Re-Supercharged Links

Fast, modern metadata-based link styling for Obsidian.
Style links by tag, attribute/frontmatter, or path with live updates and low overhead.

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What’s new in v1.0.12

This release continues the performance-focused architecture and includes the latest cache/runtime improvements:

• Targeted cache invalidation (D2):
  • File modify invalidates only that file’s cached entries
  • rename invalidates old + new path
  • Folder/path operations can invalidate by prefix
  • avoids broad cache clears and reduces churn in large vaults
• Smoother live behavior: less unnecessary recompute during normal vault activity
• Stable rule pipeline: settings changes still compile and apply quickly, while runtime work stays more focused

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What this plugin does

Re-Supercharged Links turns metadata into visual context across Obsidian UI surfaces.

Instead of plain internal links, you can make link appearance reflect meaning at a glance:

• status (todo, doing, done)
• type (person, project, note)
• urgency/priority
• category/tags
• folder/path context

Supported rule targets:

1. Tag
2. Attribute (frontmatter / metadata key + value)
3. Path (note path matching)

Each rule can control:

• text color (light/dark)
• background color (light/dark)
• font weight
• text style (normal / italic / underline / strikethrough)
• optional prefix/suffix icons

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Quick start

1. Install and enable Re-Supercharged Links in Community Plugins.
2. Open plugin settings and create a new rule.
3. Choose target type:
   • Tag, Attribute, or Path
4. Enter match value and styling.
5. Save — links update automatically.

Tip for tags: write clean tag values in settings (without leading # unless your workflow requires otherwise).

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How matching works (simple + technical)

Simple view

• Plugin reads metadata for notes.
• It compares notes/links against your rules.
• Matching rules produce visual styles and optional semantic classes.

Technical view

• Runtime is in-memory and optimized for incremental updates.
• Rule config changes bump internal versioning, so stale rule state is not reused.
• Cache is invalidated selectively by path/prefix on vault events (D2), reducing full recomputation pressure.
• Visible links are refreshed in a controlled way after relevant changes.

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Performance notes

Designed for metadata-heavy vaults:

• avoids broad cache resets on every file event
• minimizes repeated work when only a subset of files changed
• keeps UI updates responsive during frequent edits/renames

If you work in a large vault, v1.0.12 should feel more stable under continuous activity than earlier broad-invalidation behavior.

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Performance characteristics

Re-Supercharged Links uses a scoped refresh pipeline, so updates target only changed paths/prefixes instead of forcing full workspace repaints.
Rule evaluation is centralized in a deterministic resolver, keeping rendering behavior consistent across Reading View, Live Preview, and auxiliary panes.
Attribute caching is bounded (TTL + max entries) to reduce repeated metadata work while avoiding unbounded memory growth in long sessions.
Mutation handling is observer-deduplicated and frame-scheduled (requestAnimationFrame) to limit redundant DOM churn during rapid UI changes.
Settings writes are debounced to reduce disk IO and avoid per-keystroke persistence overhead.
In practical tests, link refresh passes typically remain in low-millisecond ranges even with multiple open leaves and active rule sets.
Tradeoff: worst-case cost still scales with very broad match rules and high visible-link density, so careful rule design is recommended for large vaults.

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Compatibility

• Built for modern Obsidian workflows
• Works with metadata-heavy setups (frontmatter, structured tags, path conventions)
• Coexists with common ecosystem plugins; behavior depends on each plugin’s rendered DOM and timing

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Known behavior

• Rule order matters when multiple rules can match.
• Very broad path rules may affect many links by design.
• After large structural vault operations, a short settling moment can occur while affected views refresh.

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Strengths & Tradeoffs

Strengths

Scoped refresh pipeline (path/prefix based) instead of full repaint-first behavior Deterministic rule resolution shared across rendering paths Cache lifecycle controls (TTL + size cap) for long-running sessions Observer deduplication and RAF scheduling to reduce mutation storms Debounced settings persistence for lower IO/CPU during editing

Tradeoffs / Current limits

Some rendering paths still do repeated sync attribute resolution under heavy link density Rule model supports multiple match operators, but runtime currently emphasizes exact/contains patterns Cache invalidation still relies on bounded O(n) scans (acceptable with caps, but improvable)

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Contributing / feedback

Issues and improvement ideas are welcome:

• performance traces
• edge-case matching examples
• UI/UX polish requests for settings workflow

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Credits

Respect to the original Supercharged Links idea and maintainers.
Re-Supercharged Links continues that vision with a modernized runtime and ongoing performance-focused iteration.

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Developed with care for real-world, metadata-heavy note workflows.