Verso

A quiet, native-feeling standalone Obsidian theme by Fabrizio Rinaldi, inspired by the Codex Mac app and originally based on Steph Ango's Minimal theme.

Verso: the reverse side of a leaf, the left-hand page of an open book. Or in Italian, a line of poetry.

Verso refines the app as a whole with a cleaner palette, subtler iconography, quieter details, and a more native macOS feel.

You can also customize Verso with the optional Style Settings plugin, which exposes a small, intentional set of controls.

This is a third-party community theme and is not affiliated with Obsidian or OpenAI.

Install

From the Obsidian Community directory

Install Verso from the Obsidian Community directory. You can also open Settings → Appearance → Themes → Manage in Obsidian, search for Verso, and select Install and use.

Manually from a GitHub release

1. Download manifest.json and theme.css from the latest GitHub release.
2. Create <your-vault>/.obsidian/themes/Verso/.
3. Put both files inside that folder.
4. Restart Obsidian, then select Verso in Settings → Appearance → Themes.

The folder name must exactly match the name in manifest.json.

Verso requires Obsidian 1.13.7 or newer. On desktop, use installer version 1.2.7 or newer because the theme uses color-mix().

Recommended Obsidian settings

Verso works without changing Obsidian's defaults, but these settings produce the intended layout and the closest match to the screenshots:

• Appearance
  • Translucent window: On (macOS)
• Interface
  • Show tab title bar: On
  • Show ribbon: Off
  • Window frame style: Hidden
• Editor
  • Inline title: Off
  • Readable line length: On

Optional sidebar icons

The folder icons shown in the screenshot come from the optional Iconize community plugin. Verso does not require or bundle Iconize; it simply gives monochrome sidebar icons spacing and contrast that fit the theme.

After installing Iconize, keep its default native Lucide pack, then right-click any file or folder and select Change icon. Lucide creates a restrained, consistent sidebar and requires no additional icon-pack download.

Tip: To automate icon assignment, point a coding agent at <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/obsidian-icon-folder/data.json. Ask it to back up the file, preserve existing settings and mappings, and add restrained Li... icons only to unmapped folders. Close Obsidian before direct edits or reload it immediately afterward.

Iconize is optional and its upstream project currently describes itself as end-of-maintenance; Verso remains fully usable without it.

Typography

Verso uses Obsidian's native system font stacks for interface, text, editor, and monospace typography. The theme never downloads fonts or other assets at runtime.

Customization

The theme-specific Style Settings panel exposes line height, readable line width, maximum pane width, natural media sizing, image-grid behavior, and an optional borderless workspace while keeping the core palette intentional. Primary navigation stays on Obsidian's standard compact layout.

Development

See CONTRIBUTING.md for local setup and development, and PUBLISHING.md for releases and the Community Directory checklist.

License and attribution

Verso is released under the MIT License.

Verso began as a visual fork of Minimal. Its independent codebase retains small MIT-licensed portions of Minimal's semantic color mapping and image-grid behavior; Steph Ango retains copyright in that work, and Minimal's license is preserved in LICENSE-Minimal.

If you enjoy the foundation Verso builds on, consider supporting Steph's work.