Community launch: blog posts, HN/Reddit announcements, positioning

Start with Epic #603 and confirm that parser #604 and plugins #606 and #607 have shipped. Review the planned article for docs.terraphim.ai, channel-specific announcements, demo video, and timing sequence. Done means the blog post, video, HN, Reddit, forum, Discourse, and Medium launch materials are published as planned.

Summary

Coordinated community launch for the Obsidian + Logseq plugins. Blog post, Hacker News submission, Reddit posts in targeted subreddits, Obsidian/Logseq forum announcements.

Positioning

One-Liner

"Deterministic semantic search for your vault -- define synonyms in your notes, get instant concept matching. 15 MB RAM, zero LLM, zero cloud."

Elevator Pitch (HN/Reddit)

Your Obsidian aliases: and Logseq synonyms:: properties are already a knowledge graph -- you just don't have a search engine that uses them. Terraphim compiles your synonyms into Aho-Corasick finite state automata (the same algorithm used in grep, antivirus scanners, and network intrusion detection) and runs sub-200ms concept matching across your entire vault. No embeddings, no API keys, no cloud. Just a state machine and your markdown.

Differentiator Matrix

	Terraphim	Obsidian Search	Smart Connections	Omnisearch
Synonym expansion	Yes (aliases/synonyms)	No	No	No
LLM required	No	No	Yes (API key)	Optional
Network required	No	No	Yes	No
Deterministic results	Yes	Yes	No (probabilistic)	Partial
RAM usage	15 MB	Built-in	~200 MB+	~50 MB
Concept relationships	Yes ([[wikilinks]])	No	Embedding similarity	No
Open source	MIT + Apache-2.0	No (proprietary)	MIT	MIT

Blog Post: docs.terraphim.ai

Title: "How Aho-Corasick Automata Make Your Obsidian Vault Searchable"

Outline:

1. The problem: you have 1,000+ notes, search returns noise
2. What most people do: full-text search (regex), or throw an LLM at it (expensive, non-deterministic)
3. What terraphim does: compile your aliases: / synonyms:: into a finite state automaton
4. How Aho-Corasick works (visual: trie -> failure links -> scanning)
5. Demo: search "context management" in vault, find all notes about "context engineering" and its synonyms
6. Performance: benchmark vs Obsidian native search vs Smart Connections
7. Privacy: 15 MB RAM, zero network, runs in-process via WASM
8. How to install the Obsidian plugin
9. How to install the Logseq plugin
10. How to write effective synonyms in your notes

Tone: Technical but accessible. Show the algorithm, not just the product. HN audience respects depth.

Hacker News

Submission title options (A/B test mentally):

• "Show HN: Aho-Corasick semantic search for Obsidian/Logseq vaults (Rust/WASM)"
• "Show HN: Terraphim -- compile your notes' synonyms into a finite state machine for search"
• "Show HN: I compiled my Obsidian vault into an Aho-Corasick automaton for sub-200ms search"

Best time to post: Tuesday-Thursday, 8-10 AM ET (peak HN traffic)

First comment (OP comment, critical for HN engagement):

• Why I built this: personal vault grew to 2,000+ notes, search was broken
• The insight: Logseq's synonyms:: and Obsidian's aliases: are already a knowledge graph
• Technical choice: Aho-Corasick not embeddings because deterministic + offline + fast
• What's different from grep: synonym expansion turns one search into many pattern matches
• Stack: Rust core, WASM for browser/Electron, MIT + Apache-2.0

HN angles that resonate:

• "Deterministic > probabilistic" (anti-LLM-for-everything sentiment)
• "Local-first / privacy-first" (strong HN value)
• "Rust + WASM" (HN loves this stack)
• "Algorithm-first, not model-first" (Aho-Corasick is computer science, not AI hype)

Reddit

r/ObsidianMD (~300k members)

Title: "I built a plugin that compiles your aliases: into a search engine -- no LLM required"

Content:

• Demo GIF: search in command palette, see synonym-expanded results
• "If you write aliases: in your frontmatter, you already have a knowledge graph"
• Link to plugin in community registry
• Comparison with Smart Connections (honest, fair)

r/logseq (~30k members)

Title: "Your synonyms:: properties now power real semantic search"

Content:

• Demo GIF: slash command search with synonym expansion
• "Every synonyms:: line you've written is a search rule"
• Link to Logseq marketplace

r/PKMS (~25k members)

Title: "Built a privacy-first semantic search engine that works with both Obsidian and Logseq"

Content:

• Cross-tool angle: works with both tools via shared markdown syntax
• Privacy angle: 15 MB, zero cloud, zero API keys
• Open source angle: MIT + Apache-2.0, Rust core

r/rust (~300k members)

Title: "Aho-Corasick automata for knowledge graph search: 42-crate Rust workspace with WASM plugins for Obsidian/Logseq"

Content:

• Technical focus: how Aho-Corasick is used for synonym expansion
• Architecture: 42 crates, WASM compilation, Tauri desktop
• Performance numbers: sub-200ms on 2,000+ note vault
• Link to GitHub

r/selfhosted (~400k members)

Title: "Self-hosted semantic search for your markdown notes -- Rust, 15 MB RAM, runs locally"

Content:

• Self-hosting angle: single binary, no dependencies
• Docker support (if available) or binary download
• Integrates with existing Obsidian/Logseq setup

Obsidian Forum

Category: Share & showcase
Title: "Terraphim: Deterministic semantic search using your aliases"

Content:

• Plugin demo with screenshots
• How aliases: drive the search
• Performance comparison
• Link to community plugin listing

Logseq Forum / Discord

Channel: #plugins or #showcase
Title: "Terraphim: Your synonyms:: properties now power Aho-Corasick search"

Content:

• Plugin demo
• How existing synonyms:: properties are used
• Link to marketplace

Discourse (terraphim.discourse.group)

Announcement post: reference all the above, central discussion hub

YouTube / Loom

3-minute demo video:

1. Open Obsidian vault with 1,000+ notes (0:00-0:15)
2. Native search for "context management" -- shows 3 results (0:15-0:30)
3. Install terraphim plugin (0:30-0:45)
4. Same search -- shows 15 results (synonyms expanded) (0:45-1:15)
5. Show aliases: in one of the matched files (1:15-1:30)
6. Show the concept graph in sidebar (1:30-2:00)
7. Performance: search takes <200ms on the full vault (2:00-2:15)
8. RAM usage: 15 MB total (2:15-2:30)
9. Call to action: GitHub stars, community plugin install (2:30-3:00)

Medium

Publication: Submit to "Obsidian Observer" publication (high reach in Obsidian community)
Article: Cross-post of blog post, adapted for Medium formatting

Timing

1. Parser (#604) and plugin (#606, #607) ship first
2. Blog post written and published on docs.terraphim.ai
3. Demo video recorded
4. HN Show HN submission (Tuesday-Thursday, 8-10 AM ET)
5. Reddit posts same day (stagger by 2-3 hours)
6. Obsidian/Logseq forum posts same day
7. Medium cross-post 2-3 days later (different audience peak)

Success Metrics

Metric	Target (first month)
Obsidian plugin installs	500+
Logseq plugin installs	100+
GitHub stars (terraphim-ai)	+200
HN upvotes	50+
Reddit combined upvotes	200+
Discord members	+50
Blog post views	2,000+

Part of

Epic #603