Root Books Toolkit

Root Books Toolkit turns the first-level folders in an Obsidian vault into a small, portable book workspace. Each book uses an index.md folder note and can share the same appearance with Quartz through two frontmatter values:

panel:
  icon: "lucide:book-open"
  accent: "#0ea5e9"

The plugin deliberately keeps this model simple. It decorates ordinary file-backed tabs, adds a current-book status item, lets you edit a book's icon and color, and opens a chosen book's folder note. It does not route files into managed tab groups or take over Obsidian's workspace layout.

What it coordinates

Root Books Toolkit works with four independently installed community plugins. Its setup screen audits each one separately, explains the recommended settings, and changes installed plugins only after you choose Accept all. It never installs plugins for you.

• Folder Notes owns index.md folder notes.
• Custom File Explorer Sorting owns File Explorer ordering.
• Front Matter Title displays folder-note titles without injecting aliases.
• Frontmatter Date Manager owns created and updated timestamps.

The accepted setup also disables Obsidian's core Unique Note Creator because this plugin supplies a replacement Create new unique note command and ribbon button.

Note workflow

The root index.md may define:

template-date-format: DD.MM.YYYY
add-date-to-new-notes: false
new-note-template: "[[templates/note-template]]"

Nested folder notes may override date-prefix behavior with prefix-new-dates and may override new-note-template. New Markdown notes get the configured date fields, then the inherited Markdown template, then one coalesced Custom Sort refresh. A date parsed from a filename becomes the note's creation date. Changing the root filename format migrates matching filenames when the destination is free.

The plugin preserves unrelated frontmatter and existing note bodies. Templates never import their own creation or update timestamps.

Installation

Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from a release and place them in:

.obsidian/plugins/root-books-workspace/

Enable the plugin, review its setup screen, and install any missing companions from Obsidian's Community plugins page.

Ecosystem versions

Root Books Toolkit, Root Index Panels, and Custom File Explorer Sorting Support use the same release version. Matching versions share the same portable panel.icon and panel.accent contract across Obsidian and Quartz.

License

0BSD