🚀 Canvas Card-Materializer

"Transform your fluid brainstorming into structured knowledge, instantly."

Canvas Card-Materializer is a powerful Obsidian plugin designed to bridge the gap between visual thinking on Canvas and long-term knowledge management. Inspired by the Heptabase workflow, it allows you to "materialize" temporary text cards into permanent, organized Markdown files while preserving every visual connection and color code.

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✨ Key Features

• Atomic Materialization: Convert Canvas text nodes into physical .md files with a single click. The nodes on your Canvas will be replaced by the newly created files, keeping your layout intact.
• Automatic Folder Hierarchy: Categorize your notes automatically based on card colors.
  • e.g., Yellow cards go to /Yellow, Grey cards go to /Default.
• Persistent Connections: All arrows (Edges) are preserved. The plugin even appends a Connected Nodes: section to each file, listing all linked notes as clickable backlinks.
• Smart Metadata: Automatically records canvas_id and canvas_color in the YAML frontmatter.
• Visual Sync: When you drag a materialized Markdown file back onto the Canvas, the plugin automatically restores its original card color.
• Clean Titles: Automatically sanitizes filenames by removing Markdown headers (#), backticks (`), and illegal characters.

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🛠️ How to Use

1. Select Cards: Select one or multiple text cards on your Canvas.
2. Right-Click: Choose "Materialize cards to files" from the context menu (works for both single and multiple selections).
3. Organize: Your notes are instantly created in a folder named after your Canvas, sub-categorized by color.
4. Connect: View the bottom of your new notes to see the Connected Nodes: list.

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📂 Folder Structure Example

If you materialize cards in a canvas named Project-ASR.canvas, the plugin creates:

Documents/
└── Project-ASR/
    ├── Default/        <-- Grey cards
    │   └── Theory-Note.md
    ├── Yellow/         <-- Yellow cards (e.g., Problems)
    │   └── Bug-Analysis.md
    └── Green/          <-- Green cards (e.g., Tasks)
        └── Command-List.md

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🎨 Recommended Color Workflow

Color	Role	Purpose
Yellow	Problem	Error codes, observations, current status.
Grey	Theory	Underlying mechanisms, abstract concepts.
Green	Action	Specific commands, configurations, checklists.
Purple	MOC	Indices, navigation, project overviews.

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⚙️ Installation

1. Open Obsidian Settings > Community Plugins.
2. Ensure Restricted mode is off.
3. Click Browse and search for Canvas Card-Materializer (once it's officially listed).
4. Alternatively, install manually via the Releases page.