Vim KeyNav

Vim-style keyboard navigation for Obsidian's reading mode and built-in web browser.

Obsidian's built-in Vim mode (Settings → Editor → Vim key bindings) only works in edit mode. This plugin brings the same muscle memory to reading mode and webview tabs — scroll with j/k, jump to top/bottom with gg/G, open links with Vimium-style hint labels, and more.

Keybindings

All keybindings work in both reading mode and the built-in browser (webview).

Link Hints

Press f or s to show yellow labels on every visible link. Type the label characters to click that link. Press Escape to cancel.

Link hints use home-row characters (fjdkslaghrueiwocmvnt) and automatically switch to two-character labels when there are more than 20 links visible.

Webview Support

The plugin injects keybindings into Obsidian's built-in browser tabs. It uses Electron's before-input-event to intercept keys at the host level, which allows it to work on complex web apps with cross-origin iframes (e.g. Lark/Feishu docs). Keys that map to scroll actions are translated into native browser scroll events (ArrowDown, PageDown, etc.) so they work regardless of page structure.

Input fields are detected automatically — vim keybindings are disabled while you're typing in a text field, search box, or editor.

Installation

Manual

1. Download main.js and manifest.json from the latest release.
2. Create a folder vim-keynav inside your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory.
3. Copy main.js and manifest.json into that folder.
4. Restart Obsidian, then enable Vim KeyNav in Settings → Community Plugins.

License

MIT