Obsidian Plugin Bootstrap

This skill guides you through scaffolding a new Obsidian plugin from an empty directory to a working, reloadable plugin. It focuses on the bootstrap phase: environment setup, manifest configuration, project structure, and the development loop.

When to Use This Skill

• Starting a new Obsidian plugin project
• Setting up the development environment (Node.js, esbuild, TypeScript)
• Understanding manifest.json requirements and best practices
• Structuring a plugin project for maintainability
• Configuring hot reload for fast iteration
• Preparing a build for release (main.js, manifest.json, styles.css)
• Understanding mobile constraints before writing platform-dependent code

Overview

An Obsidian plugin is a TypeScript/JavaScript module that extends Obsidian through a well-defined API. At minimum, a plugin needs: