Arbourist

Design folder structures inside an Obsidian note. Import a real folder, comment on each row, keep it live, or bake a static tree.

Install

Community listing is not submitted yet. Until then, install it by hand:

1. Build with npm install then npm run build, or download a GitHub release.

2. Copy main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into:

   .obsidian/plugins/arbourist/

3. Enable Arbourist under Settings → Community plugins.

Embed a folder in a note

Type a vault path after ![[, then comma options:

![[/Projects/My Library, display:live, comments:disable]]

Command Insert folder embed inserts one of these for a folder you pick.

Option	Values	Default
display	live, static	live
refresh	flag (refresh)	off
comments	enable, disable	disable
files	on, off	on
links	on, off	off
filter	text	none
ext	m, md, …	none
depth	number	20

Live re-reads the folder when you open the note or click Refresh. Names stay in sync with disk. Comments stick to each path.

Static pulls once and bakes the tree. The ![[...]] line stays in the note so you can edit it later; while reading you see the baked tree. Add refresh on that line to pull again. Arbourist then drops refresh so it will not keep scanning:

![[/Projects/My Library, display:static, files:off, refresh]]

Comments: with comments:disable you only see the tree. With comments:enable, hover a line and click after the name to type a note.

Blueprints

A blueprint is a note you can rearrange before anything exists on disk.

• Ribbon or command New blueprint — empty unsaved tree. Save chooses a folder and file name; the button disappears once the note exists.
• Import folder into a new blueprint — snapshot (editable copy) or live view.
• Snapshot can include folders only, or every file. Wikilinks are optional and only for files that already live in the vault.

Blueprints are stored as an arbourist code block in the note. Open the note in Arbourist to edit the tree with buttons. That note is the save — there is no separate database.

Include a blueprint in another note (live: edits to the blueprint update every include):

![[Blueprints/Untitled blueprint, display:live, comments:enable]]

Command Insert blueprint embed inserts that line for a blueprint you pick.

Settings

• Blueprints folder
• Import files by default
• Create wikilinks by default
• Max import depth