Remote Fetch

A powerful Obsidian plugin that allows you to download files from URLs directly into your vault.

Note: This plugin is not yet available in the Obsidian Community Plugins directory. For now, you must install it manually (see instructions below).

Features

• Direct URL Downloads: Download files from any HTTP or HTTPS URL directly into your Obsidian vault.
• Smart File Naming: Automatically extracts filenames from URLs or allows custom naming.
• Folder Selection: Choose any folder in your vault as the download destination, with type-ahead support.
• File Type Detection: Automatically detects file types and adds appropriate extensions.
• Error Handling: Comprehensive error handling with informative messages.
• Security: Blocks dangerous file types and enforces file size/content-type restrictions.

Installation

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release from GitHub.
2. Extract the files to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/remote-fetch/ folder.
3. Enable the plugin in Obsidian's Community Plugins settings.

Usage

1. Use the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) and search for "Download file from URL".
2. Enter the URL of the file you want to download.
3. Choose a filename (auto-filled from URL).
4. Select a destination folder (type-ahead supported).
5. Click Download.

Command

• Download file from URL: Opens the download modal.

Settings

• Default download folder: Set a default folder for all downloads (leave empty for root folder). Type-ahead is supported for folder selection.

Supported File Types

The plugin automatically detects and handles various file types:

• Documents: PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX
• Images: JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG
• Text: TXT, MD, JSON
• Archives: ZIP
• Media: MP4, MP3, WAV
• And many more...

Error Handling

The plugin provides detailed error messages for common issues:

• Network connectivity problems
• CORS-related errors
• Invalid URLs
• File already exists
• Empty or invalid downloads
• Blocked file types or oversized files

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v16 or higher)
• npm or yarn

Setup

1. Clone the repository
2. Install dependencies: npm install
3. Build the plugin: npm run build
4. For development: npm run dev

Building

npm run build

Development Mode

npm run dev

This will start the compiler in watch mode, automatically rebuilding when files change.

UI/UX Notes:

• Use sentence case for all UI labels and headings, except for product/brand names which should follow their official casing.
• Do not add a top-level heading in the settings tab (such as "General", "Settings", or the plugin name).
• Place all custom styles in styles.css instead of inline in TypeScript files.
• Use AbstractInputSuggest for folder selection to provide type-ahead support.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

Copyright (C) 2020-2025 Shaharyar Lalani

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

If you find this plugin useful, consider supporting its development:

• ⭐ Star the repository on GitHub
• 🐛 Report bugs or suggest features

Changelog

1.0.1

• Switched to Obsidian’s requestUrl API for downloads (handles CORS automatically, proxy not required)
• Removed proxy settings and related UI
• Improved folder selection with type-ahead (using AbstractInputSuggest)
• Updated UI to use sentence case
• Moved inline styles to styles.css
• Copyright updated

1.0.0

• Initial release
• Basic URL download functionality
• Folder selection
• File type detection