Obsidian Local Dev Loop

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Starting plugin development
• Configuring a dev environment
• With obsidian dev loop
• Obsidian hot reload

Example prompts

• “obsidian dev loop”
• “obsidian hot reload”
• “obsidian development setup”
• “/obsidian-local-dev-loop”

Requirements

• Node.js
• Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Designed for Claude Code
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Write, Edit, Bash(npm:*), Bash(pnpm:*), Bash(mkdir:*), Bash(ln:*), Bash(ls:*), Grep

Workflow steps

7 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

1. 1Clone the official sample plugin
2. 2Create a dedicated dev vault
3. 3Symlink the plugin into the dev vault
4. 4Run esbuild in watch mode
5. 5Hot-reload in Obsidian
6. 6Debug with Chrome DevTools
7. 7Testing with vitest

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 80f86df. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Read
  • Write
  • Edit
  • Bash(npm:*)
  • Bash(pnpm:*)
  • Bash(mkdir:*)
  • Bash(ln:*)
  • Bash(ls:*)
  • Grep

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • npm
  • npx
  • git
  • node

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

  • github.com

  Also links to:

  • docs.obsidian.md
  • esbuild.github.io
  • vitest.dev

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

• Compatibility

  Designed for Claude Code

  From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Obsidian Local Dev Loop loads about 2.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~3.3k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 106 tokens; SKILL.md has 638 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~106

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2.4k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~3.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace at commit 80f86df, republished under its MIT licence (© jeremylongshore). 638 words, ~2,441 tokens.

name

obsidian-local-dev-loop

description

Set up a fast Obsidian plugin development loop with hot reload. Covers cloning the sample plugin, esbuild watch mode, symlinking into a vault, Ctrl+R hot reload, Chrome DevTools debugging, and testing with vitest. Use when starting plugin development or configuring a dev environment. Trigger with "obsidian dev loop", "obsidian hot reload", "obsidian development setup", "develop obsidian plugin".

allowed-tools

Read, Write, Edit, Bash(npm:*), Bash(pnpm:*), Bash(mkdir:*), Bash(ln:*), Bash(ls:*), Grep

compatibility

Designed for Claude Code

version

1.13.0

license

MIT

author

Jeremy Longshore <jeremy@intentsolutions.io>

tags

obsidian, development, hot-reload, debugging, testing

set -euo pipefail

git clone https://github.com/obsidianmd/obsidian-sample-plugin.git my-plugin
cd my-plugin
rm -rf .git
git init

npm install

set -euo pipefail

DEV_VAULT="$HOME/ObsidianDev"
mkdir -p "$DEV_VAULT/.obsidian/plugins"
mkdir -p "$DEV_VAULT/Test Notes"

cat > "$DEV_VAULT/Test Notes/Sample.md" << 'EOF'
---
tags: [test, sample]
---
# Sample Note

This note exists for plugin development testing.

## Section A

Some content with a [[link]] and a #tag.

## Section B

- Item 1
- Item 2
- Item 3
EOF

echo "Dev vault ready at $DEV_VAULT"

set -euo pipefail

DEV_VAULT="$HOME/ObsidianDev"
PLUGIN_DIR="$(pwd)"
PLUGIN_ID=$(node -e "console.log(require('./manifest.json').id)")

# Symlink project root into vault plugins folder
ln -sfn "$PLUGIN_DIR" "$DEV_VAULT/.obsidian/plugins/$PLUGIN_ID"

# Verify
ls -la "$DEV_VAULT/.obsidian/plugins/$PLUGIN_ID/manifest.json"
echo "Symlinked $PLUGIN_ID into dev vault."

mklink /D "%USERPROFILE%\ObsidianDev\.obsidian\plugins\my-plugin" "%cd%"

npm run dev
# esbuild watches src/ and rebuilds main.js on save
# Output: "build finished" messages in the terminal

// Add to onload() for development:
if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production") {
  console.log("[MyPlugin] Dev mode active. Use Ctrl+Shift+I for DevTools.");
}

set -euo pipefail
npm install --save-dev vitest

import { defineConfig } from "vitest/config";

export default defineConfig({
  test: {
    globals: true,
    environment: "node",
  },
});

export class Plugin {
  app = {};
  loadData = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({});
  saveData = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
  addCommand = vi.fn();
  addRibbonIcon = vi.fn();
  addSettingTab = vi.fn();
  addStatusBarItem = vi.fn().mockReturnValue({ setText: vi.fn() });
  registerEvent = vi.fn();
  registerInterval = vi.fn();
}

export class Notice {
  constructor(public message: string) {}
}

export class PluginSettingTab {
  containerEl = { empty: vi.fn(), createEl: vi.fn() };
  constructor(public app: any, public plugin: any) {}
  display() {}
}

export class Setting {
  constructor(el: any) {}
  setName = vi.fn().mockReturnThis();
  setDesc = vi.fn().mockReturnThis();
  addText = vi.fn().mockReturnThis();
  addToggle = vi.fn().mockReturnThis();
}

export class Modal {
  app: any;
  contentEl = { createEl: vi.fn(), empty: vi.fn() };
  constructor(app: any) { this.app = app; }
  open = vi.fn();
  close = vi.fn();
  onOpen() {}
  onClose() {}
}

// src/__tests__/main.test.ts
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";

vi.mock("obsidian");

describe("Plugin settings", () => {
  it("merges defaults with saved data", async () => {
    const { Plugin } = await import("obsidian");
    const { default: MyPlugin } = await import("../main");

    const plugin = new MyPlugin() as any;
    plugin.loadData = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ greeting: "Custom" });
    plugin.saveData = vi.fn();

    await plugin.loadSettings();

    expect(plugin.settings.greeting).toBe("Custom");
    expect(plugin.settings.showRibbon).toBe(true); // default preserved
  });
});

npx vitest run           # single run
npx vitest --watch       # watch mode alongside npm run dev

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "node esbuild.config.mjs",
    "build": "node esbuild.config.mjs production",
    "test": "vitest run",
    "test:watch": "vitest --watch"
  }
}

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# Terminal 1: esbuild watch
npm run dev &
ESBUILD_PID=$!

# Terminal 2: vitest watch
npx vitest --watch &
VITEST_PID=$!

echo "Dev servers running. Ctrl+C to stop."
trap "kill $ESBUILD_PID $VITEST_PID" EXIT
wait

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [{
    "label": "Obsidian Dev",
    "type": "npm",
    "script": "dev",
    "isBackground": true,
    "problemMatcher": {
      "pattern": { "regexp": "^x]$" },
      "background": {
        "activeOnStart": true,
        "beginsPattern": ".",
        "endsPattern": "build finished"
      }
    }
  }]
}

© jeremylongshore, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in skills/.curated/obsidian-local-dev-loop of jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace.

• SKILL.md
• references/implementation-guide.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 80f86df