Floating Notes

A lightweight Obsidian plugin that opens a floating popout window for instant note capture — inspired by Raycast Notes.

Listing: https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/floating-notes — or add it to Obsidian directly.

Why

Raycast Notes lets you jot down ideas instantly with a global hotkey and a clean, floating editor. macOS makes truly global hotkeys hard to wire up to a single Obsidian command, so this plugin combines:

• An in-app command (Toggle floating notes) you can bind in Obsidian's hotkey settings
• An obsidian://floating-notes URI handler you can trigger from Raycast / Shortcuts / Alfred for a system-wide hotkey
• A loopback HTTP endpoint (http://127.0.0.1:51234/toggle) for shell scripts and other tools

The result: press one hotkey from anywhere, get a distraction-free Obsidian editor floating above your work, press again to hide it.

Features

• Toggle popout — show / hide a native Obsidian editor window without losing state
• Always on top — popout floats above other apps (optional)
• Hide tab bar — strip the tab bar for a bare capture window (optional)
• Side panels — two collapsible panels inside the popout, each running any installed view (file explorer, backlinks, a plugin's own sidebar view)
• Keep the main window awake — render plugin content (Tasks, Dataview) in the popout while the main window is minimized (optional)
• Auto-launch — the bundled script starts Obsidian if it isn't running, then toggles
• Five capture modes
  • Current active note — opens whatever note you're viewing
  • Fixed note — always opens a specific note (e.g. Inbox.md)
  • New note every time — creates a fresh timestamped note in a folder
  • Today's daily note — opens (or creates) today's daily note
  • Plugin view — opens any registered view, e.g. Journal View or Calendar
• Multiple triggers — Obsidian command, obsidian://floating-notes URI, or local HTTP endpoint

Installation

From the plugin store (recommended)

1. Obsidian → Settings → Community plugins → Browse
2. Search for Floating Notes
3. Install, then Enable

Or open the listing in a browser and click Add to Obsidian.

Manual

1. Download main.js, manifest.json and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create a folder <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/floating-notes/
3. Copy the files into that folder
4. Enable Floating Notes in Settings → Community plugins

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/haotiencheng/obsidian-floating-notes.git
cd obsidian-floating-notes
npm install
npm run build

Then copy main.js and manifest.json into your vault's plugin folder.

Usage

In Obsidian (local hotkey)

Settings → Hotkeys → search Toggle floating notes → bind a key. No default hotkey is set.

This hotkey only fires when Obsidian is the active app. For a truly global hotkey, see below.

Global hotkey (system-wide)

Obsidian plugins can't register OS-level hotkeys directly (the only API that allows it, electron.remote.globalShortcut, is deprecated and forbidden by the community plugin guidelines). The standard workaround — used by QuickAdd and others — is to delegate to a system-wide launcher that triggers the plugin externally.

Floating Notes exposes two external triggers:

Trigger	Effect
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:51234/toggle > /dev/null	Recommended. Toggles the popout without activating the Obsidian app or raising the main window.
open "obsidian://floating-notes"	Also toggles the popout, but opening an obsidian:// URI activates the Obsidian app on macOS, which briefly raises the main window.

Pair one of those triggers with the system-wide launcher of your choice.

Prerequisites

1. Floating Notes is installed and enabled in Obsidian
2. A system-wide launcher installed (Raycast, macOS Shortcuts, Alfred, Hammerspoon, Karabiner-Elements — pick one)

Recipes

Raycast (macOS — recommended)

1. Create a file named floating-notes.sh anywhere you like (e.g. ~/raycast-scripts/) with this content:

   #!/bin/bash
   
   # @raycast.schemaVersion 1
   # @raycast.title Toggle Floating Notes
   # @raycast.mode silent
   # @raycast.icon 📝
   # @raycast.packageName Obsidian
   # @raycast.description Toggle the Obsidian Floating Notes popout window.
   
