Sadegh Mousavi — sadeghmousavi.com

YouTube to Obsidian
knowledge pipeline

An automated system that transforms video into structured thought — extracting concepts, causal chains, tensions, and assumptions, then generating a personal knowledge base designed for critical thinking.

The premise is simple: most knowledge is trapped in linear media. A one-hour lecture contains perhaps twelve interconnected ideas, their causal relationships, and the tensions between them — but the format hides the structure. This pipeline makes that structure visible.

Pipeline · 8 nodes
01 Trigger manual / webhook
Workflow entry point. Currently manual; upgradeable to a webhook that accepts any URL.
02 Define source set node
The YouTube URL is declared as a variable and passed downstream through the chain.
03 Extract transcript http request
GET request to a free transcript API. Returns timestamped segments as raw JSON.
04 Unify text code · javascript
Fragments become a single continuous string. The first transformation — raw data into readable form.
05 Extract structure gemini api
The core transformation. Gemini receives the transcript with a structured prompt and returns concepts, causal relationships, tensions, contradictions, and a reasoning spine — all as strict JSON.
06 Parse response code · javascript
Validate and extract the structured JSON from Gemini's nested response format.
07 Generate knowledge artifacts code · javascript
JSON becomes three distinct files: a visual mind map, an analytical breakdown, and a distilled summary. Structure becomes form.
08 Write to vault file system
Files are saved directly into the Obsidian vault. The knowledge exists now — searchable, linkable, alive.
Three outputs per source
.canvas
Mind map
Visual chain-of-reasoning with spatial layout mapping argument flow and concept relationships
.md
Full analysis
Analytical breakdown with causal chains, tensions, contradictions, and implicit assumptions
.md
Quick reference
Distilled summary for rapid recall — the essential structure without the scaffolding
Every component runs on free tiers n8n self-hosted · transcript api · gemini flash (1,500 req/day) · obsidian
$0
Stack
n8norchestration
Gemini 1.5 Flashconcept extraction
REST APIstranscript retrieval
JavaScriptdata transformation
Obsidianknowledge base
Sadegh Mousavi — sadeghmousavi.com
Knowledge infrastructure