LexVoice

LexVoice

中文说明见 README.zh-CN.md.

LexVoice is an Obsidian desktop plugin for recording audio, transcribing speech, building a live outline while you record, and turning meetings into reusable Markdown — todos, learning cards, people records, and ASR hotwords.

It is not a hosted cloud service and ships no API keys. You connect your own speech-to-text (ASR) service and, optionally, your own large language model (LLM). Recordings stay in your vault; nothing is uploaded to any LexVoice server (there is none).

LexVoice started as a plain record → transcribe → summarize plugin. But the valuable part of a meeting is rarely the raw transcript — it is who said what, what to do next, what you learned, and the terms you will hear again. So LexVoice was rebuilt from a transcription tool into a meeting workbench: recording is just the entry point; the live outline, the sediment review, and the object library are the point.

Features

Live outline

Chapters grow as you record, so you can glance at "what was just discussed" mid-meeting instead of waiting until the end. After recording, chapters link to the player — click a chapter to jump to that position in the audio. When recording stops, AI completes the chapters into a full set of meeting notes.

In-meeting notes

While recording, jot live notes under the outline. The first character can trigger different handling:

Trigger the AI assistant:

• #term — hit an unfamiliar term? Type #<term> and the AI explains it in the context of the current discussion.
• ?question — type ?<question> and the AI answers using the current transcript and outline.
• !highlight — type !<point> to mark something important and have the final notes treat it accordingly.

Mark only (no AI call):

• @assignee — record "@alice follows up"; the final notes prefer assigning that todo to them.
• /todo — type /<action> to capture an explicit todo candidate.

Half-width and full-width symbols are both accepted. In-meeting notes are fed into the final summarization prompt as clearly-labeled "live supplementary material", never mixed into the raw transcript.

Sediment workflow

After each note, AI splits the content into four candidate groups you review assembly-line style — keep / merge / ignore:

• People — adjudicated one by one
• Todos — selected by default; edit owner, due date, sub-tasks
• Learning — concepts, mechanisms, cases, opinions, Q&A
• Hotwords — names, organizations, brands, terms, to improve later ASR accuracy

Object library

LexVoice turns reusable meeting content into standalone Obsidian objects — people profiles, todo cards, learning cards, ASR hotwords, and concept / todo / learning-card walls. Everything lives in your own vault; the next time the same person comes up, it links to the existing profile.

Todo enhancements

Edit owner, due date and sub-tasks inline at the candidate stage — no dialogs. Stored todos use standard Markdown task syntax (recognized by plugins like Tasks). Source information is preserved on delete / redo for traceability.

Recording reliability

• Level meters before and after recording show whether the mic and system audio are actually working.
• "Real microphone protection" avoids mistaking virtual devices (CABLE Output, BlackHole, VoiceMeeter, Stereo Mix) for a real microphone.
• A device check in settings diagnoses "recorded but silent" problems.
• Deleting a transcript offers to delete its audio file too.

Export

From one set of notes you can generate an HTML report, an HTML slide deck, an editable .pptx, or an .eml email draft — same content, different skins.

Note list

The sidebar lists recent notes on a timeline (default: this week), filterable by template, with the open note highlighted.

Basic usage

1. Open the LexVoice sidebar.
2. Choose a template and an audio input.
3. Start recording; check that the level meter reacts.
4. Watch the live outline; add in-meeting notes if needed.
5. Stop recording and wait for the final notes.
6. Open Sediment and review people, todos, learning cards, and hotwords.
7. If you need to share, generate an HTML report, slides, PPTX, or an email draft.

Default folders (all configurable in settings):

Requirements

Required:

• Obsidian desktop
• A speech-to-text service (cloud API or local)
• A vault folder for recordings and notes

Recommended:

• An LLM service — powers the live outline, summarization, sediment, export, and template tuning
• A virtual audio device — to record system / online-meeting audio
• A real microphone — to mix in your own voice
• A domain glossary — greatly improves recognition of names, products, organizations, and terms

Audio input & real microphone

Capturing system audio cross-platform from the Obsidian desktop app is unreliable, so recording online meetings, web video, courses, or anything played by the computer usually needs a virtual audio device:

• Windows: VB-Cable
• macOS: BlackHole
• Linux: PulseAudio / PipeWire monitor source

On Windows with VB-Cable, mind the naming:

• Meeting apps, browsers, and system output → CABLE Input
• LexVoice reads CABLE Output (a recording device)
• To also record yourself, the real microphone must be your physical mic — not CABLE Output, BlackHole, VoiceMeeter, or Stereo Mix

If the level meter does not move, run the device check before starting a long recording.

Privacy

No ads, no analytics, no telemetry. Settings are stored locally in .obsidian/plugins/lexvoice/data.json. Recordings are saved to the local vault path you choose; LexVoice has no cloud storage and uploads nothing to any LexVoice server.

However, if you use a cloud ASR or LLM provider, the relevant audio, transcript text, and prompt context are sent to that provider you configured. For sensitive content (client data, medical, legal, HR, recruiting, internal strategy), prefer local transcription + a local model, and obtain consent before recording. See PRIVACY.md.

Installation

Manual install:

1. Quit Obsidian.
2. Copy main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/lexvoice/.
3. Reopen Obsidian.
4. Settings → Community plugins → enable LexVoice.
5. Open the LexVoice settings tab and configure your transcription service and audio input first.

License & credits

LexVoice is released under the MIT License — see LICENSE.

The HTML slide-deck feature was inspired by alchaincyf/huashu-design; its HTML-first slide workflow and design principles influenced this work. Per the upstream license: Derived from alchaincyf/huashu-design.