   PORT="${FLOATING_NOTES_PORT:-51234}"
   URL="http://127.0.0.1:${PORT}/toggle"
   
   toggle() { curl -fsS --max-time 2 "$URL" > /dev/null 2>&1; }
   
   toggle && exit 0
   
   # Obsidian is closed or still starting: launch it, then retry.
   open -a Obsidian > /dev/null 2>&1 || open "obsidian://" > /dev/null 2>&1
   
   deadline=$((SECONDS + 30))
   while [ "$SECONDS" -lt "$deadline" ]; do
     sleep 0.5
     toggle && exit 0
   done
   exit 1
   

2. Make it executable: chmod +x ~/raycast-scripts/floating-notes.sh
3. Raycast → Preferences → Extensions → Script Commands → Add Directory → pick the folder containing the script
4. Open Raycast → search Toggle Floating Notes → click the gear (⌘ ⇧ ,) → Record Hotkey → press your combo

If you cloned this repo, skip steps 1–2 and point Raycast at the cloned folder — floating-notes.sh is already there.

The macOS recipes below use a bare curl, which toggles only when Obsidian is already running. For auto-launch, call the script instead of curl: ~/raycast-scripts/floating-notes.sh. Windows and Linux equivalents are further down.

macOS Shortcuts (built-in, no extras)

1. Shortcuts app → + new shortcut, name it Floating Notes
2. Add action Run Shell Script → paste:

   curl -s http://127.0.0.1:51234/toggle > /dev/null
   

3. Shortcut Details (sidebar) → Add Keyboard Shortcut → press key combo

Alfred (Powerpack required)

1. Workflows → + → Blank Workflow
2. Right-click canvas → Triggers → Hotkey → set key
3. Connect to Actions → Run Script (/bin/bash) → paste:

   curl -s http://127.0.0.1:51234/toggle > /dev/null
   

Hammerspoon (free, scriptable)

Add to ~/.hammerspoon/init.lua:

hs.hotkey.bind({"alt"}, "N", function()
  -- swap for os.getenv("HOME") .. "/raycast-scripts/floating-notes.sh" to auto-launch
  hs.execute("/usr/bin/curl -s http://127.0.0.1:51234/toggle")
end)

Reload config from the Hammerspoon menu bar icon.

Karabiner-Elements (free, low-level)

Save as ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications/floating-notes.json, then enable it under Complex Modifications → Add predefined rule. The shell command is self-contained: it toggles the popout if Obsidian is running, otherwise launches Obsidian and retries for up to 30 seconds.

{
  "title": "Floating Notes",
  "rules": [
    {
      "description": "Toggle Obsidian floating notes",
      "manipulators": [
        {
          "type": "basic",
          "from": { "key_code": "n", "modifiers": { "mandatory": ["right_option"] } },
          "to": [
            {
              "shell_command": "PORT=\"${FLOATING_NOTES_PORT:-51234}\"; URL=\"http://127.0.0.1:${PORT}/toggle\"; toggle() { curl -fsS --max-time 2 \"$URL\" > /dev/null 2>&1; }; toggle && exit 0; open -a Obsidian > /dev/null 2>&1 || open 'obsidian://' > /dev/null 2>&1; deadline=$((SECONDS + 30)); while [ \"$SECONDS\" -lt \"$deadline\" ]; do sleep 0.5; toggle && exit 0; done; exit 1"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Karabiner rejects unknown keys such as "//", so keep notes in the description field.

