YAML Viewer

YAML Viewer is a read-only Obsidian plugin for browsing .yaml and .yml files as a structured tree. It is built for schema files, configuration files, data contracts, and other YAML documents where comments and formatting matter.

Features

• Opens .yaml and .yml files in a dedicated Obsidian view.
• Shows maps, sequences, scalars, aliases, document comments, node comments, and parse errors.
• Filters the tree by key, value, or YAML path.
• Provides a right-side outline for fast navigation through large YAML files.
• Includes expand/collapse controls, copy raw YAML, and copy-path buttons.
• Shows raw YAML with lightweight syntax highlighting and line numbers.
• Stays read-only by design: it never writes back to your YAML files.

Privacy and clipboard behavior

YAML Viewer does not make network requests and does not send vault content to external services. It writes to the system clipboard only when you explicitly click a copy button, such as copying raw YAML or a YAML path. It does not read clipboard contents.

Why read-only?

YAML files often contain comments, anchors, ordering, and formatting that matter. A form editor can easily reserialize YAML and damage those details. YAML Viewer intentionally does not write to disk, so it cannot reformat or corrupt source-of-truth configuration files.

Installation

Community plugin directory

Install from the Obsidian Community directory or search for YAML Viewer in Settings → Community plugins → Browse.

Manual installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Create this folder in your vault: .obsidian/plugins/yaml-viewer/.
3. Put the downloaded files in that folder.
4. Reload Obsidian.
5. Enable YAML Viewer in Settings -> Community plugins.

BRAT installation

For beta testing, install the plugin with BRAT using this repository URL:

https://github.com/viggomeesters/obsidian-yaml-viewer

Usage

Open any .yaml or .yml file in your vault. Obsidian will open it with YAML Viewer.

Use the toolbar to:

• filter visible nodes
• expand or collapse the tree
• copy the raw YAML source
• copy individual YAML paths from tree rows

Use the outline panel to jump through large files quickly.

Development

npm install
npm run build
npx tsc --noEmit

For local development, copy or symlink this repository into .obsidian/plugins/yaml-viewer/ inside an Obsidian vault.

Release process

Obsidian installs community plugin files from GitHub releases. For each release:

1. Update manifest.json, package.json, and versions.json.
2. Run npm install, npm run build, and npx tsc --noEmit.
3. Create a GitHub release whose tag exactly matches manifest.json.version.
4. Attach main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css as release assets.

The release workflow in .github/workflows/release.yml can publish those assets after the version has been updated and committed.

Community directory

YAML Viewer is listed in the Obsidian Community directory.

License

MIT