Speaking as a superficial git user, can you say why not simply git init on the vault is enough to use it?

Why is a plugin necessary?

Plugin commits and pushes the contents of the notes as they are being updated - from within the Obsidian app.

I prefer not using git the plugin, but still commit to a repo.

Sometimes you'll have to push a big ugly commit.

But other times the manual diff review can save you from a headache, like if you have some obscure syncing going on, like syncing READMEs and other markdown files to external repos to manage all markdown with the same Obsidian interface.

Also if you need to maintain a high-standard for the contents of your notes while still utilizing AI tools, the manual diff review can prove invaluable in ensuring trusted resources don't turn into slop