name: obsidian-plugins description: Use when a task involves managing Obsidian plugins, enabling or configuring community or core plugins, installing beta plugins via BRAT, or working with plugin data files inside a vault.

Obsidian Plugins

Intent Router

Load sections based on the task:

• Core (built-in) plugin list and configuration → references/core-plugins-reference.md
• Community plugin installation, safe mode, and popular plugins → references/community-plugins-guide.md
• Plugin data files, .obsidian/plugins/ structure, and BRAT → references/plugin-data-and-brat.md

Overview

This skill covers Obsidian plugin management: enabling and configuring core (built-in) plugins, installing and updating community plugins, managing plugin data files inside the vault, and installing pre-release plugins via BRAT.

Use it when setting up a plugin-heavy vault, auditing which plugins are active, debugging plugin conflicts, or automating vault configuration that includes plugin state.

Quick Start

# List installed community plugins in a vault
ls /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/

# Inspect a plugin's stored data
cat /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/dataview/data.json

# Validate plugin manifest JSON
python -c "import json; json.load(open('/path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/templater-obsidian/manifest.json'))"

# Check which community plugins are enabled
cat /path/to/vault/.obsidian/community-plugins.json

Preferred Workflow

1. Enable community plugins first: Settings → Community Plugins → toggle off Restricted Mode.
2. Browse and install via Settings → Community Plugins → Browse — search by name or keyword.
3. After installing, open each plugin's settings page to configure it before use.
4. Audit .obsidian/community-plugins.json when migrating a vault to another machine — installed plugins need reinstalling on the new machine.
5. Use BRAT only for plugins not yet published to the community directory; pin to a specific release tag for stability.

Authoring Guidance

This skill is the right fit for:

• enabling or disabling core and community plugins
• configuring plugin behavior through settings
• installing beta or pre-release plugins via BRAT
• scripting vault setup that includes plugin state
• debugging plugin conflicts or broken plugin data files
• auditing plugin permissions and data storage

Plugin Conflicts

Plugins occasionally conflict when two plugins bind the same hotkey or patch the same editor behavior. Disable plugins one at a time to isolate a conflict. The developer console (Ctrl+Shift+I / Cmd+Option+I) shows JavaScript errors from failing plugins.

Official References

Primary sources:

• Obsidian community plugins: https://obsidian.md/plugins
• Obsidian help — plugins: https://help.obsidian.md/Extending+Obsidian/Community+plugins

Deep-dive references for this skill:

• references/core-plugins-reference.md
• references/community-plugins-guide.md
• references/plugin-data-and-brat.md