Filetypes

Filetypes is a fast, lightweight, and strictly local Obsidian plugin for capturing notes and tasks to target files or headings, and creating notes from templates using dynamic variables.

Why this suite exists

I created this suite of Obsidian plugins and the DoomEsque theme so that I can be 100 percent certain there are no network calls or traffic: everything runs 100 percent offline, so I can use Obsidian for my notes in open-book law exams.

• Nothing in the suite makes a network request. Every test run checks the source, built bundle and styles with scripts/offline-audit.mjs, which fails on any network API (fetch, XMLHttpRequest, WebSocket, requestUrl, ...).
• Obsidian itself has separate online features. For a fully offline setup, also turn off automatic updates, Sync and Publish, and don't browse community plugins during the exam.

The suite:

• DoomEsque (theme)
• DoomEsque Settings
• Filetypes
• Inline Autocomplete
• Inline Schema Expander
• Links in New Tabs
• Pomodoro Flashcards
• Task Docket
• Whole-Tree Search

Features

• Unified Template Picker: Run Filetypes: Select from all templates from the Command Palette (or bind it to a hotkey) to search across all configured template actions and markdown files in your templates folder.
  • Press Enter to create a new note in its designated folder.
  • Press Shift + Enter to insert the rendered template directly at the cursor in your active note.
• Convert Selection to Filetype Note: Select any text in the editor and trigger Filetypes: Convert selection to filetype note (via hotkey, command palette, or editor context menu) to bring up the filetype picker modal. Creates a note placed directly in the destination folder configured for that filetype.
  • Automatically derives the note title from the first line or heading of the selection.
  • Replaces the selection in the current note with a markdown link (configurable in settings).
  • Preserves full multi-line content into the new note, or places it precisely using {{SELECTION}}.
• Per-Template & Per-Action Destination Folders: Specify target folders for each template or capture action, with root vault fallback.
• Smart Quick Capture: Append to the end of a note, prepend immediately below frontmatter (preserving YAML metadata), or insert directly under an existing or newly created heading.
• Safe Active Note Editing: When capturing to the currently focused note, edits are applied directly through Obsidian's Editor API to preserve cursor position, selection, and code folding.
• Dynamic Variables & Interactive Prompts:
  • {{VALUE}}, {{NAME}}, {{TITLE}}: Prompts for primary note title or task text.
  • {{SELECTION}}, {{CONTENT}}: Inserts the selected editor text when converting selection to a note.
  • {{VALUE:Custom Prompt}}: Prompts for custom metadata fields (e.g. {{VALUE:Project}}, {{VALUE:Assignee}}).
  • {{DATE}} (YYYY-MM-DD), {{DATE:format}} (e.g. {{DATE:YYYY/MM/DD}}), and {{TIME}} (HH:mm).

Privacy & Security

• Zero Network Calls (100% Offline): Filetypes does not make any network requests, load external scripts or styles, communicate with remote servers, or collect any telemetry or analytics. All operations run locally inside your Obsidian environment.
• Offline audit: Every test run checks the source, built bundle and styles with scripts/offline-audit.mjs, which fails on any network API (fetch, XMLHttpRequest, WebSocket, requestUrl, workers, dynamic import(), ...), dynamic code (eval, new Function), raw HTML injection, or remote CSS (@import, non-data: url()).
• Vault-Confined Path Sanitization: All file and folder paths are sanitized against directory traversal (..) and illegal filesystem characters across Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. No file operations can access anything outside your active vault.
• Safe DOM Practices: No unsafe DOM injection (innerHTML, outerHTML, or eval). All UI elements are rendered using Obsidian's native UI APIs and design tokens.

Commands

• Filetypes: Convert selection to filetype note: Opens the modal to convert the selected editor text into a new note placed in that filetype's folder (can be bound to any hotkey in Settings → Hotkeys).
• Filetypes: Select from all templates: Opens the unified fuzzy picker to create a note or insert a template into the active editor.
• Filetypes: Run action: Opens the action picker to run any configured template or capture workflow.
• Filetypes: Run: <Name>: Individual commands automatically registered for any filetype action with the command palette toggle enabled.

Installation

From Obsidian Community Plugins

1. Open Settings → Community plugins.
2. Turn off Restricted mode.
3. Select Browse and search for Filetypes.
4. Click Install, then Enable.

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest GitHub Release.
2. Create a folder named filetypes inside your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory: <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/filetypes/.
3. Copy the downloaded files into that folder.
4. Reload Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins, and enable Filetypes.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.