{ idirnet }

202603121210-setup-guide

5 min read

Setup Guide — idirnet Shared Open Brain

Welcome to idirnet. This guide walks you through connecting your computer so you can read, write, and sync notes with the rest of the team.

You need three things:

  1. Google Drive for Desktop — syncs the vault to your machine
  2. Obsidian — your local editor for reading and writing notes
  3. Git + Node.js (optional) — only needed if you want to preview or deploy the website

Part 1: Google Drive Sync

This gives you a live copy of all vault files on your local machine.

macOS

  1. Download Google Drive for Desktop
  2. Open the installer and follow the prompts
  3. Sign in with your @idirnet.com Google account
  4. Once signed in, Google Drive appears in Finder under Locations in the left sidebar
  5. The shared idirnet vault lives at: 
    ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-you@idirnet.com/Shared drives/idirnet
    Or if using My Drive: 
    ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-you@idirnet.com/My Drive/idirnet
  6. To confirm it’s working, open Finder → navigate to the path above → you should see the content/ folder with all the vault notes

Finding your exact path

Open Finder, click Google Drive in the sidebar, navigate into the idirnet folder, then drag the folder into Terminal — it will paste the full path.

Windows

  1. Download Google Drive for Desktop
  2. Run the installer
  3. Sign in with your @idirnet.com Google account
  4. Google Drive mounts as a drive letter (usually G:)
  5. The vault lives at: 
    G:\Shared drives\idirnet
    Or if using My Drive: 
    G:\My Drive\idirnet
  6. Open File Explorer and navigate to confirm you see the content/ folder

What sync does

  • Changes you make locally appear for everyone within seconds
  • Changes others make appear on your machine automatically
  • If two people edit the same file at the same time, Google Drive creates a conflict copy (see Part 4 below)

Part 2: Obsidian Setup

Obsidian is the Markdown editor everyone uses to read and write notes.

Install Obsidian

  1. Download Obsidian (free for personal use)
  2. Install and open it

Open the vault

  1. In Obsidian, click Open folder as vault
  2. Navigate to your Google Drive sync folder and select the content folder:
    • macOS: ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-you@idirnet.com/.../idirnet/content
    • Windows: G:\...\idirnet\content
  3. Click Open
  4. Obsidian will create a .obsidian folder inside content/ with your local settings

Open content/, not idirnet/

The vault root should be the content/ folder — this is where all the notes live. Opening the parent idirnet/ folder would expose Quartz config files in your editor.

Enable community plugins

  1. Go to Settings → Community plugins
  2. Turn off Restricted mode (click “Turn on community plugins”)
  3. Click Browse and install these plugins:
PluginPurposeRequired?
TemplaterAuto-fills note templates with dates and metadataYes
DataviewQuery and list notes dynamicallyOptional
CalendarVisual calendar for daily notesOptional
  1. Enable each plugin after installing

Configure Templater

  1. Go to Settings → Templater
  2. Set Template folder location to: 50-Templates
  3. Turn on Trigger Templater on new file creation (optional but recommended)

Configure core settings

These should already be set by the shared config, but verify:

  1. Settings → Files & Links:
    • New file location: In the folder specified below
    • Folder to create new notes in: 00-Inbox
    • Default location for new attachments: In the folder specified below
    • Attachment folder path: 60-Assets
    • Use Wikilinks: ON (this is critical)

Part 3: Creating Your First Note

Quick capture (Fleeting note)

  1. Press Cmd+N (Mac) or Ctrl+N (Windows) to create a new note
  2. It will appear in 00-Inbox/
  3. Open the command palette: Cmd+P / Ctrl+P
  4. Type Templater and select “Templater: Insert template”
  5. Choose Fleeting-Note
  6. Fill in the author field with your name
  7. Rename the file using the format: YYYYMMDDHHMM-your-slug.md
    • Example: 202603121430-interesting-idea-about-networks.md

From a source (Literature note)

  1. Create a new note in 10-Literature/
    • Right-click 10-Literature in the file explorer → New note
  2. Apply the Literature-Note template
  3. Fill in source, source_author, source_url, and author
  4. Write your summary in your own words
  5. Link to related notes using [[wikilinks]]

A refined idea (Permanent note)

  1. Create a new note in 20-Permanent/
  2. Apply the Permanent-Note template
  3. Write one atomic idea — if you’re writing about two things, make two notes
  4. Link generously: [[Related Concept]], [[Another Idea]]
  5. Add relevant tags: #domain/subtopic

Publishing

  • Set publish: true in the frontmatter to make a note visible on the website
  • Set publish: false (or remove the field) to keep it private
  • The website rebuilds automatically when changes are pushed to GitHub

Part 4: Collaboration Rules

Always identify yourself

Fill in the author: field in every note’s frontmatter with your name.

Don’t overwrite others

If you disagree with someone’s note or want to add to it, create a new linked note rather than editing theirs. Reference the original:

## My response to [[Original Note Title]]
 
I think the opposite because...

If you need to add a small comment to someone’s note, use a callout:

> [!note] @YourName
> 
> I think this also connects to [[Some Other Idea]]

Handle sync conflicts

If Google Drive creates a conflict file (e.g., note (conflict from MacBook).md):

  1. Open both the original and the conflict file
  2. Compare the differences
  3. Merge any new content into the original
  4. Delete the conflict file

Process your inbox

Regularly review notes in 00-Inbox/:

  • Promote good ideas to 20-Permanent/ or 10-Literature/
  • Archive stale captures to 70-Archive/
  • Delete junk

Part 5: Website Preview (Optional)

If you want to preview how notes will look on the published website:

Prerequisites

Clone and run

git clone <repo-url> idirnet
cd idirnet
npm install
npx quartz build --serve

Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Most contributors don't need this

If you’re only writing notes, Google Drive + Obsidian is all you need. The website preview is for people who want to check formatting or work on the site itself.

Quick Reference

TaskHow
New quick noteCmd+N → apply Fleeting template
New note from sourceCreate in 10-Literature/ → apply Literature template
New refined ideaCreate in 20-Permanent/ → apply Permanent template
Link to another noteType [[ and start typing the note name
Add a tagIn frontmatter: tags: [domain/subtopic]
Publish a noteSet publish: true in frontmatter
Search everythingCmd+Shift+F (global search)
Find a noteCmd+O (quick switcher)

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