Whole-Tree Search

A fast, lightweight Obsidian search plugin that extracts and renders hierarchical Markdown list blocks—displaying the matched line, its parent(s), and all nested children based on outline indentation.

Why this suite exists

I created this suite of Obsidian plugins and the DoomEsque theme so that I can be 100 percent certain there are no network calls or traffic: everything runs 100 percent offline, so I can use Obsidian for my notes in open-book law exams.

• Nothing in the suite makes a network request. Every test run checks the source, built bundle and styles with scripts/offline-audit.mjs, which fails on any network API (fetch, XMLHttpRequest, WebSocket, requestUrl, ...).
• Obsidian itself has separate online features. For a fully offline setup, also turn off automatic updates, Sync and Publish, and don't browse community plugins during the exam.

The suite:

• DoomEsque (theme)
• DoomEsque Settings
• Filetypes
• Inline Autocomplete
• Inline Schema Expander
• Links in New Tabs
• Pomodoro Flashcards
• Task Docket
• Whole-Tree Search

The Problem

When searching through outlines, nested task lists, or meeting notes in Obsidian, standard search displays only the isolated matching line. You lose:

• Which project or milestone the task belonged to (the parent context).
• Which subtasks or action points were grouped underneath it (the child context).

The Solution

Whole-Tree Search searches your vault and reconstructs the full hierarchical tree block:

- Project Alpha                     <-- [Immediate Parent]
  - Milestone 1: Database Schema   <-- [MATCHED LINE]
    - Users table                   <-- [Nested Child 1]
    - Sessions table                <-- [Nested Child 2]

Features

• Hierarchical Outline Context: Instantly visualizes the parent item and all child items of any matched line based on indentation (spaces or tabs).
• Rich Markdown Preview: Renders search results using Obsidian's native Markdown renderer, preserving formatting, tags, code snippets, and internal links.
• Fast Vault Traversal: Uses Obsidian's cachedRead API and query cancellation to ensure smooth, responsive search even across large vaults.
• Keyboard Navigation:
  • ↑ / ↓: Navigate suggestions.
  • ↵ (Enter): Jump directly to the matched line in the note.
  • mod + ↵ (Cmd + Enter / Ctrl + Enter): Open note in a new tab/pane at the matched line.
  • esc: Dismiss search modal.
• 100% Offline & Private: Zero network calls, zero telemetry, and zero external dependencies. Confined strictly to your local vault.
• Mobile & Desktop Compatible: Works seamlessly on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Security & Privacy Policy

Whole-Tree Search is built with strict privacy and security principles:

• Zero Network Calls: The plugin makes no network calls, HTTP requests, WebSockets, or remote telemetry pings.
• Offline audit: Every test run checks the source, built bundle and styles with scripts/offline-audit.mjs, which fails on any network API (fetch, XMLHttpRequest, WebSocket, requestUrl, workers, dynamic import(), ...), dynamic code (eval, new Function), raw HTML injection, or remote CSS (@import, non-data: url()).
• Remote content is never loaded: Before a result is rendered, remote images (![](https://...)), raw HTML that loads resources (<img>, <iframe>, <video>, ...) and embeds of other notes are neutralised, so searching never makes a network request. Embeds of local images, audio, video and PDFs still show.
• Confined to Local Vault: The plugin reads Markdown files within your vault using Obsidian's official app.vault API and does not touch files outside your vault.
• Safe DOM Rendering: All user interface elements are rendered using Obsidian's official DOM creation and MarkdownRenderer.render APIs. No raw HTML strings or eval statements are used.
• No Memory Leaks: Suggestion components adhere to Obsidian's Component lifecycle management, properly loading and unloading DOM listeners between keystrokes and modal sessions.

Installation

Community Plugins

1. Open Settings > Community plugins in Obsidian.
2. Turn off Restricted mode.
3. Click Browse and search for Whole-Tree Search.
4. Click Install, then Enable.

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest GitHub Release.
2. Create a folder named whole-tree-search in your vault's plugin directory: <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/whole-tree-search/.
3. Copy the downloaded files into that folder.
4. Reload Obsidian and enable Whole-Tree Search under Community plugins.

Usage

1. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl + P or Cmd + P).
2. Type and select Open whole-tree search.
3. Type your search query.
4. Press Enter to navigate to the matched line in the note, or Cmd/Ctrl + Enter to open in a new tab.

(Tip: Assign a custom hotkey to Open whole-tree search in Settings > Hotkeys for quick access).

Settings

Open Settings > Community plugins > Whole-Tree Search to configure the options below. On Obsidian 1.13+ every setting is also discoverable through the settings search.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run unit tests
npm test

# Build for development
npm run dev

# Build for production
npm run build

License

MIT © blursedperf