Literature Review Synthesizer

An Obsidian plugin that transforms your academic reading notes into structured literature review outputs using LLMs — entirely within your vault, with your own API key.

What It Does

PhD students and academic researchers read between 50 and 200 sources for a single literature review. Taking notes is the easy part. Synthesizing them is the bottleneck.

Literature Review Synthesizer connects your Obsidian reading notes directly to an LLM of your choice, and produces:

• Thematic Synthesis — Identifies recurring themes and patterns across your sources
• Methodological Comparison Matrix — Compares research designs, samples, and analysis methods (Pro)
• Research Gap Analysis — Surfaces what is missing, contested, or unresolved (Pro)
• Draft Literature Review Section — Produces a fluent, citation-ready draft (Pro)

All processing happens between your Obsidian vault and the LLM provider you choose. Your API key is stored locally and is sent only to that provider. Your note content is sent directly to that provider so it can be synthesized — it is never routed through a server belonging to this plugin's developer.

Key Features

• Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) — Works with OpenAI, Anthropic, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (OpenRouter, Ollama, etc.)
• Zero data sovereignty compromise — No cloud sync, no telemetry, no server
• Folder or tag-based source selection — Point it at any folder or tag in your vault
• Structured output — Results saved as new notes with frontmatter, backlinks, and timestamps
• Citation format support — APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard
• Free tier — 3 syntheses in total at no cost (a one-time lifetime allowance, not a monthly reset)
• Pro tier — Unlimited syntheses, all four modes, custom prompts

Installation

From Obsidian Community Plugins

1. Open Obsidian → Settings → Community Plugins
2. Search for "Literature Review Synthesizer"
3. Click Install, then Enable

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release from GitHub Releases
2. Extract into your vault's .obsidian/plugins/literature-review-synthesizer/ folder
3. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins

Setup

1. Open Settings → Literature Review Synthesizer
2. Choose your LLM provider (OpenAI or Anthropic)
3. Enter your API key
4. Optionally enter a Custom Base URL for OpenRouter or local models
5. Click Test Connection to verify

Usage

1. Press ⌘/Ctrl + P and run Open Literature Review Synthesizer
2. Select your source type: by folder or by tag
3. Choose a synthesis mode
4. Add optional context about your research focus
5. Click Run Synthesis

The generated note will open automatically in your vault under the Literature Reviews folder.

Free vs Pro

The free tier allows 3 syntheses in total. This is a one-time lifetime allowance — it does not reset monthly. A synthesis that fails does not consume one of your free uses: the use is reserved before the request and refunded if the synthesis does not complete.

The free allowance is stored in this vault's local plugin data. Each vault has its own allowance. Removing the plugin's local data may reset the recorded usage. There is no account and no server-side record of your usage.

Pro is a one-time purchase — no subscription, and no account. Your license key is verified offline on your own machine; activation never requires network access. Pro covers the plugin only; LLM provider usage is billed separately by the provider whose API key you configure.

Get Pro: Purchase on Gumroad

Privacy

• Your API key is stored locally in Obsidian's plugin data
• Your notes are sent only to your chosen LLM provider, not to any server controlled by this plugin's developer
• No analytics, no telemetry, no tracking of any kind
• Network use: This plugin sends your note content to the LLM provider you configure (OpenAI, Anthropic, or a compatible endpoint). No data is sent to the plugin developer's servers. Internet access is required only for LLM API calls.

Supported LLM Providers

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.4 or later
• An API key from a supported LLM provider
• Works on desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux) and on Obsidian mobile — all network requests use Obsidian's built-in requestUrl API, and the plugin uses no desktop-only APIs

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Support

For bug reports and feature requests, please open an issue on GitHub. For license activation issues, open a GitHub Issue in this repository.