HTML External Opener is a lightweight Obsidian Desktop plugin for people who keep interactive demos, visualizations, reports, and standalone web pages alongside their Markdown notes. It opens local .html and .htm links in the operating system's default application or a browser executable you choose.

Features

• One-click opening — open local HTML links directly from Reading View.
• Vault-aware paths — resolve relative links from the current Markdown note, including URL-encoded spaces and non-ASCII filenames.
• Your browser, your choice — use the system file association or specify Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or another browser executable.
• Editor command — open the HTML link under the cursor from Source Mode or Live Preview using the Command Palette.
• Vault boundary checks — reject paths that resolve outside the current Vault, including symlink escapes.
• No tracking — no network requests, telemetry, analytics, advertisements, or third-party runtime dependencies.

Installation

Community plugins

Once the plugin is approved and listed in the Obsidian Community Plugins directory:

1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse.
2. Search for HTML External Opener.
3. Select Install, then enable the plugin.

Manual installation

After a GitHub Release is available:

1. Download main.js and manifest.json from Releases.
2. Create .obsidian/plugins/html-external-opener/ inside your Vault.
3. Place both files directly in that folder.
4. Restart Obsidian and enable HTML External Opener in Settings → Community plugins.

Usage

Add a normal relative Markdown link to a local HTML file:

[Open interactive demo](examples/interactive-demo.html)

• Reading View: click the rendered link. The plugin opens the local HTML file externally.
• Source Mode / Live Preview: place the editor cursor inside the Markdown link, open the Command Palette, and run Open HTML link at cursor in external browser.

The editor command supports standard inline Markdown links and angle-bracket destinations containing spaces:

[Open demo](<examples/my interactive demo.html>)

Settings

Example Chrome path on Windows:

C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe

Security

The plugin is designed to handle local Vault files rather than arbitrary URLs.

• Only local HTML links resolved by Obsidian inside the current Vault are eligible.
• External protocols such as http:, https:, mailto:, javascript:, and file: are not intercepted.
• Before opening a file, the plugin resolves its real filesystem path and verifies that it is a regular file inside the Vault. Symlinks that point outside the Vault are rejected.
• A custom browser path must be an absolute path to an existing file. The browser is launched with shell: false; Markdown content is never used to construct a shell command.
• The plugin does not read, upload, or transmit note contents. It makes no network requests and collects no usage data.

Important: HTML files can execute JavaScript and load remote resources when opened in a browser. Only open HTML files you trust. The plugin does not sandbox the contents of an HTML page.

Compatibility and limitations

• Obsidian Desktop 1.5.0 or later.
• Requires a local filesystem Vault. Obsidian Mobile and remote/custom Vault adapters are not supported.
• The plugin opens files using file://; pages that depend on a web server (for example, some module imports, API requests, or service workers) may need a local development server.
• With the operating-system default application, URL fragments such as #section are not forwarded. A configured browser receives the fragment.

Development

Requirements: Node.js 20 or later.

npm ci
npm test
npm run build
npm run check

The build generates main.js and copies the release files into release-assets/. Generated files are intentionally excluded from source control; attach release-assets/main.js and release-assets/manifest.json to a GitHub Release.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for contribution guidelines and SECURITY.md for vulnerability reporting.

License

Released under the MIT License.

中文说明

HTML External Opener 是一款面向 Obsidian 桌面版 的轻量插件，用于将 Markdown 笔记中的本地 HTML 链接交给系统默认程序或指定浏览器打开。

功能特点

• 在阅读视图中单击本地 .html / .htm 链接，即可使用外部浏览器打开。
• 根据当前 Markdown 笔记解析 Vault 内的相对路径，支持中文文件名和 URL 编码空格。
• 支持系统默认 HTML 打开程序，也支持指定 Chrome、Edge、Firefox 等浏览器。
• 在源码模式或实时预览模式下，可通过命令面板打开光标所在的 HTML 链接。
• 校验目标文件是否位于当前 Vault 内，拒绝越界路径和指向 Vault 外部的符号链接。
• 不联网、不收集遥测或使用数据，不包含广告，也没有第三方运行时依赖。

安装

社区插件市场： 待插件通过审核并上架后，在「设置 → 第三方插件 → 浏览」中搜索 HTML External Opener，安装并启用。

手动安装： 从 GitHub Releases 下载 main.js 和 manifest.json，放入 Vault 的 .obsidian/plugins/html-external-opener/ 文件夹，重启 Obsidian 后启用。

使用

在 Markdown 笔记中添加普通相对链接：

[打开互动示例](examples/interactive-demo.html)

• 阅读视图： 单击渲染后的链接，在外部浏览器打开。
• 源码模式 / 实时预览： 将光标放在 Markdown 链接内部，打开命令面板并执行 Open HTML link at cursor in external browser。

设置

• Browser executable path： 浏览器可执行文件的绝对路径。留空则使用操作系统默认 HTML 文件关联。
• HTML extensions： 需要外部打开的扩展名，默认 html, htm。
• Intercept rendered Markdown links： 控制是否自动拦截阅读视图中的本地 HTML 链接。

安全说明

插件只处理解析到当前 Vault 内的本地 HTML 文件。打开前会检查文件真实路径、文件类型和 Vault 边界；拒绝越界符号链接。自定义浏览器通过 shell: false 的方式启动。插件不读取或传输笔记内容，不联网，也不收集使用数据。

请注意：HTML 页面本身仍可能执行 JavaScript 或加载远程资源。只打开可信来源的 HTML 文件。

兼容性

• Obsidian Desktop 1.5.0 或更高版本。
• 需要本地文件系统 Vault；不支持移动端及远程 Vault 适配器。
• 对依赖 Web Server 的页面功能，可能需要自行启动本地开发服务器。

开发与许可

需要 Node.js 20 或更高版本。运行 npm ci、npm test、npm run build 和 npm run check 可安装依赖、运行测试并构建发布文件。

本项目采用 MIT License 开源。