Shell Path Copy

Copy a file or folder path out of your Obsidian vault. Right-click, pick a format, paste.

What it does

Right-click a file or folder, pick a format, and the result is on your clipboard. The command palette does the same for the note you have open.

It comes with formats for relative and absolute paths, file:// and Obsidian URLs, Markdown and wiki links, filenames, and links that point at a heading or a block. Four are turned on out of the box; the rest take one toggle in settings.

If none of them fit, you can build your own. A format is a template such as <filename> -> <obsidian-url>, and the plugin fills in the tokens when you copy. This is optional. If the built-in formats cover you, you never have to touch a template.

Works on desktop and mobile.

Why this plugin?

Obsidian often sits next to a terminal or an AI assistant like Claude Code or Gemini CLI. You might run Obsidian on Windows with a WSL terminal, or on an iPad connected to a remote Linux server. Either way, you need a path out of your vault and into a shell command, a prompt, or a document, in the format that target expects.

Obsidian's own "Copy file path" command is buried in the command palette and gives one format. Shell Path Copy puts copy actions in the right-click menu and the command palette, and lets each format be what you want.

Installation

From Obsidian Community Plugins (recommended)

1. Open Obsidian settings.
2. Go to Community plugins.
3. Click Browse.
4. Search for Shell Path Copy.
5. Click Install, then Enable.

Manual installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Create a folder named shell-path-copy in your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory.
3. Copy the three files into it.
4. Reload Obsidian.
5. Enable Shell Path Copy in Settings → Community plugins.

BRAT (optional, for pre-release testing)

BRAT installs pre-release builds before they reach the Community Plugins marketplace. Regular users should install from Community Plugins instead.

1. Install the BRAT plugin from Community Plugins.
2. Open BRAT settings and click Add Beta Plugin.
3. Enter https://github.com/ckelsoe/obsidian-shell-path-copy.
4. Click Add Plugin.
5. Enable Shell Path Copy in Settings → Community plugins.

Quick start

You can copy from four places:

• Right-click a file or folder in the file explorer.
• Right-click inside an open note. The formats act on that note, and the heading-aware formats link to the heading your cursor is in.
• Command palette (Ctrl/Cmd+P): type Copy: and pick a format. It acts on the active file.
• Ribbon (optional): turn on Show in ribbon for a format to add a left-ribbon icon that copies it from the active note in one click. Off by default, so the ribbon stays uncluttered until you opt a format in.

In the right-click menu, the enabled formats sit inside a Copy path as submenu to keep the menu tidy. Pick the format you want and the result lands on your clipboard. In settings you can turn that submenu off, show individual formats at the menu root as well, and fold every format into Obsidian's native Copy path submenu so all path-copy choices (the built-in ones and yours) live in one place. Those options are independent, so a format can appear in more than one of those places at once.

Out of the box four formats are enabled: Relative Linux/macOS path, Relative Windows path, Obsidian URL, and Markdown link. Open the settings to enable the others or add your own.

Built-in formats

These formats are seeded into every vault. Enable, edit, or delete any of them in settings.

Seven more formats ship disabled, ready to enable or copy from:

The "to heading" and "to block" formats link to the heading or block your cursor is in when a note is open, and to the file otherwise. They are the way to get an Obsidian link that jumps to a section. Block links need a ^id marker in the note; if the block has none, the plugin creates one (see Block links below). Absolute path and file:// URL are desktop-only; on mobile they produce nothing.

Custom formats

A custom format is a token template. Build one in settings:

1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Shell Path Copy → Options.
2. Open Custom formats → Manage formats. Click + to add a format, or click any existing format to open its own page.
3. Set the fields:
   • Enabled: turn the format on or off everywhere (menu, command palette, ribbon).
   • Name: shown in the menu, command palette, and ribbon.
   • Icon: the icon shown next to the format in the menu, command palette, and ribbon. The icon itself is displayed beside the picker. Choose a common one from the dropdown, or click Browse all icons to search the full set of Obsidian icons.
   • Template: the token template. The token palette below the field inserts a token at the cursor. A live preview shows the rendered result, and a Desktop / Mobile row shows where the template works.
   • Wrapping: none, double quotes, single quotes, or backticks, applied around the whole result.
   • Show in right-click menu, Show in command palette, and Show in ribbon: where the format appears. These are independent, so a format can live on the ribbon without appearing in any menu. The ribbon adds a left-rail icon that copies the format in one click; it is off by default.
   • Show in root menu: also show this format at the top level of the right-click menu, on top of the submenu it appears in. Useful for the one or two formats you reach for most.
   • Show on: limit the format to files, folders, or both. Formats that use file-specific tokens (like <obsidian-url>, wiki links, or line/heading tokens) are files-only automatically, since those do not resolve for folders.
4. Reload Obsidian so the command and ribbon icon register.

