Word cloud

Create beautiful, interactive word clouds in Obsidian with random sizes, colors, and orientations. Click on an word to center it and watch the cloud regenerate!

Inspiration

This plugin was inspired by Ray Bradbury's essay in Zen in the Art of Writing, where he describes his creative process of making lists of evocative nouns:

THE LAKE. THE NIGHT. THE CRICKETS. THE RAVINE. THE ATTIC. THE BASEMENT. THE TRAPDOOR...

Bradbury would write these lists, then pick a word and let it guide him into stories. The words became "provocations" that helped him discover honest, hidden ideas buried in his subconscious.

This plugin brings that technique to Obsidian - visualize your ideas, themes, or concepts as a word cloud, click on any word that calls to you, and let it center your thinking. Just as Bradbury's lists led him to discover patterns and connections, your word clouds can help you see relationships between ideas and spark new creative directions.

Whether you're brainstorming story ideas, organizing research themes, or exploring conceptual connections, Word Cloud turns your lists into an interactive space for discovery.

Demo

Features

• Dynamic visualization - Words displayed in random colors, sizes, and orientations
• Interactive - Click any word to center it and redistribute others around it
• Smart auto-scaling - Automatically adjusts font sizes and spacing based on word count
• Mobile-friendly - Works seamlessly on both desktop and mobile devices
• Highly customizable - Control colors, fonts, spacing, separators, and text casing
• Intelligent placement - Advanced spiral algorithm ensures all words fit without overlap

Installation

Plugin is submitted and waiting for approval, but you can try it:

Manual installation

1. Download the latest release from GitHub releases
2. Extract the files to <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/word-cloud/
3. Reload Obsidian
4. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins

Beta installation (BRAT)

1. Install the BRAT plugin
2. Add beta repository: https://github.com/jetrica/obsidian-word-cloud
3. BRAT will auto-update when new versions are released

Usage

Creating a word cloud

Method 1: Command palette

1. Open Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P)
2. Search for "Insert cloud"
3. Enter your words in the modal
4. Click "Preview" to see it live
5. Click "Insert into note" to add it to your document

Method 2: Code block

Simply create a code block with the wordcloud language:

```wordcloud
innovation, creativity, design, technology, teamwork, leadership, vision, strategy, growth, success
```

Using different separators

The plugin respects your separator setting (comma by default):

Comma-separated:

apple, banana, orange, grape

Space-separated: (after changing separator in settings)

apple banana orange grape

Period-separated:

apple. banana. orange. grape

Settings

Access settings via: Settings → Word Cloud

Settings screen

Settings with "auto" options turned off

Word separator

Choose how words are separated in your input:

• Comma (,) - Default, most common
• Period (.) - For sentences or special formats
• Space ( ) - For simple word lists
• Semicolon (;) - For lists with commas in items
• Pipe (|) - For technical data

Example:

AI | Machine Learning | Deep Learning | Neural Networks

---

Text casing

Transform word casing for consistent appearance:

• As-is (keep original) - Respects your input exactly (default)
• Uppercase - ALL WORDS IN CAPITALS
• Lowercase - all words in lowercase
• Title case - Each Word Capitalized

Examples:

Input: innovation, CREATIVITY, design, TEAMWORK

Setting	Output
As-is	innovation, CREATIVITY, design, TEAMWORK
Uppercase	INNOVATION, CREATIVITY, DESIGN, TEAMWORK
Lowercase	innovation, creativity, design, teamwork
Title case	Innovation, Creativity, Design, Teamwork

Smart title case:

• Single words: Simply capitalized (e.g., "innovation" → "Innovation")
• Multi-word phrases: Proper title case with smart handling of small words
  • Example: "the art of design" → "The Art of Design"
  • Small words kept lowercase: a, an, and, as, at, but, by, for, in, of, on, or, the, to, with
  • First and last words always capitalized

---

Font size

Auto font size (recommended)

Automatically adjusts font sizes based on word count:

Word count	Font range	Best for
1-10 words	20-56px	Big & bold for small lists
11-20 words	16-40px	Balanced, general use
21-40 words	14-32px	Compact word clouds
41-70 words	12-28px	Dense clouds
70+ words	10-22px	Very dense clouds with many words

Toggle off to set manual font sizes.

Manual font size

When auto mode is disabled, you can set:

• Minimum font size (default: 12px) - Smallest words
• Maximum font size (default: 48px) - Largest words

Words are randomly assigned sizes between min and max.

