IGDB Game Search

Easily create game notes from IGDB.

Demo

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e19ee2d0-1c84-4092-87d9-ee2f84b636d1

Description

Use this plugin to search games by:

• Game title

Use IGDB API to get the game metadata.

Network use

The plugin talks to the following remote services:

• IGDB API (api.igdb.com) — searches games and fetches game metadata. Requires a Twitch Client ID and Client Secret (see below).
• Twitch OAuth (id.twitch.tv) — exchanges your Client ID / Client Secret for the IGDB access token. Credentials are stored locally in the plugin data file.
• DeepL API (api.deepl.com / api-free.deepl.com) — optional; translates the summary and storyline when enabled.
• images.igdb.com — downloads cover images and screenshots into your vault when the corresponding settings are enabled.
• Steam Web API (api.steampowered.com) — contacted only when Steam integration is enabled; retrieves public game details and achievements for the configured profile. No HowLongToBeat service is contacted.

No analytics or telemetry are collected.

How to install

Install from Community plugins:

1. Open Settings → Community plugins.
2. Search for IGDB Game Search.
3. Click Install, then Enable.

For development builds, install manually instead: copy manifest.json, main.js, and styles.css into VaultFolder/.obsidian/plugins/igdb-game-search/, reload Obsidian, and enable IGDB Game Search in Community plugins.

Requires Obsidian 1.13.0 or later.

How to use

1. Click the ribbon icon, or execute the command Create new game note.

2. Search for a game by title.

3. Select the game from the search results.

4. A note is created from the selected metadata.

5. Insert metadata into an existing note

Open a note, then run the Insert metadata command from the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd+P). The rendered metadata block (frontmatter + content, following your template or default settings) is inserted at the top of the current note. No new file is created.

How to get Twitch Client ID and Client Secret

1. Create a Twitch account if you do not already have one.
2. Enable Two Factor Authentication on your Twitch account.
3. Open the Twitch Developer Portal: https://dev.twitch.tv/console
4. Register a new application.
5. If Twitch asks for an OAuth Redirect URL, add localhost to continue.
6. Set the Client Type to Confidential so Twitch can generate a Client Secret.
7. Open the newly created application settings.
8. Generate a Client Secret by pressing New Secret.
9. Copy both the Client ID and Client Secret.
10. Paste them into the plugin settings in Obsidian.

For IGDB API details, see the official docs: https://api-docs.igdb.com

The IGDB API is free for non-commercial use under the Twitch Developer Service Agreement.

How to use settings

UI language

Choose the plugin UI language.

Auto follows your current Obsidian language. You can also force English, Japanese, or Korean.

Twitch Client ID / Client Secret

Enter your Twitch Client ID and Client Secret in the plugin settings.

The plugin uses these credentials to get an IGDB access token automatically.

Time-to-beat metadata

Time-to-beat estimates are fetched automatically for the selected game when creating a note or inserting metadata, using the existing IGDB credentials. No toggle or additional API key is required; search results are not individually enriched. The obsolete enableTimeToBeat setting is ignored on load and omitted on subsequent saves, including previously saved false values. IGDB's hastily value maps to main (credits without notable extras), normally to average (some extras), and completely to completionist. Values are converted from seconds to hours with two decimal places. IGDB is the only source: no compliant public HowLongToBeat API is established, so the plugin does not scrape the site or use private-token workarounds. Missing estimates are blank. Complete results, including misses, are cached for one hour; transient failures are not cached.

Steam integration

Enable Enable Steam integration to fetch public game details and achievements for the selected game (not for every search result). Create a Steam Web API key at https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey, add it to Obsidian Secret Storage, then select its secret name in Steam API key. The key value is never stored in data.json. Set Steam profile to a 17-digit SteamID64, https://steamcommunity.com/id/<vanity>/, or https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/<SteamID64>/. The profile must be public, and its game details and achievements must be visible. With no key, a private profile, or no game data, the Steam fields are blank or empty arrays. When integration is disabled, no Steam data is requested or sent.

New enrichment UI strings

Every key below is present in English, Japanese, and Korean locale maps.

Steam game/achievement results and vanity lookups are cached in memory for one hour, including empty API results; transient request failures are retried on the next note. Changing the selected secret value or profile resets the client cache. Closing/reloading the plugin discards the cache. No HowLongToBeat requests are made.

New file location

Set the folder where the new game note is created.

If empty, the note is created in the vault root.

New file name

Set the file name format.

The default format is {{title}}.

You can also use {{DATE}} or {{DATE:YYYYMMDD}}.

Template file

Set the template file path used when creating a note.

If no template file is set, the plugin creates a note from the built-in metadata rendering.

Translation

Use DeepL to translate long-form fields before writing them into your note.

Only summary and storyline are translated. Short metadata such as genres, platforms, and company names stay in the original IGDB form.

When the target language is set to Auto, the plugin follows your current Obsidian language.

If translation fails, the plugin keeps the original English text and continues note creation.

Show cover images in search

Show IGDB cover images in the search results.

Open new game note

Open the created note automatically after selection.

Cover image saving

Download and save the selected game cover inside your vault.

Use {{localCoverImage}} in your template if you want to embed the saved image.

Cover image folder

Set the folder where downloaded cover images are stored.

Screenshot saving

Download IGDB screenshots into your vault.

Screenshots are stored under the configured root folder, with one subfolder per game.

