches, and credentials saved? Are they in the vault, outside it, or included in sync?
- Sync and encryption: Is remote sync enabled? Who holds the encryption key, and what metadata is not covered by end-to-end encryption?
- Offline use: Which features continue without a connection, and which depend on a remote service?
- Recovery: Is there a separate backup, and have you checked that it restores the files you need?
How should you back up a local vault?
Local storage is not a backup: a device failure or accidental deletion can still remove the only copy. Obsidian’s backup guidance names operating-system backups to an external drive and discusses NAS backups for experienced users. Keep a separate recoverable copy and verify that it restores the files you care about. Do not assume a sync service is an independent backup; sync and backup have different destinations and purposes. Obsidian: Back up your files
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