---

Word spacing

Auto spacing (recommended)

Automatically adjusts spacing based on word count:

Word count	Spacing	Effect
1-10 words	Loose	Spread out nicely, lots of breathing room
11-20 words	Comfortable	Balanced spacing
21-40 words	Normal	Efficient use of space
40+ words	Compact	Fits everything, minimal gaps

Toggle off to choose manual spacing preset.

Manual spacing presets

When auto mode is disabled, choose from:

• Compact - Very tight spacing, maximum word density
• Normal - Balanced spacing for general use
• Comfortable - Loose spacing, easier to read
• Loose - Very loose spacing, minimalist aesthetic

---

Color palette

Customize the colors used for words in the cloud.

Default palette: Blue, Orange, Pink, Purple, Green

To customize:

1. Click on any color to change it (color picker opens)
2. Click "+ Add color" to add more colors (up to 10 recommended)
3. Click "×" to remove a color (minimum 1 required)
4. Click "Reset to defaults" to restore original colors

Tips:

• Use 3-5 colors for cohesive clouds
• Use 7-10 colors for variety in large clouds
• Match your vault's theme colors
• Use complementary colors for visual harmony

Color ideas:

• Professional: Blues and grays
• Vibrant: Rainbow spectrum
• Monochrome: Different shades of one color
• Seasonal: Warm colors (fall), cool colors (winter)
• Brand: Your company/project colors

---

Tips & tricks

Best practices

Word Count:

• 5-15 words - Great for key concepts, themes, or tags
• 20-40 words - Ideal for brainstorming, project keywords
• 50+ words - Text analysis, comprehensive overviews

Use cases:

• Meeting notes - Key takeaways as word cloud
• Project planning - Core concepts visualization
• Tag clouds - Visualize your most-used tags
• Content analysis - Extract main themes from text
• Creative writing - Character traits, setting elements
• Study notes - Key terms for quick review

Performance

• Up to 100 words - Smooth performance
• 100-200 words - May take a few seconds to render
• 200+ words - Not recommended (some words may not fit)

Refreshing the cloud

Each time you:

• Open the note
• Reload Obsidian
• Click "Refresh" in the modal

The cloud regenerates with different random positions, sizes, and rotations while keeping the same color palette and settings.

If you click/tap on one of the cloud words, cloud will refresh with selected word focused in the center.

Mobile usage

The plugin is fully optimized for mobile:

• Tap any word to center it
• Touch feedback with visual scaling
• Responsive sizing for small screens
• Works in both portrait and landscape

Access on mobile:

• Command palette → "Insert cloud"
• No ribbon icon (Obsidian mobile limitation)

Examples

Simple tag cloud

productivity, knowledge-management, pkm, zettelkasten, writing, research, notes

Project keywords

agile, sprint, retrospective, backlog, user-stories, velocity, stand-up, kanban, scrum, deployment

Book themes

love, betrayal, redemption, sacrifice, courage, destiny, hope, darkness, journey, transformation

Character traits

brave, intelligent, stubborn, loyal, mysterious, charismatic, conflicted, ambitious, compassionate

Research topics

machine-learning, neural-networks, deep-learning, AI, algorithms, data-science, NLP, computer-vision

Customization examples

Professional dark theme

Settings:

• Colors: #2563eb, #64748b, #94a3b8
• Casing: Title case
• Auto sizing: ON
• Auto spacing: ON

Vibrant rainbow

Settings:

• Colors: #ef4444, #f59e0b, #10b981, #3b82f6, #8b5cf6, #ec4899
• Casing: Uppercase
• Spacing: Loose

Minimalist monochrome

Settings:

• Colors: #1f2937, #4b5563, #6b7280, #9ca3af
• Casing: Lowercase
• Spacing: Comfortable

Troubleshooting

Plugin won't enable

• Ensure you're running Obsidian 0.15.0 or higher
• Check that isDesktopOnly is set to false in manifest.json
• Try disabling other plugins to check for conflicts
• Restart Obsidian completely

Words not appearing

• Too many words - Try with fewer words (under 100)
• Font sizes too large - Reduce max font size or enable auto sizing
• Spacing too tight - Increase spacing or enable auto spacing

Mobile issues

• Update to latest Obsidian mobile version
• Clear app cache (Settings → About → Clear cache)
• Reinstall the plugin

Flickering on hover (Desktop)

• This is fixed in v1.0.0+
• Update to latest version if experiencing this

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.