Screenshot folder

Set the root folder where downloaded screenshots are stored.

Note content

Configure how the note body and frontmatter are generated when no template file is set.

Use the Use default frontmatter toggle to include game metadata (title, platforms, ratings...) as frontmatter.

Frontmatter key style switches the default frontmatter keys between Camel Case and Snake Case.

Extra frontmatter adds custom YAML keys to the frontmatter, one key: value per line.

Note content is the body template used when no template file is set, supporting {{variable}} syntax. It is ignored when a template file is set.

Example template

Please also find a definition of the variables used in this template below.

---
type: game
title: '{{title}}'
aliases: '{{alternativeTitle}}'
platforms: '{{platform}}'
genres: '{{genre}}'
developers: '{{developer}}'
publishers: '{{publisher}}'
franchise: '{{franchise}}'
collection: '{{collection}}'
released: '{{firstReleaseDate}}'
year: '{{releaseYear}}'
rating: '{{totalRating}}'
igdb: '{{igdbUrl}}'
cover: '{{coverLargeUrl}}'
localCover: '{{localCoverImage}}'
created: '{{DATE:YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss}}'
updated: '{{DATE:YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss}}'
---

<%\* if (tp.frontmatter.cover && tp.frontmatter.cover.trim() !== "") { tR += `![cover|200](${tp.frontmatter.cover})` } %>

# {{title}}

## Summary

{{summary}}

## Storyline

{{storyline}}

Template variables definitions

Write {{name}} in your template and replace name with the desired field.

Advanced

Templater

• This plugin replaces {{variables}} and date placeholders, but it no longer executes custom <%= ... %> expressions.
• Use the Templater plugin for loops, conditions, or any other scripting inside templates.
• If you want to render screenshots or add conditional sections, use Templater on top of the generated metadata.
• Native filters support YAML-safe arrays ({{genres|yaml}}), the first string ({{developers|first}}), custom separators ({{genres|join: / }}), chained filters ({{developers|first|yaml}}), and safe scalar quoting ({{title|yaml}}). Raw {{title}} intentionally emits an unquoted value.

Native YAML template

---
title: {{title|yaml}}
genres: {{genres|yaml}}
platforms: {{platforms|yaml}}
developers: {{developers|yaml}}
steam: {{steamStoreUrl|yaml}}
---

Templater recipe

This reproduces the Resident Evil Requiem cleanup in #4. The legacy property name Metacritic below contains totalRatingCount (IGDB vote count), not a Metacritic score; rename it to RatingVotes in a new template.

The following <%* script uses JSON array literals supplied by the plugin. It emits YAML block lists, full-path wikilinks, safe first-name scalars, and optional Steam URL without evaluating raw game text as Templater code.

<%*
const genres = {{genresList}};
const platforms = {{platformsList}};
const title = {{title|json}};
const developer = {{developers|first|json}};
const publisher = {{publishers|first|json}};
const cover = {{localCoverWikilink|json}};
const backdrop = {{firstScreenshotWikilink|json}};
const steamUrl = {{steamStoreUrl|json}};
const date = {{firstReleaseDate|json}};
const rating = {{totalRatingCount|json}};
const quote = value => JSON.stringify(String(value ?? ''));
const scalar = value => {
  const text = String(value ?? '');
  return /^[\p{L}\p{N}_./ -]+$/u.test(text) && !/^(?:null|true|false|yes|no|on|off|[-+]?\d+(?:\.\d*)?)$/i.test(text)
    ? text : quote(text);
};
const list = values => values.length ? '\n' + values.map(value => `  - ${quote(value)}`).join('\n') : ' []';
tR += `---\nTitle: ${scalar(title)}\nCover: ${quote(cover)}\nBackdrop: ${quote(backdrop)}\nPlatform:${list(platforms)}\nDeveloper: ${scalar(developer)}\nPublisher: ${scalar(publisher)}\nGenre:${list(genres)}\nReleaseDate: ${scalar(date)}\nMetacritic: ${typeof rating === 'number' ? rating : quote(rating)}\nStoreUrl: ${steamUrl || '""'}\n---\n\n# ${title}\n`;
%>

Use JSON-encoded aliases for scalar values ({{title|json}}) and the actual JSON array aliases inline (for example const genres = {{genresList}};). This preserves quotes and backslashes and prevents data from becoming executable Templater syntax. The plugin's existing auto-trigger behavior is unchanged; do not add a second execution trigger.

Development

• Requirements: Node >= 20, pnpm >= 9 (see .nvmrc).
• Install: pnpm install
• Dev watch: pnpm dev — builds main.js on change; copy main.js, manifest.json, styles.css to VaultFolder/.obsidian/plugins/igdb-game-search/.
• Verify: pnpm lint (prettier + eslint + typecheck) and pnpm test (jest)
• Translations: every new UI string must add a key to src/locales/en.ts and every locale file, and get a README row.
• Build: pnpm build
• Release: pnpm release (standard-version) prepares the local version commit and tag; it does not push them. Keep versions.json synchronized using version-bump.mjs, then push the release commit and exact version tag. The tag-push GitHub Actions workflow runs lint/tests/build and publishes main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css. Merging into master alone does not publish a release.

Acknowledgements

This project started as a fork of anpigon/obsidian-book-search-plugin and was adapted for IGDB-based game metadata.