Obsidian Expander

Replace variables across your Obsidian vault using HTML comment markers. Configure key-value pairs in settings, and Expander will automatically substitute them throughout your notes, and keep those updated too.

Features

• Variable Replacement: Define key-value pairs that get expanded throughout your vault
• Dynamic Values: Use function expressions like now().format("YYYY-MM-DD") for dynamic content
• Update Modes: Control when expansions update
  • Auto: Updates automatically on file changes
  • Manual: Updates only via command or button
  • Once: Updates once, then never again
  • Once-and-Eject: Updates once, removes markers
• Folder Filtering: Choose which folders to scan or ignore
• Visual Feedback: Mode badges and refresh buttons in the editor
• Commands: Replace values in current note or entire vault, add new expansion, ...
• What's new after updates. After a plugin update, a one-time dialog shows the release notes you just received (including skipped versions) with ways to support development. Never shown on fresh installs or regular restarts.

Installation

Community plugins (recommended)

1. In Obsidian, go to Settings → Community plugins.
2. Disable Restricted mode if it's enabled.
3. Select Browse, search for Expander, install it, then enable it.

You can also browse the catalog on the Obsidian Community website.

Manual installation

If the plugin isn't listed in the community catalog yet (or you want a specific version):

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Copy them into <Vault>/.obsidian/plugins/expander/.
3. Reload Obsidian and enable Expander in Settings → Community plugins.

BRAT (bleeding edge)

BRAT (Beta Reviewers Auto-update Tool) installs plugins straight from a GitHub repo and keeps them updated automatically. Use this if you want the latest commits — things might break.

1. Install Obsidian42 - BRAT from Settings → Community plugins → Browse and enable it.
2. Run BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing from the command palette.
3. Paste https://github.com/dsebastien/obsidian-expander.
4. Select the latest version and confirm.
5. Enable Expander in Settings → Community plugins.

Quick Start

1. Install the plugin (see Installation above).
2. Open Settings → Expander
3. Add a replacement (e.g., key: today, value: now().format("YYYY-MM-DD"))
4. In your note, add:

   <!-- expand: today -->
   

5. The value and closing tag will be automatically inserted

Syntax

Just add an opening tag - the closing tag is added automatically:

<!-- expand: key -->

After expansion:

<!-- expand: key -->value<!---->

Update mode variants:

• <!-- expand: key --> - Auto mode (updates on file change)
• <!-- expand-manual: key --> - Manual mode (update via command only)
• <!-- expand-once: key --> - Once mode (fills once, never updates)
• <!-- expand-once-and-eject: key --> - Once-and-eject mode (fills once, removes markers)

Functions

Dynamic values using function expressions:

Function	Description	Example
now()	Current date/time	now().format("YYYY-MM-DD")
today()	Today at midnight	today().format("MM/DD/YYYY")
format(pattern)	Format date	now().format("HH:mm")
lower()	Lowercase	now().format("MMMM").lower()
upper()	Uppercase	now().format("MMMM").upper()
trim()	Trim whitespace
replace(old, new)	Replace text	replace("-", "/")

Documentation

Full documentation available at docs/.

Development

See DEVELOPMENT.md for build instructions, testing setup, and contribution guidelines.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Author

Created by Sébastien Dubois (@dSebastien)

My other Obsidian plugins

Plugin	What it does
Agentic Resource Discovery Server	Local-first Agentic Resource Discovery publisher and registry that serves your AI skills and tools to agents over a local HTTP and MCP server
Book Exporter	Export books (one manifest note + linked chapter notes) to EPUB and PDF via Pandoc
Bookshelf Base	Display your notes as a visual bookshelf via a custom Bases view
Dataview Serializer	Serialize Dataview queries to Markdown, and keep the Markdown representation up to date
Ghost Publish	Publish your vault notes to a Ghost blog with configurable presets for tags, newsletters, and frontmatter conventions
Graph Explorer Base View	A custom Bases view that renders notes as an interactive force-directed graph with explored/unexplored tracking
Hidden Folders Access	Index hidden root-level folders (e.g. .claude) so they appear in the file tree, metadata cache, and Bases
Journal Bases	Custom Base views for journaling and periodic reviews
Kanban Action Planner	Render your notes as configurable Kanban boards and calendars inside Bases, with statuses, ordering, relationships, and scheduling
Life Tracker	Capture and visualize the data that matters in your life
Note Village	A 2D pixel art village where your notes become villagers you can explore and chat with using AI
Obsidian Starter Kit	Adds strong typing support and powerful automation support for notes
Remarkable Synchronizer	Connect to the reMarkable cloud, list, download, and sync notebook pages as images
Replicate	Use AI models with ease via the Replicate.com integration
REST and MCP server	Exposes CLI commands as RESTful API endpoints and an MCP server for AI tool integration
Time Machine	Browse, compare, and restore previous versions of your notes using built-in file-recovery snapshots
Transcriber	Transcribe images to markdown using Ollama vision models
Typefully	Publish social media posts with ease using the Typefully integration
Update Time	Automatically update front matter to include creation and last update times

Everything I build is documented in my newsletter and on my YouTube channel.

News & support

To stay up to date about this plugin, Obsidian in general, Personal Knowledge Management and note-taking:

• Subscribe to my newsletter
• Subscribe to my YouTube channel
• Join the Knowii community and learn to organize your notes and put your knowledge to work, together with fellow knowledge workers

If this plugin is useful to you, here are the best ways to support my work ❤️:

• Join the Knowii community
• Become a GitHub Sponsor
• Buy me a coffee
• Subscribe to my YouTube channel
• Check out my products

Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue.