HTML Docs

A zero-dependency minimal plugin to enable .html docs inside Obsidian. Inspired by Thariq's "unreasonable effectiveness of HTML".

• HTML is rendered in a sandboxed <iframe>, and works across tabs, embeds (![[doc.html]]), and Canvas.
• JS can run inside the HTML for interactivity but the iframe is isolated from your other notes and Obsidian's own data.
• No other bells and whistles.

The plugin is ~190 lines of code, ~660 lines of test, and requires no external dependencies.

Demo

A demo page (test/fixture.html) demonstrates all the passing HTML features.

Installation

Note: Obsidian only shows .md files in your file explorer, by default. To see your .html files too, be sure to enable: Settings → Files & links → Show all file types

Install from Obsidian directly

• Go to Obsidian Community Plugins: community.obsidian.md/plugins/html-docs
• Click Install

Install manually

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Place those files into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/html-docs/.
3. Enable HTML Docs in Obsidian's Community Plugins settings.

Releases are built and signed by GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/release.yml) so the binaries carry a build attestation you can verify against the source.

Build and install from source

git clone https://github.com/smcllns/obsidian-plugin-html-docs/
npm install
npm run dev      # watch + rebuild
npm run build    # production bundle at `dist/html-docs/`

Test

An E2E test runner validates features, embeds, Canvas cards, and sandboxing are working correctly. Requires obsidian-cli, Obsidian running with a vault open, the plugin installed and enabled, and jq available.

npm test

The script builds the current plugin, copies it into the active vault's plugin folder, reloads it, copies test/fixture.html into the vault temporarily, opens it in Obsidian, verifies the tab view plus markdown and Canvas embeds, collects the iframe’s own self-test results via postMessage, then cleans up.

See test/fixture.html for the full list of features exercised — and the inline notes for what is intentionally blocked.

Obsidian Official Resources

• Developer docs: docs.obsidian.md

Feedback / Support

This plugin will stay simple and do this one thing well.

File issues here, or message me on X: @smcllns.

If you want more features, please fork and customize as you need.