Tips and Best Practices

Organizing Your Vault for the Village

Tag Strategy

The village layout is based on tags, so:

Use consistent tags: Standardize your tag naming
Limit top-level tags: Too many tags = cluttered village
Tag important notes: Untagged notes may be excluded

Folder Exclusions

Exclude folders that shouldn’t become villagers:

Templates folder
Archive/old notes
System folders
Daily notes (if not relevant)

Getting the Most from AI Conversations

Write Rich Notes

The AI uses your note content, so:

Detailed notes = better conversations
Include context and background
Structure with headings and lists

Effective Questions

Good: "What are the key points about X in this note?"
Good: "Explain the relationship between A and B."
Good: "Summarize the main ideas here."

Less effective: "What do you think?"
Less effective: "Tell me everything."

Conversation Continuity

The AI remembers the current conversation
Build on previous responses
Ask follow-up questions

Performance Optimization

Large Vaults

If your vault is large:

Exclude unnecessary folders
Reduce maxVillagers
Lower renderQuality
Use fewer zones (topTagCount)

Slow Loading

First load analyzes entire vault
Subsequent loads are faster
Consider reducing scope with exclusions

Village Customization

Changing Layout

To get a new village layout:

Change the Village seed in settings
Reload the village view

Consistent Experience

To keep the same layout:

Don’t change the seed
Same seed = same layout every time

Troubleshooting

Villagers Missing

Check:

Note has at least one tag
Folder isn’t excluded
maxVillagers limit not reached

Village Not Loading

Try:

Reload the view
Check console for errors
Verify Obsidian is up to date

AI Not Responding

Verify:

API key is correct
Internet connection works
Anthropic service is available

Poor Performance

Solutions:

Reduce render quality
Exclude more folders
Lower villager count
Close other resource-heavy applications

Creative Uses

Note Discovery

Explore forgotten notes by wandering
Find connections through zone proximity
Use conversations to refresh your memory

Knowledge Review

Quiz yourself through villager conversations
Ask for summaries of old notes
Explore topics interactively

Writing Inspiration

Talk to character notes for story ideas
Discuss concepts with your research notes
Brainstorm with your idea notes