Formats are listed under Enabled and Disabled headings, so what is live is readable at a glance. To change the order they appear in, open Custom formats → Format order and drag the rows. That one order drives the right-click menu, the ribbon, and the command palette. To place the ribbon group relative to other ribbon icons, drag it within Obsidian's ribbon. Global options are searchable from Obsidian's settings search.

Tokens

A token is a name in angle brackets. Unknown tokens are left as typed. Escape a literal bracket with a backslash (\<).

"Desktop only" tokens are blank on mobile. "Editor only" tokens fill in only when the file you copy is the file open in the editor. The settings preview flags both cases as you build a template.

The full token reference, with worked examples and fallback behavior, is in token-usage.md.

Block links

The block tokens (<block-id>, <obsidian-url-block>, <wikilink-block>) link to a specific block, the paragraph or list item your cursor is in.

A block link needs a ^id marker in the note. Obsidian works this way for all block links. If the block at your cursor does not already have one, Shell Path Copy generates a short id and writes it into the note, exactly as Obsidian does when you create a block link yourself. This is the one case where the plugin modifies a note; every other format is read-only.

Block links support paragraphs and list items. If you copy a block format with no note open, or with the cursor on a heading, table, code block, or other multi-line construct, the block link falls back to a plain file link and nothing is written.

Settings

Open Settings → Community plugins → Shell Path Copy → Options.

Global options:

• Show notifications: show a notice when something is copied.
• Markdown link format: wiki-style ([[filename]]) or standard Markdown ([filename](path)). Used by the <markdown-link> token.
• Notify when a token could not be resolved: show a notice when a desktop-only or editor-only token is left blank.
• Group formats under a submenu: show every format inside the plugin's own Copy path as right-click submenu (on by default).
• Group with Obsidian's copy path: show every format inside Obsidian's native Copy path submenu, alongside the built-in entries like as Obsidian URL and from vault folder (off by default).

The two grouping options are independent, and menu placement is additive:

A format set to Show in root menu also appears at the top level, on top of whichever submenu it lands in.

The Custom formats section holds two pages:

• Manage formats: every format, split into Enabled and Disabled groups, with the enabled count on the row. Open a format to edit it, add one with +, or remove one by selecting its row and pressing Delete.
• Format order: drag to set the order enabled formats appear in. One order drives the right-click menu, the ribbon, and the command palette.

Everything else is per format, on that format's own page.

Using a custom file explorer

Shell Path Copy's right-click items appear in Obsidian's native file explorer. If you use a plugin that replaces the file explorer, such as Notebook Navigator, those menu items will not show there. Every format is still available through the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd+P), which works on the active file regardless of which explorer you use.

Example workflows

Remote terminal. You are viewing My-Project-Plan.md in Obsidian on an iPad, connected to a Linux server over SSH. Right-click the file, choose Relative Linux/macOS path, and paste `/My-Project-Plan.md` straight into your terminal session.

AI assistant line reference. Enable the Line reference example format. With a note open at the line you care about, run it to copy My-Project-Plan.md#L42, ready to drop into a prompt for Claude Code or Gemini CLI.

Cross-app links. Use the Obsidian URL format to create links that open a note directly in Obsidian from a task manager, a wiki, or an automation tool.

Community

Questions, ideas, and general discussion happen on Discord. For anything that needs tracking, a GitHub issue is still the better home.

Contributing

Bug reports and feature requests are welcome via GitHub Issues. For local build, test, and pull request guidelines, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Privacy

Shell Path Copy collects no data, stores nothing outside your own vault, and contains no network code. It reads a path you select and places it on your clipboard. The one exception is the block link formats: when you use one, the plugin may add a ^id marker to a note so the block can be linked to, exactly as Obsidian does for its own block links. See PRIVACY.md for the full privacy policy and liability disclaimer, and SECURITY.md for the security policy.

License

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

Acknowledgments

• Thanks to @craziedde for feature requests and feedback that shaped the plugin.
• Inspired by the need for better file path handling when working with AI coding assistants.
• Built for Obsidian using the Obsidian API.
• Thanks to the Obsidian developers and community.

Support

If you find this plugin helpful, consider:

• Starring the repository on GitHub.
• Reporting bugs or suggesting features via GitHub Issues.
• Joining the Discord to share how you use it.