JSON Collapsible Plugin for Obsidian

Display JSON data as beautiful, interactive collapsible trees in your Obsidian notes.

Features

• 🌳 Collapsible JSON Trees: View JSON data with expandable/collapsible nodes
• 🎨 Syntax Highlighting: Color-coded values (strings, numbers, booleans, null)
• 📱 Mobile & Desktop: Works on all Obsidian platforms
• ⚡ Lightweight: Fast rendering with minimal overhead
• 🎯 Simple Usage: Just use standard JSON code blocks

Installation

Manual Installation

1. Download the plugin files

   • Download the latest release files from the releases page
   • Or download these files directly from the repository:
     • main.js (required)
     • manifest.json (required)
     • style.css (optional - can be empty, styles are embedded in main.js)

2. Locate your Obsidian vault

   • Open Obsidian
   • Go to Settings → About → Vault
   • Note the vault folder location on your system

3. Create the plugin folder

   • Navigate to your vault folder
   • Go to .obsidian/plugins/ (create the plugins folder if it doesn't exist)
   • Create a new folder called json-collapsible

4. Copy the plugin files

   • Copy the downloaded files into the json-collapsible folder
   • At minimum, you need main.js and manifest.json
   • Your folder structure should look like:

     YourVault/
     └── .obsidian/
         └── plugins/
             └── json-collapsible/
                 ├── main.js
                 ├── manifest.json
                 └── style.css (optional)
     

5. Enable the plugin

   • Restart Obsidian or reload the vault
   • Go to Settings → Community plugins
   • You should see "JSON Collapsible" in the list
   • Toggle it on to enable the plugin

Usage

Once installed, you can display JSON data in your notes using JSON code blocks:

Basic Example

```json
{
  "name": "John Doe",
  "age": 30,
  "email": "john@example.com"
}
```

Complex Example

```json
{
  "users": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Alice",
      "active": true,
      "roles": ["admin", "user"]
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "name": "Bob",
      "active": false,
      "roles": ["user"]
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "total": 2,
    "page": 1,
    "lastUpdated": "2024-01-01"
  }
}
```

Features in Action

• Click the ▼ icon to collapse a node
• Click the ▶ icon to expand a collapsed node
• Item count is shown when a node is collapsed
• Color coding:
  • 🟢 Green for strings
  • 🟡 Yellow for numbers
  • 🔵 Blue for booleans
  • Gray for null values

Troubleshooting

Plugin doesn't appear in the list

• Make sure the required files (main.js and manifest.json) are in the correct folder
• Check that the folder is named exactly json-collapsible
• Try restarting Obsidian completely

JSON not rendering properly

• Verify your JSON is valid (you can use a JSON validator like JSONLint)
• Make sure you're using triple backticks with json language identifier
• Check that the plugin is enabled in Settings → Community plugins

Invalid JSON error

If you see an "Invalid JSON" message, your JSON syntax has an error. Common issues:

• Missing commas between properties
• Trailing commas (not allowed in JSON)
• Unquoted keys
• Single quotes instead of double quotes

Requirements

• Obsidian v0.15.0 or higher

Support

If you encounter any issues or have suggestions:

• Open an issue on GitHub
• Provide details about your Obsidian version and the issue you're experiencing

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

Development

To build or modify the plugin:

1. Clone the repository
2. Navigate to the repository root
3. Make your changes to the files:
   • main.js - Main plugin code and embedded styles
   • manifest.json - Plugin metadata
   • style.css - Optional (currently unused, styles are in main.js)
4. Copy the modified files from json-collapsible/ to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/json-collapsible/ folder for testing
5. Restart Obsidian or reload the vault to see your changes

Note: This plugin embeds styles directly in main.js using the addStyles() method, so style.css is not currently used.

---

Enjoy visualizing your JSON data in Obsidian! 🎉