Canvas Comments

Add anonymous, threaded comments to Obsidian Canvas elements, Canvas text selections, and selected text in Markdown notes.

Canvas Comments is local-first. It does not require an account, connect to a server, collect telemetry, or add comment markup to your Canvas and Markdown files. Comment data stays inside your vault's plugin data file.

Features

• Add a comment thread to any Canvas element from its context menu.
• Select text while editing a Canvas text card and choose Add comment.
• Select text in a Markdown note and choose Add comment.
• Keep multiple replies in the same thread.
• Highlight active commented text without changing the underlying document.
• Hover over a Canvas marker or highlighted text to preview the latest comment.
• Merge nearby Canvas markers into a total count when zoomed out, then separate them again when zoomed in.
• Mark threads as resolved to hide them without deleting their history.
• Restore resolved threads from the built-in comment manager.
• Keep every comment anonymous: no author name, avatar, account ID, or device identity is stored.
• Automatically migrate data created by Canvas Comments 0.1.x.

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.5.0 or later.
• Desktop Obsidian. Version 1.0.0 is intentionally marked desktop-only because its Canvas editor integration has been verified on desktop and is not yet certified on mobile.

Installation

From the Obsidian Community directory

After the plugin is accepted into the Community directory:

1. Open Settings → Community plugins.
2. Select Browse and search for Canvas Comments.
3. Select Install, then Enable.

Manual installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest GitHub release.

2. Create this folder inside your vault:

   <Vault>/.obsidian/plugins/canvas-comments/
   

3. Copy the three downloaded files into that folder.

4. Reload Obsidian.

5. Enable Canvas Comments under Settings → Community plugins.

Usage

Comment on a Canvas element

1. Right-click a Canvas card, file, image, or other element.
2. Select Add comment.
3. Enter a comment and select the send button, or press Cmd/Ctrl + Enter.
4. Select the purple marker to open the thread and add more replies.

A marker displays the number of comments when a thread contains multiple replies. At low zoom levels, nearby markers merge into one dark count marker. Select that marker to see the commented elements in the cluster.

Comment on text in a Canvas card

1. Double-click a Canvas text card to enter edit mode.
2. Select a line, paragraph, or text range.
3. Right-click the selection and choose Add comment.
4. Enter a comment and send it.

The selected text receives a yellow highlight. Right-click the same selected range and choose Open comment, or select the highlight, to reopen its thread.

Comment on selected text in a Markdown note

1. Open a Markdown note in edit mode.
2. Select a line, paragraph, or text range.
3. Right-click the selection and choose Add comment.
4. Enter a comment and send it.

Canvas Comments uses CodeMirror decorations for editor highlights and best-effort text matching in Reading view. It does not insert <mark> tags or any other comment syntax into the Markdown source.

Reply to a thread

Open an existing marker or highlight, type a reply, and select send. A thread can contain any number of replies. All replies remain anonymous and display only a relative timestamp.

Resolve and restore a thread

• Select the checkmark in the thread header to mark the thread as resolved.
• Resolved threads remain in plugin storage, but their Canvas markers and text highlights are hidden.
• Open Manage resolved comments from the ribbon, Command Palette, or plugin settings to restore a thread.
• Use Delete thread only when you want to permanently remove a thread.

Commands

Open the Command Palette with Cmd/Ctrl + P and search for:

• Add comment to selected note text
• Add or open comment on selected Canvas element
• Mark selected Canvas comment as resolved
• Manage resolved comments
• Toggle Canvas comment markers

The plugin does not assign default hotkeys. You can add your own under Settings → Hotkeys.

Settings

• Show comment markers — Show or hide unresolved Canvas markers.
• Rich hover previews — Show the timestamp and latest comment on hover.
• Cluster below zoom — Choose the zoom level below which nearby markers merge.
• Manage resolved comments — Open the restore manager.

Data and privacy

Comment data is stored locally in:

<Vault>/.obsidian/plugins/canvas-comments/data.json

Canvas Comments:

• does not use the network;
• does not require an account;
• does not collect telemetry or analytics;
• does not load ads or remote assets;
• does not install or update dependencies at runtime;
• does not store comment author names, avatars, account IDs, or device identifiers;
• does not modify .canvas files or Markdown source files to store comments.

If you synchronize plugin configuration between devices, your synchronization tool may also synchronize data.json. Review that tool's settings and privacy policy separately.

Anchor behavior and limitations

• Canvas element threads are associated with a Canvas path and node ID.
• Canvas text-card threads use a local synthetic key containing the Canvas path and node ID.
• Markdown text threads store the selected quote and its character range. If surrounding text changes, the plugin attempts to find the closest matching quote.
• Reading-view highlighting is best-effort for rendered Markdown. Complex selections that cross multiple rendered structures may appear only in edit mode.
• Obsidian does not currently expose every Canvas node API through its public TypeScript definitions. Canvas-specific access is isolated in a compatibility layer, but a future Obsidian Canvas implementation change may require a plugin update.

Development

npm ci
npm run typecheck
npm run build

The production build keeps the Obsidian API and CodeMirror packages external so the plugin reuses Obsidian's editor runtime. Bundling a second CodeMirror instance can break editing inside Canvas cards.

Releases

The GitHub Actions workflow creates a draft GitHub release whenever a version tag is pushed. The tag must exactly match the version in manifest.json, without a v prefix. Each release includes:

• main.js
• manifest.json
• styles.css

See COMMUNITY_RELEASE.md for the Community directory checklist.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Please include your Obsidian version, operating system, reproduction steps, and whether the problem occurs with other community plugins disabled.

License

MIT © 2026 Coenrad Liu