INSTRUCTIONS

Develop Obsidian plugins following official best practices for security, API usage, and UI consistency.

Core Rules

Use this.app - Never use global app object (debugging only)
Minimize logging - Errors shown by default, not debug messages
Build DOM safely - See security.md for mandatory patterns
Use managed cleanup - registerEvent(), addCommand() for auto-cleanup
Replace placeholders - Change MyPlugin, SampleSettingTab to actual names

When to Use

Apply this skill when:

Creating new Obsidian plugins
Adding commands, settings, or views
Handling file/folder operations
Building plugin UI components
Reviewing Obsidian plugin code

Project Structure

my-plugin/
├── main.ts                 # Plugin entry point
├── settings.ts             # Settings tab and defaults
├── commands/               # Command handlers
├── views/                  # Custom views
├── modals/                 # Modal dialogs
└── styles.css              # Plugin styles (use CSS variables)

Resource Management

Always use Obsidian's managed registration:

// ✅ GOOD: Auto-cleanup on plugin unload
this.registerEvent(
    this.app.vault.on('create', (file) => { ... })
);

this.addCommand({
    id: 'my-command',
    name: 'My Command',
    callback: () => { ... }
});

// ❌ BAD: Manual cleanup required (avoid)
this.app.vault.on('create', this.handler);

NEVER detach leaves in onunload() - Obsidian handles this automatically.

Key References

Security: See security.md for DOM manipulation rules (CRITICAL)
API Patterns: See api-patterns.md for workspace, vault, and editor patterns
UI Components: See ui-components.md for settings, modals, and views

Terminology (for Documentation)

| Use | Avoid | |-----|-------| | keyboard shortcut | hotkey | | note | file (for .md) | | folder | directory | | select | click/tap | | perform | invoke |

Use sentence case for headings. Bold button text in docs.

Quality Checklist

Before releasing a plugin:

[ ] No innerHTML, outerHTML, or insertAdjacentHTML usage
[ ] All events registered via registerEvent()
[ ] User file paths normalized with normalizePath()
[ ] CSS uses Obsidian variables, not hardcoded colors
[ ] Settings have general options at top (no heading)
[ ] Placeholder class names replaced with actual plugin name
[ ] Minimal console logging (errors only)