Formats & Platform

Research compiled 2026-06-10 from official Obsidian sources: help.obsidian.md (now served at obsidian.md/help/... — the old help.obsidian.md/<path> URLs 301-redirect), docs.obsidian.md (developer docs), jsoncanvas.org (the open JSON Canvas spec Obsidian published), obsidian.md/changelog, obsidian.md/pricing, obsidian.md/sync, and obsidian.md/publish.

Provenance notes are flagged inline: [documented] = stated verbatim in official docs; [observed] = stable, widely-known on-disk behavior of the shipping app that official docs do not enumerate (safe to treat as de-facto format, but verify against a live vault before freezing the Geode spec).

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1. Vault Internals: the .obsidian Directory

1.1 Vault model [documented]

• A vault is “a folder on your local file system, including any subfolders.” Notes are “Markdown-formatted plain text files.”
• Obsidian watches the filesystem: edits made by external editors are picked up automatically.
• Multiple folders can be opened as separate vaults; each vault is fully independent.
• Obsidian creates a .obsidian folder in the vault root containing vault-specific preferences (docs explicitly call out hotkeys, themes, community plugins, and the workspace files).

1.2 Config folder override [documented]

• Settings → Files and Links → Override config folder lets the user rename .obsidian to any dot-prefixed name (e.g. .obsidian-awesome); requires app relaunch.
• Settings do not migrate to the new folder automatically; the old folder is left in place.
• Primary use case: keeping separate device-specific configs while using a third-party file syncing service.
• Access on mobile: iOS/iPadOS has no built-in way to see the folder (third-party file apps like Taio/Textastic needed); Android requires “Show hidden files” in the file manager.

1.3 Per-vault vs. global settings [documented]

Per-vault settings live in <vault>/.obsidian/. Global (per-machine, per-OS-user) settings live outside the vault:

OS	Global settings location
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/obsidian
Windows	%APPDATA%\Obsidian\
Linux	$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/obsidian/ or ~/.config/obsidian/

Global state includes the vault list/registry (obsidian.json [observed]), license/Catalyst info, window state, and the app updater cache. Additionally, Obsidian keeps an IndexedDB per vault — “a low-level, client-side database” that stores the metadata cache (powers Graph, Outline, backlinks, search) and Obsidian Sync connection state. The cache can be rebuilt from settings; it is derived data, never the source of truth. [documented]

1.4 File inventory of .obsidian/

Official help does not publish an exhaustive schema for these files; the inventory below is the de-facto format of current Obsidian. Everything is JSON. Files are created lazily — a fresh vault contains only a few of them; each appears when the corresponding feature/plugin is first configured.

File	Owner	Contents
app.json	Core	General editor/files settings [observed]
appearance.json	Core	Theme, fonts, CSS snippet toggles [observed]
core-plugins.json	Core	Enabled/disabled state of core plugins [observed]
community-plugins.json	Core	Array of enabled community plugin IDs [observed]
hotkeys.json	Core	User hotkey overrides only (deltas from defaults) [observed]
workspace.json	Core	Current window/pane layout; “store[s] the current workspace layout and update[s] whenever you open a new file” [documented]
workspaces.json	Workspaces core plugin	Named saved layouts [documented name]
graph.json	Graph view	Graph display settings (filters, groups, forces) [observed]
canvas.json	Canvas plugin	Canvas plugin settings (snap-to-grid etc.) [observed]
types.json	Properties	Vault-wide property-name → property-type assignments [observed] (help docs confirm the behavior: “Once a property type is assigned to a property name, all properties with that name across your vault will use the same type” — types.json is where that assignment persists)
bookmarks.json	Bookmarks core plugin	Bookmark tree (files, folders, searches, headings, blocks, graphs) [observed]
daily-notes.json	Daily notes core plugin	Date format, folder, template path [observed]
templates.json	Templates core plugin	Template folder, date/time formats [observed]
backlink.json, page-preview.json, switcher.json, command-palette.json, zk-prefixer.json, note-composer.json, file-recovery.json, sync.json, publish.json	Per core plugin	Each core plugin persists its own settings file named after the plugin [observed pattern]

Subdirectories:

Directory	Contents
.obsidian/plugins/<plugin-id>/	One folder per community plugin: main.js, manifest.json, optional styles.css, and data.json (the plugin’s saved settings) [documented in developer docs]
.obsidian/themes/<Theme Name>/	theme.css + manifest.json; “the name of the theme directory must exactly match the name property in manifest.json” [documented]
.obsidian/snippets/	Loose *.css files toggled individually in Settings → Appearance [documented behavior]

Example shapes [observed — verify against a live vault]:

// .obsidian/community-plugins.json
["dataview", "obsidian-git", "templater-obsidian"]

// .obsidian/hotkeys.json — only overrides are stored
{
  "editor:toggle-bold": [{ "modifiers": ["Mod"], "key": "B" }],
  "app:toggle-left-sidebar": []
}

// .obsidian/types.json
{
  "types": {
    "due": "date",
    "rating": "number",
    "done": "checkbox",
    "related": "multitext"
  }
}

// .obsidian/daily-notes.json
{ "format": "YYYY-MM-DD", "folder": "Daily", "template": "Templates/Daily" }

workspace.json stores a recursive split/tabs tree: a root main split containing tabs groups whose children are leaf views (type: markdown, canvas, graph, …) plus left/right sidebar trees, active leaf id, and lastOpenFiles. [observed]

1.5 Properties / frontmatter format [documented]

Properties are YAML frontmatter delimited by --- at the top of the file. “Property names are separated from their values by a colon followed by a space.” Names are unique per note.

Property types (assigned vault-wide per property name):

Type	Format / notes
Text	Single-line; markdown not rendered; “Hashtags do not create tags when used in text properties”; internal links allowed but “must be surrounded with quotes”
List	YAML sequence (- item per line)
Number	“must always be a literal number, not an expression”; ints and decimals
Checkbox	true/false
Date	YYYY-MM-DD; rendered per OS locale; acts as a link to the daily note when Daily notes is enabled
Date & time	YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS
Tags	Special list type reserved for the tags property only

Default properties: tags, aliases, cssclasses (all lists). Publish-specific properties: publish, permalink, description, image, cover. Deprecated singular forms tag/alias/cssclass were deprecated in v1.4 and dropped in v1.9.

JSON frontmatter is accepted as input and rewritten as YAML:

---
{ "tags": ["journal"], "publish": false }
---

Intentional limitations: no nested properties (source-mode only), no markdown rendering in values, no built-in bulk editing. As of v1.11, Markdown links are supported in text and list properties (changelog).

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2. JSON Canvas Format (.canvas)

Source: jsoncanvas.org — “An open file format for infinite canvas data.” Created by Obsidian (announced with Obsidian 1.5-era Canvas), version 1.0, MIT licensed, extension .canvas. Design goals: “longevity, readability, interoperability, and extensibility.”

2.1 Top level

A .canvas file is a single JSON object with two optional arrays:

{ "nodes": [], "edges": [] }

nodes are ordered by z-index: first = bottom, last = top.

2.2 Nodes

All nodes share:

Attribute	Type	Required	Notes
id	string	yes	Unique identifier
type	string	yes	text | file | link | group
x, y	integer	yes	Position in pixels
width, height	integer	yes	Size in pixels
color	canvasColor	no	See §2.4

Per-type additions:

• text — text (string, required): “plain text with Markdown syntax.”
• file — file (string, required): path to the file within the system; subpath (string, optional): heading/block reference, always starts with # (e.g. #Heading, #^block-id).
• link — url (string, required).
• group — label (string, optional); background (string, optional, image path); backgroundStyle (string, optional): cover | ratio | repeat.

2.3 Edges

Attribute	Type	Required	Values / default
id	string	yes
fromNode / toNode	string	yes	Node ids
fromSide / toSide	string	no	top | right | bottom | left
fromEnd / toEnd	string	no	none | arrow; defaults: fromEnd: none, toEnd: arrow
color	canvasColor	no
label	string	no

2.4 Color (canvasColor)

Either a hex string ("#FF0000") or a preset string "1"–"6": 1 red, 2 orange, 3 yellow, 4 green, 5 cyan, 6 purple. Preset values are “intentionally undefined” in exact rendering so apps can theme them.

