Latest Arrivals

Find the notes that most recently arrived in your vault, and open them in one tap.

If you sync your vault to your phone with Syncthing, Resilio or anything similar, this answers a simple question: which notes just arrived? Note that it is not the same as Obsidian's own recent-files list, which remembers what you opened — this remembers what arrived.

Built for synced vaults and tuned for Android. It exists because plugins that show "recently added files" rely on Obsidian's create event, so they never notice files that appear while Obsidian is closed — which is exactly when a sync tool does its work.

中文说明（更通俗的版本）→

Plugin ID	latest-arrivals
Sort keys	Arrival time · file name (pinyin initials) · created time · modified time · size
Interface language	English, 简体中文, 繁體中文 — follows Obsidian by default
Bundle	main.js ~81 KB (gzip ~21 KB), zero runtime dependencies
Platform	Android, iOS, and desktop (isDesktopOnly: false)
Minimum Obsidian	1.8.7
Network	None. No requests, no telemetry, no self-updating

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1. Why other "recently added" plugins miss synced notes

Plugins such as Recently Added Files listen only to Obsidian's create event, and register that listener after the workspace is ready. Files written by an external sync tool arrive while Obsidian is closed, so they are picked up by the startup scan and never fire an event. They are silently missed.

This plugin does not depend on event timing: every refresh performs a full-vault set difference.

Relationship to Recently Added Files. This project is not a fork and contains no code from it. Its source was read only to diagnose the cause above, and credit is due for that starting point.

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2. How it works

The plugin keeps a table of path → first-observed time. Where that table lives is the crux:

Storage	Synced between devices?
data.json in the plugin folder	Yes	❌ devices overwrite each other
App.saveLocalStorage()	No	✅ device-local, per vault

Every refresh:

1. Fast path — vault.getMarkdownFiles() plus in-memory TFile.stat. No I/O, milliseconds.
2. Deep path — an optional recursive adapter.list, to catch files Obsidian has not indexed yet.
3. Reconcile — known paths keep their frozen arrival time; a vanished path whose replacement has an identical size and mtime is treated as a rename and inherits it; anything else is a new arrival.

Arrival time is the default sort key because it is the only signal that does not depend on file attributes. An external sync tool preserves mtime, so mtime really means "when you wrote the note elsewhere", and ctime is unreliable on Android. A newly discovered file therefore uses max(ctime, mtime) when that falls in the window since the last scan, and is otherwise recorded as arriving now — so a freshly synced note always sorts to the top.

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3. Permissions and data access

Obsidian's directory asks plugins to disclose what they touch. This plugin:

Behaviour	Why
Enumerates the vault (vault.getMarkdownFiles(), plus an optional recursive adapter.list)	It has to see the full set of notes in order to compute "what is new". The deep scan exists to catch files Syncthing has written but Obsidian has not indexed yet, and can be turned off in settings.
Reads and writes vault files	Reads notes to open them; writes only the optional configuration export at the vault root.
Clipboard	None. The plugin neither reads nor writes the clipboard.
Device-local key/value storage (App.saveLocalStorage)	Stores the arrival ledger and a settings backup. Never synced.
Network	None. No network requests, no telemetry, and the plugin does not update itself or its dependencies.
Access outside the vault	None. No Node/Electron APIs, no adapter.getFullPath(). The deep scan starts at the vault root and only ever descends into directories it listed itself.

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4. Features

Sorting — five keys, ascending or descending

File name (pinyin initials) · Arrival time · Created time · Modified time · Note size

Pinyin sorting is implemented with zero dependencies. The JavaScript runtime's ICU already ships Chinese collation, so the plugin binary-searches a small table of syllable-boundary characters to find a character's initial, then applies a sub-1 KB override table for polyphonic characters. Verified results:

知识管理→ZSGL  本地部署→BDBS  微信→WX  数学→SX  法律→FL  经济→JJ
物理→WL  化学→HX  中国→ZG  北京→BJ  上海→SH  长沙→CS  厦门→XM

At startup the plugin self-tests whether Intl.Collator('zh') really has pinyin data. If the device's WebView lacks it, sorting degrades to code-point order and says so in the settings, rather than silently producing the wrong order.

