Companion Setting Up

Use this page for the shortest safe path from disabled to usable.

1. Turn it on

Open Settings -> Companion and enable Companion.

Until this is on, the note button and sidebar widget will not do anything useful.

2. Pick a provider and model

In the same tab:

• Choose an AI provider.
• Choose a Model for that provider.
• If you use OpenRouter, choose the Free or Paid catalog first.
• If you use a custom backend, fill in Endpoint override.

For a low-friction start, use a reliable text model first and add image-capable models later only if you need attachment or image workflows.

3. Save your API key

Companion stores provider keys locally in:

.obsidian/plugins/learnkit/configuration/api-keys.json

4. Protect the key if your vault uses Git

If your vault or .obsidian folder is version-controlled, ignore that file only:

.obsidian/plugins/learnkit/configuration/api-keys.json

5. Choose safe defaults

These defaults are sensible for first use:

• Leave context limits on Standard.
• Keep attachment sending off until you know your model supports it.
• Leave Save chat history on if you want note-specific conversations to reopen later.
• Keep generation targets small when testing flashcard quality.

6. Open Companion

You can launch it in two ways:

• Use the note button, if your Button visibility setting allows it.
• Run the command palette action that opens the companion widget in the sidebar.

Before you trust it

Companion can still hallucinate, over-compress, or miss important context. Treat every answer, critique, and generated flashcard as a draft.

Review the policy here: AI Usage Policy

Last modified: 30/03/2026