2.5 Example

{
  "nodes": [
    { "id": "a1", "type": "text", "text": "# Idea\nSome **markdown**", "x": -200, "y": -100, "width": 360, "height": 180, "color": "4" },
    { "id": "b2", "type": "file", "file": "Notes/Plan.md", "subpath": "#Goals", "x": 300, "y": -100, "width": 400, "height": 300 },
    { "id": "c3", "type": "link", "url": "https://jsoncanvas.org", "x": 300, "y": 260, "width": 400, "height": 240 },
    { "id": "g1", "type": "group", "label": "Research", "x": -260, "y": -160, "width": 1040, "height": 720, "backgroundStyle": "cover" }
  ],
  "edges": [
    { "id": "e1", "fromNode": "a1", "fromSide": "right", "toNode": "b2", "toSide": "left", "toEnd": "arrow", "color": "#888888", "label": "expands on" }
  ]
}

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3. Bases Format (.base)

Bases is “a core plugin that lets you create database-like views of your notes” (introduced v1.9, May 2025). Crucially: “All the data in Obsidian Bases is stored in your local Markdown files and their properties” — the .base file is only a view definition, in YAML. Views can also be embedded as ```base code blocks inside Markdown notes, and a saved base embeds with ![[File.base]] or ![[File.base#ViewName]].

3.1 Top-level keys

Key	Purpose
filters	Global filter applied to all views
formulas	Named computed properties shared by all views
properties	Per-property display config (e.g. displayName)
summaries	Custom aggregation formulas
views	Array of view definitions

3.2 Full example (from help docs, verbatim structure)

filters:
  or:
    - file.hasTag("tag")
    - and:
        - file.hasTag("book")
        - file.hasLink("Textbook")
    - not:
        - file.hasTag("book")
        - file.inFolder("Required Reading")

formulas:
  formatted_price: 'if(price, price.toFixed(2) + " dollars")'
  ppu: "(price / age).toFixed(2)"

properties:
  status:
    displayName: Status
  formula.formatted_price:
    displayName: "Price"
  file.ext:
    displayName: Extension

summaries:
  customAverage: 'values.mean().round(3)'

views:
  - type: table
    name: "My table"
    limit: 10
    groupBy:
      property: note.age
      direction: DESC
    filters:
      and:
        - 'status != "done"'
        - or:
            - "formula.ppu > 5"
            - "price > 2.1"
    order:
      - file.name
      - file.ext
      - note.age
      - formula.ppu
      - formula.formatted_price
    summaries:
      formula.ppu: Average

3.3 Filters

• Boolean combinators and / or / not take heterogeneous lists of filter statements or nested combinators.
• Filter statements are expressions evaluating to true/false: comparisons (==, !=, >, <, >=, <=), inline boolean operators (!, &&, ||), or boolean-returning functions (file.hasTag(), file.hasLink(), file.inFolder()).
• View-level filters are AND-ed onto the global filters.

Property namespaces:

• note.<prop> or bare <prop> — frontmatter properties
• file.<field> — intrinsic file data: name, basename, path, folder, ext, size, properties, tags, links, ctime, mtime (plus file.backlinks, added v1.9.7)
• formula.<name> — formulas defined in the file

3.4 Views

View object keys: type (built-in or plugin-provided), name, limit (row cap), groupBy (property + direction: ASC|DESC; one property only), filters, order (column/property ordering), summaries (property → aggregation name).

Built-in view types:

Type	Since	Description
table	1.9	“Display files as rows in a table. Columns are populated from properties.” Row-height option; column summaries; multi-row paste from Excel/Sheets; copy/CSV export
cards	1.9.3	“Gallery-like views with images”; optional cover-image property; card-size slider
list	1.10	Bulleted/numbered/no markers; selected properties render as indented sub-items
map	1.10	“Display files as pins on an interactive map. Requires the Maps plugin”

Sorting: one or more properties asc/desc, type-aware (alphabetical/numerical/temporal). Views can be renamed (links/embeds auto-update since 1.10.2). Canvas can embed a base and “Pin view” (1.9.5). A Bases API for plugin-defined view types shipped with 1.10.

