PDFs → Living Knowledge Networks

Upload a PDF. Get an Obsidian vault. BrainLattice extracts concepts, maps relationships, and writes all the notes automatically.

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Demo

brainlattice_web_demo.mov

brainlattice_cli_demo.mov

Or watch it on YouTube.

The Problem

PDFs are linear, but knowledge is a network. Tools like NotebookLM or ChatPDF are great for quick Q & A, but they lock your data inside their SaaS ecosystems.

Turning a 200+ page textbook into a structured system of notes, links, and concepts in your own Obsidian vault, is a manual work that most people never finish.

The Solution

BrainLattice reads the PDF and does all of it automatically: extracts concepts, maps relationships, and writes full markdown notes. Drop it into Obsidian and you're way ahead in learning the contents.

• Obsidian Vaults: Auto-generated notes with [[backlinks]] ready to open in Obsidian.
• WebGL Knowledge Graph: Interactive, searchable force graph. See the whole textbook in one canvas.
• Source-grounded Notes: Every note is synthesized from actual source chunks—more relevant and no hallucinations.
• Concept Hierarchy: Ancestors (prerequisites) and descendants for every node.
• CLI Workflow: brainlattice -> config -> gen path/to/pdf — done.
• BYOK: API keys stay in-memory. Never stored.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React + Vite + Force Graph (WebGL)
• Backend: FastAPI
• Database: Neon PostgreSQL
• Infra: AWS Lambda, Cloudflare R2, Upstash Redis, Upstash QStash
• CLI: Node.js (Commander.js)

How to use

Requires API keys from Google AI, OpenRouter, and optionally, OpenAI.

BrainLattice Web App

1. Open BrainLattice web app.
2. Fill in your API keys by clicking the settings icon in the top navigation bar.
3. (Optional) You can sign up for an account to sync your projects across devices; otherwise it's local-only.
4. Upload a PDF.
5. Wait for the graph generation to complete.
6. Click on any node to view the LLM-generated notes.
7. If you want a Obsidian vault with full notes, click "export" to export the graph, and click "download" to download the prepared zip file. Then unzip the file and open it in Obsidian (File > Open Vault > Open Folder as Vault).

BrainLattice CLI

Installation

npm i -g brainlattice

Start

This will open an interactive session.

brainlattice

Core Usage

Optionally login (if you want projects to sync across devices).

login

Configure your vault & keys.

config

Generate a vault from a local pdf.

gen path/to/pdf

For more details, see the CLI Documentation or enter help in the interactive session.

Architecture

Local dev

For full setup details, see the specific READMEs in /frontend and /backend.

1. Configure Keys

Create a .env in backend/ with your API keys and DB URL (Neon PostgreSQL required, make sure to enable pooled connections):

GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_key_here
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your_openrouter_key_here
DATABASE_URL=your_db_url_here

2. Start Backend

cd backend
uv sync
uv run uvicorn main:app --reload

3. Start Frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

The app will be live at http://localhost:5173.

More Info on Local Development/Self-Hosting

Consult the README.md files inside the frontend/ and backend/ folders for detailed instructions.

Contributions

Please open an issue or submit a pull request!

License

MIT