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Loft — Upload images to Google Drive and replace local embeds with links

Paste or drag an image into a note and Loft uploads it to your own Google Drive, then inserts a rendering Markdown image link — keeping your vault light.

Why Loft

• Your vault stays small. Images live in your Google Drive, not inside the vault, so sync and backups stay fast and lean.
• Desktop and mobile. Sign-in and upload use Obsidian's requestUrl() and OAuth 2.0 Device Flow, which work on both.
• Least-privilege drive.file scope. Loft can only see the files it creates — it never touches the rest of your Drive, so no Google verification is required.
• Resilient link handling. The embed URL format is abstracted behind a setting, and a re-resolve command can repair or switch every link without re-uploading a single image.

Features

• Paste or drag to upload. Paste or drag an image into a note and it auto-uploads to your Google Drive, then a rendering Markdown image link is inserted at the cursor.
• Convert existing local images. The "Convert local images to Drive links" command — also on the editor right-click menu — converts the local images already embedded in the current note, or only those within your selection.
• Plugin-owned destination folder. Set a folder path (e.g. Attachments/Images, using / for subfolders); the plugin creates and owns these folders. An optional Parent folder ID nests the path inside an existing Drive folder.
• Sign in with Google. OAuth 2.0 Device Flow works on desktop and mobile — enter a short code at google.com/device and you're connected.
• Switchable embed URL format. Choose lh3, thumbnail, or apiMedia (alt=media). The "Re-resolve Drive image links" command (current note or whole vault) rewrites existing links to the chosen format, or recovers them if Google changes its URL format — all without re-uploading.
• Duplicate-upload prevention. The same image content is uploaded only once, tracked by a content hash.
• Automatic retry with backoff. Rate-limit responses (HTTP 429) are retried with exponential backoff.
• Safe filenames and fallbacks. Uploads get timestamp-prefixed filenames. If an upload fails, the local image is kept losslessly; an optional "Delete local file after converting" setting trashes the original only after a successful upload.

Requirements / Setup

Loft uploads to your own Google Drive, so each user creates their own Google Cloud OAuth client once (about 10 minutes, free, no credit card). You then paste the Client ID and Client secret into Loft's settings.

In brief:

1. Create a project in the Google Cloud Console.
2. Enable the Google Drive API for that project.
3. Configure the OAuth consent screen (User type: External; add the .../auth/drive.file scope; add yourself as a test user, or publish the app).
4. Create an OAuth client ID of type "TVs and Limited Input devices" and copy the Client ID + Client secret.
5. (Optional) grab a destination folder ID from a Drive folder's URL if you want uploads nested under an existing folder.

See the step-by-step guide: docs/reference/google-cloud-setup.md.

Installation

Obsidian Community Plugins

1. Settings → Community plugins → Browse
2. Search for "Loft" → Install → Enable

Manual install

1. Download the latest release from the Releases page
2. Copy main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into your vault's .obsidian/plugins/loft/ folder
3. Enable Loft under Settings → Community plugins

Usage

1. Sign in. Open Settings → Loft → Account and click Sign in, or run the command "Sign in to Google Drive". Enter the shown code at google.com/device to authorize.
2. Set the destination folder. Enter a Destination folder path (e.g. Attachments/Images) and click Create / connect folder. Optionally set a Parent folder ID to nest it under an existing Drive folder.
3. Add images. Paste or drag an image into a note to upload it automatically, or run "Convert local images to Drive links" to convert images already in the note (or only within the selection). The same convert action is available from the editor right-click menu.
4. Switch or repair links anytime with "Re-resolve Drive image links" (current note) or "Re-resolve Drive image links in vault" (whole vault) after changing the embed URL format.

Privacy & security

• Images are uploaded to your Google Drive and shared as "anyone with the link" — this is required so the image renders directly inside a note. Anyone who has the link or file ID can view the image. Do not use Loft for sensitive images.
• OAuth tokens are stored in the plugin's data.json inside your vault. They are not encrypted in an OS keychain yet, so treat your vault as you would any credential store.
• Loft only accesses files it creates, thanks to the drive.file scope. It cannot see the rest of your Drive.

Compatibility

• Obsidian 1.6.6 or newer.
• Desktop and mobile (isDesktopOnly: false).
• Notes on mobile:
  • Drag-and-drop does not fire on mobile — use paste or the convert command instead.
  • The device-code copy button may be a no-op on locked-down mobile browsers, but the code itself is selectable so you can copy it manually.

Credits / License

Released under the MIT License.

Also available in 한국어.