Built-in summary aggregations: numeric — Average, Min, Max, Sum, Range, Median, Stddev; date — Earliest, Latest, Range; boolean — Checked, Unchecked; any — Empty, Filled, Unique.

3.5 Formula syntax

• Expression language with arithmetic + - * / % ( ), string concatenation via +, date arithmetic with duration strings (date + "1M", date - "2h").
• Object-oriented and chainable (price.toFixed(2), values.mean().round(3)) — this OO syntax was a breaking change in 1.9.2; functions were renamed snake_case → camelCase in 1.9.1.
• String literals in single or double quotes inside YAML strings.

3.6 Function reference (complete as of 1.13)

Global: escapeHTML(html), date(string), duration(string), file(path), html(string), if(cond, true, false?), image(path), icon(name) (Lucide), link(path, display?), list(any), max(...), min(...), now(), number(any), today(), random()

Any: isTruthy(), isType(type), toString()

String: contains, containsAll, containsAny, endsWith, isEmpty, lower, replace(pattern|Regexp, replacement), repeat(n), reverse, slice(start, end?), split(sep|Regexp, n?), startsWith, title, trim; field length

Number: abs, ceil, floor, isEmpty, round(digits), toFixed(precision)

Date: date() (strip time), format(momentFormat), time(), relative(), isEmpty(); fields year month day hour minute second millisecond

List: contains, containsAll, containsAny, filter(expr), flat, isEmpty, join(sep), map(expr), reduce(expr, acc), reverse, slice, sort, unique; field length

Link: asFile(), linksTo(file)

File: asLink(display?), hasLink(otherFile), hasProperty(name), hasTag(...values), inFolder(folder); fields listed in §3.3

Object: isEmpty(), keys(), values()

Regexp: matches(value)

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4. Obsidian URI Scheme (obsidian://)

All parameter values must be URI-encoded (/ → %2F, space → %20). Heading/block targets are encoded into file: Note%23Heading, Note%23%5EBlock (#, #^).

4.1 Actions

open — open vault or file

• vault — vault name or ID (omit to use most-recent vault)
• file — vault-relative path; .md optional
• path — absolute filesystem path (overrides vault+file)
• prepend / append — add content at top/bottom; merges properties
• paneType — tab | split | window (desktop only; added 1.11.2)
• x-success, x-error — x-callback-url

new — create note

• vault; name (respects default new-note location); file (vault-relative path incl. filename); path (absolute)
• content — note body; clipboard — use clipboard contents instead
• silent — create without opening; append — append if file exists; overwrite — replace if exists (ignored when append set)
• paneType; x-success

daily — open/create today’s daily note (requires Daily notes plugin). Accepts all new parameters.

unique — create unique note (requires Unique note creator plugin): vault, paneType, content, clipboard, x-success.

search — open search: vault, query.

choose-vault — opens the vault manager/switcher (added ~1.11.7).

hook-get-address — Hook app integration: vault (optional), x-success, x-error.

4.2 Shorthands

obsidian://vault/my vault/my note      ≡ obsidian://open?vault=my%20vault&file=my%20note
obsidian:///absolute/path/to/note     ≡ obsidian://open?path=%2Fabsolute%2Fpath%2Fto%2Fnote

4.3 x-callback-url responses

With x-success, the callback receives: name (filename w/o extension), url (an obsidian:// URI), file (a file:// URL, desktop only).

4.4 Registration & security

• Windows/macOS: protocol registered on first launch. Linux: needs obsidian.desktop with Exec=executable %u; AppImage may require unpacking.
• Since 1.13, incoming URIs show a confirmation dialog with an allow-list. [changelog]

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5. Obsidian Sync (add-on service)

“An add-on service that allows you to privately sync your notes across devices” via an off-site remote vault; every device keeps a full local copy.

5.1 Plans & limits

Feature	Standard	Plus
Price	$4/user/mo annual, $5 monthly	$8/user/mo annual, $10 monthly
Synced vaults	1	10
Total storage (account-wide)	1 GB	10 GB, purchasable up to 100 GB
Max file size	5 MB	200 MB
Version history	1 month	12 months
Devices	Unlimited	Unlimited
Shared (collaborative) vaults	Yes	Yes

Version history and attachments count toward storage. When over quota, sync halts and prompts for cleanup. 40% education/non-profit discount.

5.2 Encryption [documented]

• End-to-end (default): AES-256 in GCM mode; key derived from a user-held encryption password via scrypt with salt. “The data is encrypted from the moment it leaves your device, and can only be decrypted using your encryption key.” Lost password = unrecoverable data.
• Standard encryption (optional): key managed by Obsidian; protects in transit and at rest, comparable to “Google Docs, Dropbox, and iCloud (without Advanced Data Protection).”
• Encrypted: remote vault contents and all server communication. Not encrypted: local vault; and some metadata — “which device uploaded or deleted a file, when it was uploaded, and the mapping between encrypted file paths and encrypted content.”
• File-name encryption strengthened to AES-SIV in 1.9.11 (Aug 2025); a migration assistant for encryption upgrades and region switching shipped in 1.9.12.
• Servers: DigitalOcean in 4 regions — Singapore, Frankfurt, San Francisco, Sydney. Third-party security audit completed (report on the Security page).

5.3 Selective sync [documented]

• File-type toggles: Images, Audio, Videos, PDFs, plus a “Sync all other types” toggle for everything else.
• Excluded folders list (Settings → Sync → Excluded folders → Manage). Caveat: “Adding a file to the Excluded files list does not remove it from the remote vault if it has already been synced.”
• Always excluded: File Recovery snapshots; hidden dot-files/folders (.git, .vscode, …) — except .obsidian, which does sync.
• Vault-config sync categories (defaults): Main settings, Appearance, Themes and snippets, Hotkeys, Active core plugin list, Core plugin settings. Opt-in: Active community plugin list, Installed community plugins. “Sync settings do not sync across devices” — configured per device.
• Conflict handling: “Conflict resolution” setting (1.9.7) — merge vs. conflict-file creation. Collaboration: Sync History view (1.7), “Hide my changes” (1.8).

5.4 Third-party sync alternatives [documented]

iOS/iPadOS officially supports only Obsidian Sync and iCloud (vault must live at iCloud Drive/Obsidian/<Vault>); “iCloud Drive on Windows may lead to file duplication or corruption.” Google Drive: no iOS support; OneDrive: limited Android; Syncthing/Git are community paths. Mixing multiple sync services risks corruption; cloud “Files On-Demand”/offloading breaks Obsidian.

Geode’s near-term plan is to document Git/Syncthing workflows rather than build a hosted sync service — see the Overview & Roadmap.

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6. Obsidian Publish (add-on service)

“A cloud-based hosting service that lets you publish your notes as a wiki, knowledge base, documentation, or digital garden” at publish.obsidian.md/<your-site>. $8/site/mo annual, $10 monthly; hosting up to 4 GB; 7-day refund; 40% edu/non-profit discount.

6.1 Components & reading experience

• Graph view — “Visually explore the connections between the pages on your site”
• Backlinks — “Automatically list links to pages that reference the current page”
• Outline / table of contents, search (full-text since 2024-03), hover previews, stacked pages (horizontal sliding panes)
• All toggleable per-site under Site options → Reading experience / Components.

6.2 Customization

• publish.css published to vault root → full custom styling; community theme CSS can be renamed to publish.css.
• publish.js for custom JavaScript — requires a custom domain.
• Favicons: publish favicon-32x32.png, favicon.ico, etc., anywhere in the vault.
• Navigation: reorder, hide/unhide sidebar items, restore alphabetical default.
• “First-class SEO”, customizable metadata; optional Google Analytics or privacy-friendly alternatives (Plausible, Fathom). Publish sites score “100% Lighthouse accessibility” by default.

6.3 Frontmatter controls

publish (include/exclude), permalink (custom slug: turns /username/Company/About+us into /username/about; old URL auto-redirects), description, image/cover (social metadata). Redirects for moved/deleted notes: add the old note’s full path to the destination note’s alias/aliases property.

