Snipsy
dimagious7k downloadsType a short trigger, get Markdown. Hotstrings that stay quiet in code, a searchable snippet picker, community packs, and import from Text Snippets and Espanso.
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Type todo and a space, get a task. Snipsy turns short triggers into text as you write in
Obsidian. No scripting, and no templates to learn.
Install: Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search for Snipsy. Then open a
note, type todo and a space.
Website · 60-second demo · Full reference
Why Snipsy
- It knows Markdown. Triggers stay as you typed them in code blocks, inline code, math and frontmatter.
- Only your typing fires it. Paste, undo, another plugin's edit and IME composition expand nothing.
- It works on your phone. Same snippets, same picker.
What you can do
Find a snippet when you forget its trigger. Run Snipsy: Insert snippet… to search triggers and replacements, preview the result and insert it. You can give it a hotkey.
Add your own. Select text, run Snipsy: Add snippet from selection and type a trigger.
Symbols work too, so -> can become →.
Install a pack. Thirteen packs, one click each: Meetings, Daily Journal, Code Review, Symbols & Math and more. Each pack gets its own group, so you can mute it or delete it whole.
Take an expansion back. Undo removes it in one step. Turn on Highlight expansions and Backspace restores the trigger too.
Stop accidental expansions. Mute a group, or turn on prefix mode so only :todo expands and
todo stays a word.
Coming from another tool
Text Snippets. Its last release was in May 2022. On the Packages page, press Import under Text Snippets import. Snipsy shows a preview and copies your snippets into their own group, without changing anything in Text Snippets. Two differences: Snipsy expands as you type instead of waiting for Tab, and it has no tab stops.
Espanso. Paste the YAML of a package and name a group. Forms, scripts and other things Snipsy can't represent are skipped and named.
Other system-wide expanders. Espanso, Raycast, Keyboard Maestro and AutoHotkey work in every app, and Snipsy works only in Obsidian. Pick Snipsy for Markdown awareness and the same snippets on your phone.
What ships with it
Sixteen triggers in one group called Defaults. Type the trigger, then a space.
| Trigger | Becomes |
|---|---|
todo · done |
- [ ] · - [x] |
h1 · h2 · h3 |
# · ## · ### |
bold · italic · code |
**|** · _|_ · `|`, cursor inside |
note |
a > [!note] callout, cursor on the body line |
table |
a table, cursor in the first cell |
today · now |
2026-09-28 · 14:05 |
brb · omw · ty · imo |
be right back · on my way · thank you · in my opinion |
Delete any of them. Settings → Snipsy → Restore default snippets brings back the missing ones.
Placeholders
| Placeholder | Becomes |
|---|---|
$| |
where the cursor lands |
$1 |
the selected text, when you insert from the picker |
$date · $time |
today · now |
{{date:dddd, D MMMM}} |
your own Moment.js format |
$filename |
the note's file name, with its extension |
$clipboard |
what is on your clipboard |
The reference has the exact rules.
What it does not do
- JavaScript or dynamic templates: use Templater.
- Expansion outside Obsidian: use Espanso.
- Regex triggers, or replacing text inside a word (
y^2intoy²): use Substitutions. - Tab stops that jump between fields.
Privacy
No analytics, no telemetry, no account. Snipsy goes online only when you open the Packages page, to
fetch the catalog from GitHub. Your snippets stay in the plugin's data.json.
Questions
It keeps expanding now in my sentences
Delete that snippet, switch off the Defaults group, or turn on prefix mode so only :now expands.
My emoji snippets with colons (:smile:) don't expand
: is a separator, so :smile: can't be typed as one word. Settings → Snipsy → Snippets shows a
Fix triggers button that renames them to smile after a preview.
Triggers don't expand on Linux (Wayland)
Start Obsidian with --ozone-platform=x11. If that fixes it, please report it in an issue with your
desktop and input method.
If something is wrong, or missing
Open an issue with what you typed and what you got. The feature list is short on purpose, and the fastest way to change it is to say what you tried to do and could not.
If Snipsy saves you keystrokes, a star on GitHub helps other people find it, and a coffee says thanks.
Also by the author: Dashy, a dashboard inside an Obsidian note, built from seven Markdown blocks, with no JavaScript or Dataview.
Development commands are in the reference.
License
MIT © Dmitriy Yurkin