Raycast (Windows)

1. Create a file named floating-notes.bat (e.g. in %USERPROFILE%\raycast-scripts\) with this content:

   @echo off >nul 2>&1
   chcp 65001 >nul 2>&1
   setlocal
   
   REM @raycast.schemaVersion 1
   REM @raycast.title Toggle Floating Notes
   REM @raycast.mode silent
   REM @raycast.icon 📝
   REM @raycast.packageName Obsidian
   REM @raycast.description Toggle the Obsidian Floating Notes popout window.
   
   set "URL=http://127.0.0.1:51234/toggle"
   
   curl.exe -fsS -m 2 -o nul "%URL%" >nul 2>&1 && exit /b 0
   
   REM Obsidian is closed or still starting: launch it, then retry for 30s.
   start "" "obsidian://"
   
   for /l %%i in (1,1,30) do (
     timeout /t 1 /nobreak >nul
     curl.exe -fsS -m 2 -o nul "%URL%" >nul 2>&1 && exit /b 0
   )
   
   exit /b 1
   

2. Raycast → Preferences → Extensions → Script Commands → Add Directory → pick the folder containing the script
3. Open Raycast → search Toggle Floating Notes → assign a hotkey

Windows (AutoHotkey v2 — alternative to Raycast)

!n:: {
    if Toggle()
        return
    Run("obsidian://")                      ; closed or still starting
    deadline := A_TickCount + 30000
    while (A_TickCount < deadline) {
        Sleep(500)
        if Toggle()
            return
    }
}

Toggle() {
    return RunWait('curl.exe -fsS -m 2 -o NUL "http://127.0.0.1:51234/toggle"', , "Hide") = 0
}

Linux (e.g. sxhkd)

Save this as ~/bin/floating-notes.sh and chmod +x it:

#!/bin/sh
URL="http://127.0.0.1:${FLOATING_NOTES_PORT:-51234}/toggle"

toggle() { curl -fsS --max-time 2 "$URL" > /dev/null 2>&1; }

toggle && exit 0

# Obsidian is closed or still starting: launch it, then retry.
(obsidian > /dev/null 2>&1 &) || xdg-open "obsidian://" > /dev/null 2>&1

i=0
while [ "$i" -lt 60 ]; do
	sleep 0.5
	toggle && exit 0
	i=$((i + 1))
done
exit 1

Then add to ~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc:

alt + n
    ~/bin/floating-notes.sh

Upgrading

From 1.2.x to 1.3.x — the plugin update is automatic, but the trigger script is not. Your launcher runs your own copy of floating-notes.sh, so it keeps the old one-line curl until you replace it. Without that, everything still works except auto-launch.

If you cloned this repo and pointed your launcher at the clone:

git pull

If you copied the script somewhere (e.g. ~/scripts/floating-notes.sh), replace the body with the current version, keeping your own @raycast.* metadata lines so your recorded hotkey stays bound:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/haotiencheng/obsidian-floating-notes/main/floating-notes.sh \
  -o ~/scripts/floating-notes.sh
chmod +x ~/scripts/floating-notes.sh

Changed the port in settings? Export it for the script: FLOATING_NOTES_PORT=51235.

Settings

Setting	Description	Default
Capture mode	What to show in the popout window	Current active note
Fixed note path	Path to the note (when mode is "Fixed note")	Inbox.md
New note folder	Folder for new notes (when mode is "New note every time")	Inbox
Capture view	Which view to open (when mode is "Plugin view"), from any installed view	none
Reapply capture on show	Reload the capture target every time the popout is shown, instead of keeping what was open last	Off
Always on top	Float popout above other windows	On
Hide tab bar	Hide the popout's tab bar (a 12px strip stays draggable)	Off
Show side panels	Collapsible panels on either side of the note in the popout	Off
Left / right panel view	Which view runs in each panel, from any installed view	File explorer / Backlink
Keep the main window awake	Stop Electron throttling the minimized main window, so plugin content still renders in the popout	Off
Server port	Local HTTP port for external triggers	51234

Notes

• Desktop only. The plugin uses Electron and Node http APIs that aren't available on Obsidian Mobile.
• The local HTTP server only accepts connections from 127.0.0.1.

Inspiration

Raycast Notes — a beautiful, instant note-taking experience via a global hotkey. Floating Notes brings that frictionless capture workflow into Obsidian.

License

MIT