6.4 Password protection & domains

• Site-wide password(s): Publish changes → Change site options → Other site settings → Passwords → Manage; multiple passwords supported; removing all makes the site public. Per-note passwords are not supported.
• Custom domains: CNAME to publish-main.obsidian.md (“Don’t include your personal sub-URL”); Cloudflare is “the only officially supported provider” (proxy on, SSL mode “Full”). Obsidian does not provision SSL certificates.
• Subpath hosting via reverse proxy to https://publish.obsidian.md/serve?url=yourdomain.com/path/ (documented configs for NGINX, Apache, Netlify, Vercel, Caddy, Traefik), or the x-obsidian-custom-domain header.

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7. Platform Matrix

	Desktop	Mobile
OSes	Windows, macOS, Linux	iOS/iPadOS, Android
Runtime	Electron (Chromium + Node.js)	Capacitor WebView (WKWebView on iOS) — same core web codebase
Node.js / Electron APIs	Available to plugins	Not available — “Any calls to these libraries… can cause your plugin to crash”; plugins can set isDesktopOnly: true in manifest
Platform detection	Platform.isIosApp, Platform.isAndroidApp; desktop can emulate mobile via this.app.emulateMobile(true)	same API
URI paneType	tab / split / window	Not supported (desktop only)
.obsidian access	Normal hidden folder	iOS: needs 3rd-party file app; Android: “show hidden files”
Storage	Anywhere on disk	Android 1.8.10+: works without “All files” permission using app-private storage; iOS: local or iCloud Drive/Obsidian/
JS engine caveats	—	Regex lookbehind requires iOS 16.4+; remote debugging: Chrome DevTools (chrome://inspect) on Android, Safari Web Inspector on iOS 16.4+/macOS
Mobile-only UX (1.11–1.13)	—	iOS Lock Screen/Control Center/Home Screen widgets, Siri + Spotlight actions, iOS Share Sheet (1.12.4/1.13); Android widgets + Quick Settings Tile; auto-hiding navigation, full-screen mode, tab switcher; shake-to-debug (1.10)
CLI	Obsidian CLI binary bundled since 1.12 (autocompletion 1.12.5+)	n/a

Feature parity is otherwise near-total: editor, Canvas, Bases, properties, plugins all run on mobile. Geode currently targets desktop (macOS) only — see the Overview & Roadmap for the mobile item on the priority list.

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8. Feature Evolution — Changelog Scan (mid-2024 → June 2026)

Current version at time of writing: 1.13.1 (June 9, 2026). The changelog at obsidian.md/changelog paginates (24 pages); below are the major-feature milestones a current-Obsidian clone must target.

Version	Date	Headline features
1.5.x	Feb–Mar 2024	Table editor maturity: auto-formatting while typing, mobile table editor, RTL in tables, drag-drop into cells; “Save layout” command; Publish full-text search (2024-03)
1.6	May–Jun 2024	RTL language support w/ per-line direction detection; redesigned left sidebar + vault profile/switcher; hideable ribbon; selection-aware word count; footnote hover previews + [^ autocomplete; better Sync defaults; editor parsing performance
1.7	Aug–Oct 2024	Deferred-view lazy workspace loading (faster startup); editable page previews; Sync History view; mobile tab switcher; app load-time monitoring screen
1.8	Dec 2024–Jan 2025	Web viewer core plugin (in-app browser, “Save to vault”); Sync “Hide my changes”; auto-reveal file in explorer; insert-footnote command; download-attachments command; guided mobile onboarding
1.9	May–Sep 2025	Bases core plugin (tables, filters, formulas; Cards view 1.9.3; formula editor 1.9.5; OO formula syntax 1.9.2); Footnotes view core plugin; dropped tag/alias/cssclass; Sync AES-SIV filename encryption + migration assistant
1.10	Oct–Nov 2025	Bases: Group by, summaries, List view, Maps plugin/view, Bases API, keyboard nav + copy/paste, CSV-ish paste from Excel/Sheets; toggle light/dark command; mobile shake-to-debug
1.11	Dec 2025–Feb 2026	Markdown links in text/list properties; predefined daily-note formats; Keychain (encrypted secret storage for plugins, at-rest encryption 1.11.5); URI paneType + choose-vault; auto plugin-update checks; mobile: iOS widgets/Siri/Spotlight, Android widgets, interface refresh, full-screen mode, Restricted Mode per-vault
1.12	Feb–Mar 2026	Obsidian CLI (terminal control/scripting, bundled binary, autocompletion); image drag-resize in Live Preview; automatic attachment cleanup on delete; Bases search toolbar; iOS Share extension; system-language onboarding
1.13	May–Jun 2026	Settings overhaul: separate window, built-in search, keyboard navigation; URI confirmation dialogs + allow-list; Bookmarks search; drag-drop folder import preserving structure; Note Composer link rewriting; Sync view file drag + search; mouse back-button navigation

