Comparison
sitrep vs Obsidian + Dataview
Obsidian with the Dataview plugin - or the newer built-in Bases - is the closest do-it-yourself substitute for sitrep, and for many people it is the right choice. Here is the honest version of when it is, and when it is not.
Disclosure: this page is written by the maker of sitrep. Read the framing with that in mind - and note that where the honest answer is "use Obsidian", this page says so.
The one-sentence difference
Obsidian is a knowledge base you author into; with Dataview, it rewards that authoring with dashboards you design yourself.sitrep is an AI project status dashboard: a state layer on top of the markdown your AI agents already generate - it parses status, phases, decisions and due dates out of files nobody structured for any tool.
Both are local-first markdown tools, which is why they get compared. But they answer different questions. Obsidian answers "what do I know?" from notes you wrote. sitrep answers "where do my projects stand?" from docs your agents wrote.
Side by side
| sitrep | Obsidian + Dataview | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI project status dashboard - a passive state layer over existing files | Knowledge base and editor; Dataview adds a query language over your vault, the newer built-in Bases a visual database view |
| Cross-project overview | The core feature - status, phases, decisions and staleness across every project, newest activity first | Possible, if you build and maintain the dashboards yourself with DQL queries |
| Works on unmodified agent markdown | Yes - parses the organic conventions in plans, analyses and decision docs as agents write them | No - Dataview needs frontmatter, tags or inline fields; Bases is stricter still, reading properties only and no body text |
| Setup required | Point it at folders | Create a vault, add files to it, structure notes, write and maintain queries |
| Editing | Not an editor - three guarded state operations are the only writes | A full editor; writing is the point |
| Mobile and sync | Planned: a read-only, end-to-end-encrypted mirror of parsed state | Mature mobile apps today, with a paid Sync service - Bases dashboards included |
| Search | Scoped to the project docs it parses - jump to the decision | Full-text over the whole vault, plus backlinks and graph |
| Local-first | Yes - no account, no network, no telemetry by default | Yes - plain markdown on disk |
| Availability | In development, launching first on macOS | Mature, free core app, huge plugin ecosystem |
What about Obsidian Bases?
Bases - built into Obsidian since late 2025, mobile included - removed the query-writing half of the Dataview tax: no DQL, just a visual editor that turns notes into database views. If you were only avoiding Obsidian because of the query language, Bases is the simpler answer, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
What it did not remove is the other half. Bases reads note properties - the frontmatter you author - and file metadata, and nothing else: no body text, not even the inline fields Dataview can read. Point a Base at the markdown Claude Code just wrote and you get an empty table, because agents do not write frontmatter.sitrep's whole premise is that half: it parses status, phases and decisions out of files nobody structured for any tool - zero frontmatter, zero views to configure.
When to choose Obsidian + Dataview
- You want a durable knowledge base you fully control - notes, ideas and references you author yourself, kept for years.
- You enjoy building your own system: dashboards, templates and queries tuned exactly to how you think.
- You need mobile access and sync today, not when a waitlist clears.
- Backlinks, graphs and a plugin ecosystem are features you actually use, not clutter.
In that case Obsidian is excellent, and sitrep will not try to talk you out of it - a second brain is on the anti-roadmap, permanently.
When to choose sitrep
- The markdown piling up on your disk was written by Claude Code, Cursor or Codex - not by you - and restructuring it into a vault is exactly the work you do not want.
- You want project state - what moved, what is stalled, what is waiting on you - without authoring frontmatter or writing queries.
- You juggle several projects and the pain is re-entry: opening a cold project and re-deriving where things stand.
- You have tried the Obsidian dashboard route and abandoned it when the queries went stale - a pattern common enough that it is one of the reasons sitrep exists.
Using both
The tools compose. Keep Obsidian for the knowledge you author; point sitrep at the folders your agents write into. It never asks you to move a file, so there is nothing to migrate and no overlap to manage - it is explicitly not a Notion/Obsidian replacement, and that refusal is written into itsproduct contract.
sitrep is in development, launching first on macOS. Local-first - your files never leave your machine.