Canvas Connect

Canvas Connect is an Obsidian plugin that enhances the Canvas experience by intelligently managing connection lines between nodes.

Features

• Dynamically adjusts connection anchors in real-time as you move nodes
• Smart routing scores every side pair and picks the cleanest path, steering around other cards and avoiding crossings
• Anchors hold steady while you drag, so connections don't flicker between sides
• Quick Connect: connect selected cards from the command palette or a hotkey
• Provides a command to manually optimize all connections at once
• Offers visual feedback with a subtle highlight effect on changed connections (optional)
• Works across all open canvases or just the active one
• Lock a connection's anchors so it stays where you put it

Installation

1. Install via Community plugins here
2. Enable Canvas Connect in the Community Plugins section

Usage

The plugin works automatically once enabled:

• Move nodes in your Canvas to see connections dynamically update
• Use the "Optimize connections" command from the Command Palette (Ctrl+P / Cmd+P) to manually trigger optimization
• Right-click a connection and pick "Lock anchors" to keep the plugin from moving it. Pick "Unlock anchors" to hand it back

Quick Connect

• Select two cards and run "Connect selected nodes" to connect them. The arrow follows reading order: left to right, or top to bottom when the cards are stacked
• To connect one card to many: select it, run "Set selected node as connection source", then select the targets and run "Connect selected nodes from source". Pairs that are already connected are skipped
• Wrong way round? Right-click the connection and pick "Reverse direction", or select connections and run "Reverse selected connections"
• Bind any of these to a hotkey in Settings > Hotkeys

Settings

Canvas Connect can be configured in the plugin settings:

• Routing: Smart (default) picks the cleanest path around other cards. Classic uses the original nearest-side rule
• Quick Connect arrows: One way (default), both ways, or no arrows on connections made with Quick Connect
• Enable dynamic anchors: When enabled, connections update in real-time as you move nodes
• Enable visual feedback: Briefly highlights connections when they're optimized
• Optimize all open canvases: Apply optimization to all open Canvas tabs, not just the active one

Author

Developed by me.