Live Canvas

Live Canvas is an offline Obsidian community plugin that continuously synchronizes a normal, freely editable .canvas file with selected Markdown notes and their relationships.

It is built around one promise: automation should not take ownership away from you. Move or resize generated cards, add your own text, groups, links, files, and edges, then keep working. Refreshes update Live Canvas-managed items while preserving the rest of your Canvas.

What it does

• Selects notes from an explicit folder or tag.
• Adds internal links, embeds, and linked properties as directed edges.
• Preserves manually moved and resized note cards during normal synchronization.
• Keeps manual Canvas nodes and valid manual edges.
• Expands the graph through incoming or outgoing linked neighbors.
• Excludes archive, draft, hidden, or other notes with simple rules.
• Colors cards by folder or tag and highlights isolated notes.
• Adds useful relationship labels such as author, embed, or Wikilink aliases.
• Offers an optional, confirmed smart relayout for managed cards.
• Exports the saved Canvas as a print-friendly vector PDF without overwriting earlier exports.
• Updates after note changes or on demand.
• Runs locally with no server, account, API key, subscription, analytics, or telemetry.

Install

Community plugins

1. Open Settings → Community plugins in Obsidian.
2. Select Browse, search for Live Canvas, and select Install.
3. Select Enable, then open Settings → Live Canvas.

Manual installation

If the Community listing is not available yet, download the ZIP file from the latest GitHub release and extract it to your vault's plugin folder:

Vault/.obsidian/plugins/live-canvas/

The folder must directly contain:

main.js
manifest.json
styles.css

Restart Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins, and enable Live Canvas. For step-by-step macOS, Windows, Linux, mobile, update, and uninstall instructions, read the installation guide.

Quick start

1. Create a few notes in a folder such as Knowledge and connect them with [[internal links]].
2. Open Settings → Live Canvas.
3. Choose Folder and enter Knowledge, or choose Tag and enter a tag such as history.
4. Keep the target path Live Canvas.canvas.
5. Select Refresh and open.
6. Move a card, edit a note, then run Live Canvas: Refresh Canvas now. The saved position should remain.

New to Canvas? The beginner user guide includes a complete first test and explains zooming, panning, moving, resizing, opening notes, and adding manual content.

Example configuration

Exclude notes that should not appear:

folder:Archive
tag:draft
property:status=archived
property:hidden

Color categories using Obsidian colors 1 through 6 or six-digit hex colors:

folder:History = 1
tag:person = 4
tag:project/active = #4A90E2

See the rules reference for exact matching behavior.

How synchronization stays safe

Live Canvas reads note metadata through Obsidian APIs and writes only the configured .canvas file. It never modifies or deletes Markdown notes.

An existing target Canvas is not overwritten automatically. You must choose Adopt explicitly before Live Canvas will manage it. Managed nodes and edges use dedicated internal IDs. Other valid nodes and edges remain. Writes use Obsidian's atomic vault processing API.

Normal synchronization preserves managed card positions and sizes. Smart relayout is separate, requires confirmation, moves only managed cards, and leaves manual nodes in place.

Back up an important vault before testing any community plugin.

Feature details

Area	Behavior
Sources	Folder, whole vault, or tag including nested tags
Relationships	Wikilinks, resolved Markdown links, embeds, linked properties
Expansion	Zero, one, or two hops; incoming, outgoing, or both
Layout	Deterministic initial placement; optional smart relayout
Preservation	Managed geometry, manual nodes, and valid manual edges
Styling	First-match folder/tag rules plus isolated-note highlighting
Refresh	Startup, debounced note changes, ribbon, command, or settings
PDF export	Local vector overview with cards, groups, connections, colors, and labels
Privacy	Local-only; no network access or telemetry

Commands

• Refresh Canvas now — synchronize immediately.
• Open managed Canvas — open the configured Canvas.
• Smart relayout managed cards — confirm and rearrange generated note cards.
• Export managed Canvas as PDF — create and open a PDF next to the saved Canvas.

Documentation

• Installation
• Beginner user guide
• Filter and color rules
• Troubleshooting
• Privacy
• Development
• Publish the repository on GitHub
• Release and GitHub setup
• Changelog
• Support

Limitations

• Live sync runs only while Obsidian and the plugin are active.
• Unresolved or ambiguous links are ignored.
• Multiple links in the same direction between two notes become one edge.
• Obsidian must save a moved card before a refresh can preserve its new position.
• A note renamed outside a running Obsidian session cannot always be matched to its former card.
• Very large Canvas files may become slow; use focused filters and the safety limit.
• Smart relayout is deterministic and connection-based, not a physics simulation.
• PDF export is a clean overview rather than a pixel-perfect screenshot. Embedded images, websites, and unsupported characters are represented by text, and very large Canvases may have small text when fitted onto one A4 page.

Development

Requires Node.js 18 or newer.

npm ci
npm run check
npm run package

The production bundle is written to main.js. Packaging creates an install ZIP, a source archive, and a clean GitHub repository archive. See the development guide for the full workflow.

Contributing and security

Contributions are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request. Use the structured issue forms for bugs and features. Please report sensitive vulnerabilities privately as described in SECURITY.md.

Project principles

Future changes should keep Live Canvas:

• local-first and usable offline;
• compatible with native, editable Canvas files;
• conservative with user-created content;
• understandable without a technical background;
• useful without accounts, subscriptions, or external services.

License

Live Canvas is available under the MIT License.