obsidian-plugin
Create and develop Obsidian plugins from scratch. Use when building a new Obsidian plugin, scaffolding from the sample-plugin-plus template, or developing plugin features. Covers project setup, manifest configuration, TypeScript development, settings UI, commands, ribbons, modals, and Obsidian API patterns.
Why use this skill?
Learn how to build, scaffold, and deploy custom Obsidian plugins using the obsidian-plugin skill. Streamline your workflow with templates and API best practices.
Install via CLI (Recommended)
clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/davidvkimball/obsidian-plugin-devWhat This Skill Does
The obsidian-plugin skill provides a robust framework for developing, maintaining, and deploying custom plugins for the Obsidian note-taking application. It streamlines the entire lifecycle of plugin development, starting from repository scaffolding using the obsidian-sample-plugin-plus template, to managing manifest configurations, handling TypeScript logic, and implementing UI components like modals and settings tabs. The skill enforces best practices for the Obsidian API, ensuring that your plugins are modular, resource-efficient, and compatible with various Obsidian versions. It automates common boilerplate tasks, such as project initialization, script setup for local development, and linting configurations, allowing developers to focus on writing business logic rather than configuration management.
Installation
To integrate this skill, use the command: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/davidvkimball/obsidian-plugin-dev. After installation, ensure you have pnpm installed and have cloned the template repository as described in the quick start documentation. Run the initialization script pnpm obsidian-dev-skills to bind the skill to your project environment, allowing OpenClaw to provide context-aware suggestions for your TypeScript source files.
Use Cases
Use this skill when you need to extend Obsidian's core functionality with custom features. This includes building specialized productivity tools, automating note-taking workflows, integrating external APIs into your vault, creating custom view modes, or developing complex settings UIs for user configuration. It is ideal for developers transitioning from prototype to production-ready Obsidian plugins who need a standardized directory structure and reliable build pipeline.
Example Prompts
- "I want to build a plugin that adds a custom ribbon icon to create a daily habit tracker. Can you help me scaffold this and set up the basic command registration?"
- "Show me how to properly implement a settings tab for my plugin using the Obsidian Settings API, including a toggle for enabling/disabling a specific feature."
- "My plugin needs to respond to file creation events in the vault. Can you show me the correct event listener pattern in my main.ts and how to properly clean it up in onunload?"
Tips & Limitations
Always use the provided pnpm dev watch mode to observe changes in real-time within your local vault. When testing, consider installing the 'Hot Reload' community plugin in Obsidian to bypass the need for constant manual restarts. Note that this skill requires a foundational understanding of TypeScript and the Obsidian API. For complex DOM manipulations, ensure you follow Obsidian's layout constraints to maintain stability. Always check the manifest.json for correct minAppVersion requirements to prevent plugin crashes on older Obsidian releases.
Metadata
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Find the right skillPaste this into your clawhub.json to enable this plugin.
{
"plugins": {
"official-davidvkimball-obsidian-plugin-dev": {
"enabled": true,
"auto_update": true
}
}
}Tags(AI)
Flags: file-write, file-read, code-execution