Show Hidden Files

Reveals hidden dotfiles (.claude/, .gitignore, .env, .github/, etc.) and all file types directly in the Obsidian file explorer.

Features

• Show all file types — Exposes files with unsupported extensions (.json, .yml, .toml, etc.) in the file explorer. Synced with Obsidian's native "Detect all file extensions" setting.
• Show hidden files — Shows files and folders whose names start with a dot, which Obsidian hides by default.

Both settings are enabled by default when the plugin is activated and fully reverted when the plugin is disabled.

Note: Enabling this plugin exposes sensitive dotfiles (.env, .git-credentials, etc.) in the Obsidian file explorer, making them viewable, editable, and deletable. Make sure you understand what these files are before modifying them.

Installation

From Community Plugins (recommended)

1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse
2. Search for Show Hidden Files
3. Click Install, then Enable

Manual

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css (if present) from the latest release.
2. Create the folder .obsidian/plugins/show-hidden-files/ inside your vault.
3. Copy the downloaded files into that folder.
4. Open Settings → Community plugins, refresh the list, and enable Show Hidden Files.

BRAT

Install via BRAT with the repo URL:

witi42/obsidian-show-hidden-files

Settings

Building from source

git clone https://github.com/witi42/obsidian-show-hidden-files.git
cd obsidian-show-hidden-files
npm install
npm run build

This produces main.js in the project root. Copy it along with manifest.json into your vault's plugin folder to test.

For development with hot-reload:

npm run dev

How it works

• Show all file types uses Obsidian's internal vault.setConfig('showUnsupportedFiles', …) API to toggle the native setting programmatically.
• Show hidden files intercepts the vault adapter's reconcileDeletion method — when Obsidian tries to hide a dotfile, the plugin re-registers it instead. A full vault rescan via listRecursive triggers discovery of all dotfiles on startup.
• On disable, both settings are restored to their previous values and all revealed dotfiles are hidden again.

Compatibility

• Desktop only — relies on Node.js filesystem APIs for dotfile discovery.
• Requires Obsidian v0.15.0+.

License

MIT