Ephemeral Overlay

A temporary drawing overlay plugin for Obsidian that lets you draw freehand annotations on top of your notes — like ZoomIt or Epic Pen. Perfect for presentations, teaching, or quick visual annotations.

Key Feature: All drawings are ephemeral — nothing is saved to disk. When you exit drawing mode, everything disappears.

Features

• Freehand Drawing - Draw directly on top of your Markdown notes
• Multi-Input Support - Works with mouse, touch, and Apple Pencil
• Color Options - Six vibrant colors: red, yellow, blue, green, orange, pink
• Adjustable Pen Width - 5 different sizes (2px to 16px)
• Auto-Fade Modes - Strokes automatically disappear (1s, 3s, 5s, 7s)
• Mobile-Friendly - Full iPad support with touch-optimized toolbar
• Pen-Only Mode - Draw with Apple Pencil, scroll with finger simultaneously
• Keyboard Shortcuts - Quick access to all tools
• Zero Persistence - Drawings never saved, always temporary

Usage

Activating Drawing Mode

Method	Description
View Action Button	Tap pen icon beside Edit/Read buttons (fastest!)
Ribbon Icon	Click pencil icon in left sidebar
Command Palette	Ctrl/Cmd + P → "Toggle Drawing Overlay"
Keyboard Shortcut	Ctrl+Shift+D (desktop)

Keyboard Shortcuts (Desktop)

Key	Action
R/Y/B/G/O/P	Switch color (Red/Yellow/Blue/Green/Orange/Pink)
1-5	Pen width (2px to 16px)
F	Cycle fade mode
E	Clear all drawings
Esc	Exit drawing mode
Ctrl + Scroll	Adjust pen width

Auto-Fade Modes

Mode	Duration
Off	Never fades
Quick	1 second
Medium	3 seconds
Long	5 seconds
Very Long	7 seconds

Installation

1. Download release files (main.js, manifest.json, styles.css)
2. Copy to <Vault>/.obsidian/plugins/ephemeral-overlay/
3. Reload Obsidian and enable in Settings → Community plugins

Development

npm install
npm run build    # Production
npm run dev      # Watch mode

Project Structure

src/
  main.ts               # Plugin entry point
  overlay.ts            # Main overlay orchestrator
  constants.ts          # Centralized configuration
  content-freezer.ts    # Freeze/unfreeze content elements
  pointer-tracker.ts    # Pointer state management
  canvas-renderer.ts    # Canvas drawing operations
  fade-animator.ts      # Fade animation logic
  toolbar.ts            # Mobile toolbar
  settings.ts           # Settings UI
  types.ts              # TypeScript types

Requirements

• Obsidian v0.15.0+
• Desktop or mobile (iOS/iPadOS)

Privacy

• Zero network requests
• No telemetry
• Drawings exist only in memory
• All resources cleaned up on exit

---

Remember: All drawings are ephemeral. Nothing is saved! 🎨

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you encounter any issues or have suggestions for improvements, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.