Entry points

Entry	Notes
Sidebar tab (recommended)	Mounted automatically; position (left / right / off) is configurable
Command palette	Latest Arrivals: Open latest arrivals
Quick Action (mobile)	Point it at Open latest arrivals and a pull-down from the top of the screen opens the list
Editor toolbar (mobile)	Settings → Interface → Toolbar → add the command
File context menu	Open "Latest arrivals" list · Ignore from latest arrivals

The quick list shows 1–10 notes (configurable). Tap a row to open it; long-press for the context menu.

On mobile there is no ribbon to configure. Obsidian's mobile app has no ribbon settings page (searching settings for "Ribbon" finds nothing), which is why the sidebar tab and the Quick Action are the recommended entry points there.

Excluding folders

Settings → Latest Arrivals → Scanning → Excluded folders → Choose folders…

A searchable checkbox list of every folder in the vault. Tick one and that folder and everything under it is left out of every list — no glob syntax required.

The matcher is anchored (^Folder/), so excluding Archive does not affect MyArchive/. A free-text Additional exclusion rules box remains for wildcard cases such as Archive/20??/*.

Configuration backup: export and import

Settings → Latest Arrivals → Configuration backup

Button	Effect
Export	Writes the current settings to latest-arrivals-settings.json at the vault root
Import	Pick a JSON file from the vault and apply it (validated first; unknown keys are ignored)

Writing the file into the vault is deliberate: it syncs to your other devices, so you can export on your computer and import on your phone, or vice versa. Import only overwrites keys that appear in the file.

Settings self-healing

Settings live in the plugin folder's data.json, which is Obsidian's convention — but that file sits inside the plugin directory, so manually deleting and re-copying that folder takes your settings with it.

The plugin therefore also mirrors settings into device-local storage (the same place as the ledger, outside the plugin folder). If data.json goes missing, the settings are restored from the backup on startup, with a notice telling you so.

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5. Interface language

The plugin is English by default and follows your Obsidian interface language automatically. You can also pin it under Settings → Latest Arrivals → Interface language.

Language	Status
English	Default, and the fallback for any missing key
简体中文	✅
繁體中文	✅

Command names, the ribbon tooltip, and the view title are registered when the plugin loads, and Obsidian has no API to rename them. Changing the language therefore reloads the plugin; if that fails, you'll be asked to toggle it off and on manually.

Adding a language means one new file in src/i18n/ plus one line in LOCALES. npm test asserts that every bundle has an identical key set and identical {placeholder} usage.

The name and description in manifest.json are read directly by Obsidian and cannot vary by language, so the plugin list always shows the English name.

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6. Installation

First, check whether it is in the directory yet

Settings → Community plugins → Browse, and search for Latest Arrivals.

Result	What to do
You can find it	Install it from there. This is the simplest way, and Obsidian will keep it updated for you.
You cannot find it	It is still in review. Use one of the two methods below.

The review only needs to pass once. After that the directory entry stays, and new releases reach users through Obsidian's own updater — no BRAT, no manual copying.

While it is still in review — option A: BRAT

BRAT installs a plugin straight from a GitHub repository and updates it for you.

1. Install the BRAT community plugin (obsidian42-brat).
2. Run BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing from the command palette.
3. Enter: iwannaknow2000/obsidian-latest-arrivals
4. Enable Latest Arrivals under Settings → Community plugins.

To update later, run BRAT: Check for updates to all beta plugins.

If BRAT says "This does not seem to be an obsidian plugin", the download was blocked — usually GitHub rate limiting. Turn off any VPN and try again, or use option B.

While it is still in review — option B: manual copy

This needs no network access at all.

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Copy them into <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/latest-arrivals/.
3. Fully quit and reopen Obsidian, then enable the plugin under Settings → Community plugins.

