Python Panel

An Obsidian plugin that adds a sidebar panel of buttons for running Python scripts located in your vault.

Features

• Sidebar panel — opens automatically on startup, with one button per configured script
• Script buttons — click a button to run the corresponding Python script; the button shows a running state while the script executes
• Status feedback — success/error notices after each run, including a Done. ... summary line if the script prints one
• Separators and group labels — organize buttons with horizontal rules or --- Group Name headings
• Auto Python detection — finds Python automatically (tries python3, python, then py)
• Selection scripts — scripts named reflow_prose_selection.py (or reflow-prose-selection.py) receive the current editor selection and replace it with the script output
• Commands — Open sidebar and Open latest weekly note
• Settings tab — add, edit, reorder, and remove scripts and separators

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.13.0 or later (desktop only — the plugin launches Python as a child process, which the mobile app does not support)
• Python 3.x installed and available on PATH

Installation

Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release and copy them into your vault's plugin folder:

<your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/python-panel/

Create the python-panel folder if it doesn't exist. Then enable the plugin:

1. Go to Settings → Community plugins
2. Find Python Panel and enable it
3. The sidebar opens automatically; reopen it any time with the calendar-clock ribbon icon or the Open Python Panel command

Configuration

Go to Settings → Python Panel to add, edit, reorder, and remove scripts. Script paths are relative to your vault root.

Separators

Use separators to visually group scripts in the sidebar:

• Click Add Separator in settings to insert a divider
• Plain --- renders as a horizontal line
• Edit the text to --- Group Name to render a labeled group heading
• Use the up/down arrow buttons to reorder separators alongside scripts

Separator entries are stored right in the scripts list, so you can also edit data.json directly:

"scripts": [
  "software/python/obsidian-scripts/script-a.py",
  "--- Review",
  "software/python/obsidian-scripts/script-b.py",
  "---",
  "software/python/obsidian-scripts/script-c.py"
]

Usage

1. Open the Python Panel sidebar (calendar-clock ribbon icon, or the Open Python Panel command)
2. Click a script button to run it
3. Wait for the script to complete (the button shows a running state)
4. Check the status message / notice for success or error feedback

Scripts run with the vault root as the working directory. The active note's absolute path is passed to the script in the OBSIDIAN_ACTIVE_FILE environment variable.

Selection scripts

For reflow-style tools (e.g. reflow_prose_selection.py), select text in the open note first, then click the button. The plugin passes the selection to Python and replaces it in the editor — no clipboard shortcuts involved. The selection is passed via the OBSIDIAN_SELECTION_IN / OBSIDIAN_SELECTION_OUT file paths in the environment.

Building from source

With Node.js installed:

npm install
npm run build        # writes main.js to this folder (repo root)

For development with watch mode:

npm run dev

On Windows without Node/npm, use the standalone build script (downloads tools/esbuild.exe on first run):

.\build.ps1

The script builds main.js in the repo root and copies main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into ../../../.obsidian/plugins/python-panel (relative to this folder), ready to reload in Obsidian.

License

Apache License 2.0