Istari

Istari is the Obsidian theme I wanted while reading a differential geometry textbook at two in the morning. Most dark themes are built for code. I wanted one built for a book: a warm, dim page, Garamond type, theorems that look like theorems, and somewhere to put the arguments I have with the author.

See it in full →

What makes it different

It is set like a book. EB Garamond for text, Cormorant Garamond for titles, JetBrains Mono for code. Old-style figures in sentences, lining figures in tables. Bold and links are small capitals instead of heavy black. Tables use horizontal rules only, the way a printed paper sets them.

Theorems look like theorems. There are callouts for theorem, definition, lemma, proposition, corollary, proof, axiom, conjecture, example, remark, intuition and exercise. Results are set in italics. Proofs end with ∎. Every callout uses the same gold, so a page with twelve of them still reads calmly. Only warnings turn a pale red.

Footnotes go in the margin, with the free Istari Companion plugin. Start one with ? and it becomes a query, so your open questions stand out from your explanations.

It works offline. The fonts are built into the theme. Istari never loads anything from the internet.

Install

In Obsidian: Settings → Appearance → Themes → Manage, search for Istari, then Install and use.

Or by hand: download theme.css and manifest.json from the latest release into <your vault>/.obsidian/themes/Istari/.

Requires Obsidian 1.8 or later. Istari is dark only; it stays dark even if Obsidian is set to light.

Writing with it

Callouts. Write the type, and Istari adds the label:

> [!theorem] Transport is an isometry
> If $\nabla$ is compatible with $g$, then $P^\gamma$ is a linear isometry.

> [!proof]
> Metric compatibility gives $\frac{d}{dt}\, g(V,W) = 0$.

Add |plain to drop the label: > [!theorem|plain] Stokes. Short forms work too: thm and def.

Sidenotes. Write normal footnotes. With the companion plugin, they move to the margin:

A connection supplies the missing rule, but only along a curve.^[On flat
space the rule is trivial: keep the components constant.]

Vellum. For essays and long reading notes, add cssclasses: vellum to the properties. The column gets narrower, the type gets bigger, and the text is justified.

PDF export. Istari prints in dark ink on white paper, keeps headings with their text, and does not split a callout or a table across two pages.

The small print

• Plugins that use Obsidian's color variables pick up Istari's muted palette by themselves. Integrated Task Manager has its own styling.
• Canvas cards and the graph view use the same palette. The ribbon icons are replaced with hand-drawn ones: a loupe, a codex, a key, an hourglass.
• Code: MIT. Fonts: SIL Open Font License 1.1.

Made by The Scholium, who also makes study templates for Supernote and reMarkable.