Overwrite the three files; do not delete the folder — data.json lives there. (And if you do delete it, the settings backup described above restores your configuration.)

How updates work, by install method

Installed via	How to update
Official directory	Settings → Community plugins → Check for updates — works once listed
BRAT	Settings → BRAT → Check for updates to all beta plugins
Manual copy	Re-copy the three files and restart Obsidian

Until the directory entry is approved, the built-in "Check for updates" button cannot see this plugin — it only compares against the official directory. That is by design, not a fault.

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7. Development

npm install
npm run dev          # watch build (writes main.js with an inline sourcemap)
npm test             # 54 logic assertions + 29 runtime smoke assertions
npm run lint         # official rule set, with type-checked rules
                     # (the directory's source-code review runs the same set)
npm run build        # type-check + production build
npm run release:dry  # show what a release would do, without changing anything
npm run release      # bump version, commit, tag, push → CI builds and publishes

Layout

src/
├── main.ts            Plugin entry: commands, ribbon icon, sidebar tab, settings, foreground rescan
├── ledger.ts          Arrival ledger (device-local persistence, reconciliation, rename inheritance)
├── scanner.ts         Fast path (vault index) + deep path (recursive adapter traversal)
├── service.ts         Data core: scan → reconcile → sort → expose to the UI
├── sort.ts            Five sort keys + exclusion matchers
├── settings-io.ts     Configuration export and import
├── pinyin.ts          Syllable-boundary binary search + polyphone table + capability self-test
├── format.ts          Byte and time formatting
├── settings.ts        Settings tab + diagnostics panel
├── types.ts           Shared types and defaults
├── i18n/              en / zh-CN / zh-TW bundles
└── ui/                Modal, sidebar view, row renderer, folder picker
test/
├── run.ts             Logic assertions (bundled by esbuild, run by Node)
├── smoke.cjs          Runtime smoke test (stubbed Obsidian, loads the real build output)
└── stub/              Minimal Obsidian API stub

Test coverage

Logic (test/run.ts, 54 assertions): pinyin initials and polyphones; key-set and placeholder parity across all three language bundles; ascending and descending order for all five sort keys; exclusion-folder anchoring, escaping and false-positive checks; ledger baseline, idempotent rescans, frozen firstSeen, incremental discovery, rename inheritance, delete-and-restore, arrival-window clamping, persistence round-trip.

Runtime smoke (test/smoke.cjs, 29 assertions): loads the actual build output with a stubbed Obsidian module and runs onload() end to end — command, view and ribbon registration, automatic sidebar mounting (including position and "does not steal focus"), sidebar relocation and deduplication, all five sort keys, the ledger landing in device-local storage, incremental discovery, and ignoring.

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8. Known limitations

• No network access at all. No requests, no telemetry, no self-updating.
• Polyphonic characters: only the roughly 40 characters whose readings differ in initial letter are overridden (长, 厦, 传, …). A complete dictionary costs several hundred KB, which conflicts with staying light.
• Deep scan cost: adapter.list is one bridge call per directory. On a vault of a few thousand notes this takes 1–2 seconds, so it is throttled to once every 180 s by default. It can be tuned or disabled.
• Files not yet indexed by Obsidian: the deep scan can detect them and record their arrival time, but opening one prompts you to restart Obsidian. After a restart it appears in its normal place.
• data.json is synced between devices (settings), while the arrival ledger is not (it lives in device-local storage), so each device keeps its own arrival times.
• Changing the language re-keys the ribbon item. Obsidian builds a ribbon item's ID from its title, so switching the interface language can drop the plugin from a configured ribbon menu. Pick your language first.
• Settings do not appear in Obsidian's settings search. The official lint suggests adopting getSettingDefinitions(), the declarative settings API introduced in Obsidian 1.13.0. This plugin's minAppVersion is 1.8.7, and using a 1.13-only API would lock out every user on an older build, so it deliberately keeps display(). The trade-off is recorded in eslint.config.mjs.

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License

MIT