Obsidian Plugin Scaffold

Scaffold a new Obsidian community plugin project that is bot-compliant from day one.

Usage

/obsidian-scaffold — then answer the prompts for plugin ID, name, author, and description.

What It Creates

my-plugin/
  src/
    main.ts           # Plugin class with onload/onunload
  styles.css          # Empty, scoped styles
  manifest.json       # Valid manifest (bot-compliant)
  package.json        # Dependencies: obsidian, typescript, esbuild, @types/node, builtin-modules
  tsconfig.json       # strict: true, target ES2018, moduleResolution node
  esbuild.config.mjs  # CJS bundle, externalizes obsidian + electron
  .eslintrc.json      # eslint-plugin-obsidianmd recommended config
  LICENSE             # MIT with current year
  README.md           # Minimal description
  .gitignore          # node_modules, main.js, data.json

Procedure

1. Ask the user for:

   • Plugin ID (alphanumeric + dashes, no "obsidian", no "plugin" suffix)
   • Plugin name (no "Obsidian", no "Plugin" suffix)
   • Author name
   • Description (no "Obsidian", no "This plugin", must end with . ? ! ), under 250 chars)
   • Author URL (optional)
   • Desktop only? (default: false)

2. Validate inputs against ObsidianReviewBot rules:

   • ID: /^[a-z0-9-]+$/, not containing "obsidian", not ending with "plugin"
   • Name: not containing "Obsidian", not ending with "Plugin"
   • Description: not starting with "This plugin", not containing "Obsidian", ending with .?!)

3. Create all files using the templates below.

4. Run npm install to install dependencies.

5. Verify npx tsc --noEmit passes with zero errors.

Templates

manifest.json

{
  "id": "{{ID}}",
  "name": "{{NAME}}",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "minAppVersion": "1.0.0",
  "description": "{{DESCRIPTION}}",
  "author": "{{AUTHOR}}",
  "authorUrl": "{{AUTHOR_URL}}",
  "isDesktopOnly": {{IS_DESKTOP_ONLY}}
}

package.json

{
  "name": "{{ID}}",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "{{DESCRIPTION}}",
  "main": "main.js",
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "node esbuild.config.mjs",
    "build": "tsc -noEmit -skipLibCheck && node esbuild.config.mjs production",
    "lint": "eslint src/"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/node": "^22.0.0",
    "builtin-modules": "^4.0.0",
    "esbuild": "^0.24.0",
    "eslint": "^9.0.0",
    "eslint-plugin-obsidianmd": "latest",
    "obsidian": "latest",
    "typescript": "^5.5.0"
  }
}

tsconfig.json

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "inlineSourceMap": true,
    "inlineSources": true,
    "module": "ESNext",
    "target": "ES2018",
    "allowJs": true,
    "noImplicitAny": true,
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "importHelpers": true,
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "strictNullChecks": true,
    "strict": true,
    "lib": ["DOM", "ES2018", "ES2021.String"]
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*.ts"]
}

esbuild.config.mjs

import esbuild from "esbuild";
import process from "process";
import builtins from "builtin-modules";

const prod = process.argv[2] === "production";

esbuild.build({
  entryPoints: ["src/main.ts"],
  bundle: true,
  external: [
    "obsidian",
    "electron",
    "@codemirror/autocomplete",
    "@codemirror/collab",
    "@codemirror/commands",
    "@codemirror/language",
    "@codemirror/lint",
    "@codemirror/search",
    "@codemirror/state",
    "@codemirror/view",
    "@lezer/common",
    "@lezer/highlight",
    "@lezer/lr",
    ...builtins,
  ],
  format: "cjs",
  target: "es2018",
  logLevel: "info",
  sourcemap: prod ? false : "inline",
  treeShaking: true,
  outfile: "main.js",
  minify: prod,
}).catch(() => process.exit(1));

src/main.ts

import { Plugin } from 'obsidian';

export default class {{CLASS_NAME}} extends Plugin {
  onload(): void {
    // Plugin initialization here
  }

  onunload(): void {
    // Cleanup here (Obsidian handles leaf detachment automatically)
  }
}

.gitignore

node_modules/
main.js
data.json

.eslintrc.json

{
  "extends": ["plugin:obsidianmd/recommended"],
  "parser": "@typescript-eslint/parser",
  "parserOptions": {
    "project": "./tsconfig.json"
  }
}

Post-Scaffold

After creation, remind the user:

• Run npm run dev for watch mode during development
• Run npm run build for production build
• Run npm run lint to check against ObsidianReviewBot rules locally
• Create a GitHub release with main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css as individual assets
• Release tag must match version in manifest.json exactly (no v prefix)