Note Name Generator

An Obsidian plugin that creates or renames notes with a generated name. Out of the box the name is a random GUID. Optionally, any external program can produce the name instead, reading the note's path and content, so the naming scheme is swappable without touching the plugin.

Why

Timestamp-named notes and GUID-renamers exist, but each hard-codes one scheme. This plugin separates when a name is needed (new note, rename) from how it is produced, and lets you delegate the "how" to a script of your choice.

Commands

Command	What it does
Create new note with generated name	Creates an empty note in Obsidian's default new-note location and opens it.
Rename current note with generated name	Runs the generator on the active note and renames it. Links to the note are updated.

Bind them to hotkeys under Settings → Hotkeys.

How the name is produced

1. If no generator command is configured, or the note is empty and Random GUID when note is empty is on, a random UUID v4 is used (e.g. 3f1c9e2a-7b4d-4c8e-9a1f-2d6e8b0c4a7e).
2. Otherwise the configured shell command runs. Its first non-empty line of stdout becomes the name. Characters not allowed in file names are stripped and a trailing .md is removed.

New notes are always empty, so with the default settings they always receive a GUID. Turn Random GUID when note is empty off if your generator should run even without content (for example a timestamp generator).

What the generator receives

Channel	Content
{{file}} placeholder	absolute path of the note, quoted (empty for a new note)
{{vaultPath}} placeholder	vault-relative path, quoted (empty for a new note)
NNG_FILE env var	absolute path
NNG_VAULT_PATH env var	vault-relative path
stdin	note content (can be disabled in settings)

The command runs through cmd.exe on Windows and /bin/sh elsewhere, so pipes and quoting work as in a terminal. A non-zero exit code, a timeout, or empty output aborts the operation and shows the error as a notice.

Examples

Name the note after its first heading (PowerShell):

powershell -NoProfile -Command "$t=[Console]::In.ReadToEnd(); if($t -match '(?m)^#\s+(.+)$'){$Matches[1]}"

Zettelkasten timestamp (PowerShell, turn off Random GUID when note is empty):

powershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-Date -Format yyyyMMddHHmmss"

Python script that gets the path as an argument and the content on stdin:

python C:\tools\note_namer.py {{file}}

Taking over Obsidian's own "New note"

Obsidian's file explorer button, Ctrl+N, and plugins such as Tray's global quick note all create notes through the same internal method. The plugin can hook it so every new note gets a generated name, no matter where it was created from. The hook is removed when the plugin unloads.

Mode	Behaviour
Off (default)	Only this plugin's own commands and ribbon icon generate names.
Untitled only	Replaces the name when none was given or it matches the Untitled pattern (Obsidian's localized default, e.g. Untitled 3, Unbenannt). Names chosen by other plugins are kept.
All	Always replaces the base name. Tray's quick note then gets a generated name instead of a date; its folder setting is still honoured.

Daily notes are protected. The core Daily Notes plugin creates its notes through the same method, but their names follow a fixed scheme, so by default the hook leaves any note alone that lands in the daily-notes folder and whose name parses with the daily-notes date format. Turn Leave daily notes alone off if you really want them renamed. Note that a Tray quick note can only be told apart from a daily note if folder or date format differ.

If the generator fails, the originally requested name is used and the error is logged to the developer console.

Settings

Setting	Default	Meaning
Name generator command	(empty)	Shell command; empty means built-in GUID
Pipe note content to stdin	on	Send note text to the generator
Random GUID when note is empty	on	Skip the generator for empty notes
Generator timeout (ms)	10000	Kill the generator after this long
Upper case	off	3F1C9E2A-… instead of 3f1c9e2a-…
No hyphens	off	3f1c9e2a7b4d…
Ribbon icon	on	Left-sidebar icon that creates a note with a generated name
Take over new-note creation	Off	See above
Untitled pattern	^(Untitled|Unbenannt|…)( \d+)?$	Regex for names treated as "untitled"
Leave daily notes alone	on	Never rename core Daily Notes

Installation

Requires Obsidian 1.13.0 or later.

From a release

Download main.js and manifest.json from the latest release and put them in <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/note-name-generator/. Reload Obsidian and enable the plugin under Settings → Community plugins.

With BRAT

Add this repository's URL in the BRAT plugin.

From source

npm install
npm run build                       # produces main.js in the repo root
npm run install:vault -- <vault>    # copies main.js + manifest.json into the vault

For live development, set OBSIDIAN_PLUGINS_DIR to <vault>/.obsidian/plugins and run npm run dev; the bundle is then written straight into the vault on every change.

Mobile

The plugin works in the mobile app (Android, iOS) with the built-in random GUID generator. The external generator uses Node's child_process, which is only available in the desktop app; on mobile a configured generator command is ignored and a random GUID is used instead.

Releasing

npm version 0.2.0        # bumps package.json, manifest.json, versions.json
git push --follow-tags   # CI lints, builds and attaches main.js + manifest.json to the release

Run npm run lint first; it applies the same rules as the automated review of Obsidian's community directory.

License

MIT