Minimal Hidden Files

Minimal Hidden Files is a small desktop-only Obsidian plugin that reveals safe dotfiles and dotfolders in Obsidian's native File Explorer.

It does not add a sidebar, tree browser, preview panel, dashboard, or custom file manager. Files open through Obsidian's normal workspace flow in the middle pane.

Features

• Shows allowed dotfiles such as .gitignore, .env, .env.example, and .mcp.json in the native File Explorer.
• Shows allowed dotfolders such as .claude/ and .codex/ in the native File Explorer.
• Enables Obsidian's native unsupported-file visibility setting while active, so non-Markdown files can appear in the explorer.
• Restores the previous unsupported-file visibility setting when the plugin is disabled.
• Excludes .obsidian, the active vault config directory, .trash, and .git by default in v0.1.
• Hides generated SQLite sidecars such as .sqlite-wal, .sqlite-shm, .db-wal, and .db-shm by default, with a diagnostic setting to reveal them temporarily.
• Uses no runtime dependencies and no custom file-management UI.

Safety and privacy

Minimal Hidden Files does not make network requests, does not use telemetry, and does not read or write outside your vault.

The plugin uses Obsidian's desktop file-system adapter to detect and register hidden vault paths. This is why the plugin is desktop-only.

Revealed files use Obsidian's normal file behavior. Depending on the file type and installed plugins, a revealed file may be viewable, editable, movable, deleted, or opened by another community plugin. Minimal Hidden Files does not enforce read-only mode.

The v0.1 denylist is intentionally hardcoded:

• .obsidian and the active Vault.configDir stay hidden to avoid exposing workspace, plugin, and vault configuration internals.
• .trash stays hidden because it is not useful for normal navigation.
• .git stays hidden because it is noisy, large, and easy to damage.

SQLite runtime sidecars are also hidden by default:

• x.sqlite-wal and x.db-wal are write-ahead log files.
• x.sqlite-shm and x.db-shm are shared-memory index files.

Those files are generated next to active databases and are usually noise in the File Explorer. Turn on Reveal SQLite sidecars only when diagnosing database/runtime behavior. If they are visible, pair this plugin with a viewer that handles them as sidecars rather than standalone databases.

Installation

Community plugin directory

Minimal Hidden Files is prepared for submission to the Obsidian Community plugin directory. Once accepted, it can be installed from Settings -> Community plugins -> Browse inside Obsidian.

Manual installation

Until the community directory submission is accepted:

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Create this folder in your vault: .obsidian/plugins/minimal-hidden-files/.
3. Put the downloaded files in that folder.
4. Reload Obsidian.
5. Enable Minimal Hidden Files in Settings -> Community plugins.

BRAT installation

For beta testing, install the plugin with BRAT using this repository URL:

https://github.com/viggomeesters/obsidian-minimal-hidden-files

Usage

Enable the plugin and use the built-in Obsidian File Explorer as usual. The plugin patches hidden-path reconciliation on startup without automatically scanning the whole vault. Use Rescan hidden files when you want to discover existing hidden paths in a large vault.

Use the plugin settings to:

• reveal or hide allowed dotfiles and dotfolders
• temporarily reveal SQLite WAL/SHM sidecars for diagnosis
• sync Obsidian's native unsupported-file visibility setting
• manually rescan hidden files

How it works

Obsidian hides dot-prefixed files and folders during vault reconciliation. Minimal Hidden Files patches the desktop file-system adapter's internal reconcileDeletion method so allowed dot paths are registered instead of hidden. To avoid startup performance issues in large vaults, full-vault rescans are manual rather than automatic.

Unsupported extensions are handled by Obsidian's own internal vault.setConfig("showUnsupportedFiles", true) setting.

These are internal Obsidian APIs. They keep the plugin minimal and native, but they may require maintenance if Obsidian changes its desktop adapter internals.

Development

npm install
npm run lint
npm run typecheck
npm run build

For local development, copy or symlink this repository into .obsidian/plugins/minimal-hidden-files/ inside a dedicated Obsidian test vault.

Release process

Obsidian installs community plugin files from GitHub releases. For each release:

1. Update manifest.json, package.json, and versions.json.
2. Run npm install, npm run lint, npm run typecheck, and npm run build.
3. Create a GitHub release whose tag exactly matches manifest.json.version.
4. Attach main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css as release assets.

The release workflow in .github/workflows/release.yml can publish those assets after the version has been updated and committed.

Community directory submission

The repository is prepared for Obsidian Community plugin submission. The remaining submission step must be completed by the repository owner in the Obsidian Community site because it requires signing in, linking GitHub, and confirming the developer policies/support commitment.

Submit this repository URL:

https://github.com/viggomeesters/obsidian-minimal-hidden-files

The current release is ready for review when:

• root README.md, LICENSE, and manifest.json exist
• manifest.json.id is minimal-hidden-files
• manifest.json.version is 0.1.3
• GitHub release 0.1.3 exists
• release assets include main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css
• versions.json maps plugin version 0.1.3 to minimum Obsidian version 1.8.0

Official references:

• Submit your plugin
• Manifest
• Obsidian releases repository

Attribution

Technical research for the native File Explorer hook included:

• Show Hidden Files
• Obsidian sample plugin

This repository is an independent minimal implementation. No source files were copied from those projects.

License

MIT