Auto GitKeep

Obsidian plugin that automatically places a .gitkeep file in every folder of your vault so empty directories are tracked by Git.

Author: SATOSprod
License: Proprietary — see LICENSE

Why .gitkeep?

Git does not track empty directories. If your vault has folders with no files — or folders that become empty after a .gitignore rule — those folders simply disappear when someone clones the repository. A .gitkeep is a zero-byte placeholder that forces Git to include the directory.

Features

• Auto scan on startup — when the plugin loads, it scans the entire vault and adds .gitkeep to every folder that is missing one
• Watcher — when a new folder is created (or renamed), .gitkeep is added automatically
• Exclude paths — configure a list of folders to skip (.obsidian, .trash, etc.)
• Manual actions — two on-demand buttons in settings:
  • Add .gitkeep to all folders — full vault scan, safe to run multiple times
  • Remove all .gitkeep — cleans up every .gitkeep from the vault
• Status panel — live counter: total folders, excluded folders, .gitkeep files present
• SVG icons, no emoji — consistent with the SATOSprod plugin style

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.7.2 or later
• Works on desktop and mobile

Installation

From source

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/SATOSprod/auto-gitkeep.git
cd auto-gitkeep

# 2. Install dependencies
npm install

# 3. Build
npm run build
# Produces: main.js

Copy the following files into your vault:

<your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/auto-gitkeep/
├── main.js          ← compiled output
├── manifest.json
└── styles.css

Open Obsidian → Settings → Community plugins → Installed plugins and enable Auto GitKeep.

Development mode (auto-rebuild on save)

npm run dev

Configuration

Open Settings → Auto GitKeep.

Auto GitKeep toggle

Excluded paths

One vault-relative path per line. Subdirectories are excluded automatically.

Default exclusions:

.obsidian
.trash

You can add any folder you do not want .gitkeep files in, for example:

.obsidian
.trash
assets/cache
node_modules

Manual Actions

Both buttons are available in the settings panel regardless of the auto toggle state.

Status Panel

The bottom of the settings page shows a live summary:

File Structure

auto-gitkeep/
├── main.ts               ← TypeScript source
├── main.js               ← compiled output (gitignored, built locally)
├── styles.css            ← plugin styles
├── manifest.json         ← Obsidian plugin manifest
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── esbuild.config.mjs
├── versions.json
├── .gitignore
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

How It Works

1. On load, the plugin calls onLayoutReady and iterates every TFolder in the vault via Obsidian's file system API, creating .gitkeep where missing.
2. It registers a listener on the vault.on("create") event — when Obsidian creates a TFolder, .gitkeep is added to it.
3. A listener on vault.on("rename") handles folder renames — the new path also gets .gitkeep.
4. All file operations go through app.vault so they are compatible with both local vaults and sync services.

License

This project is released under a proprietary license.
Copying source code into other projects is not permitted.
See LICENSE for full terms.

© 2026 SATOSprod