Pre-2024 context (for completeness): Canvas (1.1, 2022), Properties UI (1.4, Jul 2023), new CM6 editor/Live Preview (1.0/1.5 era), Table editor (1.5, Dec 2023).

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9. Licensing & Commercial Model (what the OSS clone replaces)

• App is free for both personal and commercial use — “No sign-up required. No strings attached.” Commercial users are encouraged, not required, to buy a license. The app itself is proprietary/closed-source (this is the gap an OSS clone fills); the formats (Markdown, JSON Canvas/MIT) are open.
• Catalyst — $25 one-time supporter license: early beta (“Insider”) builds, community badges, VIP channels.
• Commercial license — $50/user/year, optional, for organizational use; non-refundable.
• Sync — $4–5 (Standard) / $8–10 (Plus) per user/month (see §5).
• Publish — $8–10 per site/month (see §6).
• 40% discount on Sync/Publish for students, faculty, non-profit employees; 7-day refunds for Sync/Publish only.

For Geode: the clone replaces the free app; Sync ≈ any E2E file-sync backend honoring §5 semantics; Publish ≈ static-ish hosted rendering honoring §6 components. Geode is MIT-licensed and free for any use — there is no equivalent commercial-license tier.

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10. Performance & Accessibility

10.1 Performance characteristics (as documented/changelog)

Obsidian publishes no hard vault-size guarantees; documented performance commitments are incremental:

• Metadata cache in IndexedDB persists across launches so big vaults don’t re-index on every start; manual “rebuild cache” option (1.6.5).
• 1.6: “improved editor parsing performance” and faster workspace loading; 1.7: deferred (lazy) view loading — tabs hydrate on focus, plus a load-time monitoring screen in settings showing per-plugin startup cost.
• 1.9.13/1.9.14: Quick Switcher / Command Palette performance for large vaults; 1.10.3 mobile: faster launch by opening last file in background; 1.5.9: faster community plugin/theme browsing.
• Sync practical scale bounds come from plan limits (§5.1), not engine limits.
• Implication for Geode: lazy view instantiation + persistent derived-metadata cache are the two load-bearing performance architecture features to replicate.

10.2 Accessibility

There is no dedicated accessibility page in official help (the accessibility slug 404s) — a documentation gap worth noting. Documented accessibility-relevant capabilities:

• Full RTL interface mirroring and per-line text-direction detection (1.6+).
• Extensive hotkey customization (every command bindable; hotkeys.json); 1.13 adds full keyboard navigation of settings, Alt-Arrow reordering, searchable settings.
• Bases full keyboard navigation (1.10); themes/CSS snippets allow arbitrary contrast/font adjustments; system-default font options (1.5.11); adjustable base font size and zoom.
• Obsidian Publish sites: “100% Lighthouse accessibility score by default.”
• Community forum threads document ongoing screen-reader gaps (NVDA blank-text issues, unlabeled buttons) — an area where an OSS clone can differentiate.

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Source Index

• JSON Canvas: https://jsoncanvas.org / https://jsoncanvas.org/spec/1.0/
• Help (new base URL https://obsidian.md/help/...): configuration-folder; Files and folders/How Obsidian stores data; Editing and formatting/Properties; bases, bases/syntax, bases/functions, bases/views; Extending Obsidian/Obsidian URI; sync/settings; Obsidian Sync/Security and privacy; Obsidian Sync/Plans and storage limits; publish/domains, publish/permalinks, publish/security; Getting started/Sync your notes across devices
• Developer docs: https://docs.obsidian.md (Mobile development; Build a theme)
• Marketing/commerce: https://obsidian.md/pricing, /sync, /publish, /changelog (pages 1–9 scanned, v1.5.8 → v1.13.1)