Tidemark

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Overview

Tidemark is a variable-substitution plugin for Obsidian. Define values once in a note's YAML frontmatter, reference them anywhere in the body with {{variable}} syntax, and copy or replace them with a single command. Every token is color-coded live in the editor — mint when it resolves, amber when it falls back to a default, red when it's missing — so you can see the state of a template at a glance.

The engine parses frontmatter, resolves nested dot-notation and joined arrays, and emits CodeMirror decorations for real-time highlighting. Frontmatter is only ever read for substitution and written through Obsidian's own APIs, so your YAML stays valid.

Features

• Color-coded states — resolved, has-default, and missing tokens are tinted as you type.
• Nested & arrays — {{server.ip}}, {{items[0]}}, and arrays joined by a configurable separator.
• Inline defaults — {{port:22}} uses the default when the key isn't set.
• Copy or replace — line, selection, or whole document, with variables resolved.
• Rename from variables — resolve variables in the filename via Obsidian's file manager.
• Set values in place — a command and editor-menu item to set a variable's frontmatter value from the cursor.
• List variables — a searchable modal of every variable in the document and its state.
• Custom delimiters — swap {{ }} and the default separator for your own.

Syntax

Form	Meaning
{{name}}	Resolve name from frontmatter
{{name:fallback}}	Use fallback if name is missing
{{server.ip}}	Nested dot-notation
{{items[0]}}	Array index

Installation

Requires Obsidian 1.0 or newer.

Community plugins (recommended)

1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse.
2. Search for Tidemark, then Install and Enable.

Or open it straight from obsidian.md/plugins?id=tidemark.

BRAT (latest pre-release)

Install BRAT, then add Real-Fruit-Snacks/Tidemark as a beta plugin.

Manual

Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release into <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/tidemark/, then enable Tidemark under Settings → Community plugins.

Commands

Command	Description
Copy current line (replaced)	Copy the cursor's line with variables resolved
Copy selection (replaced)	Copy the selection with variables resolved
Copy document (replaced)	Copy the whole document with variables resolved
Replace in selection	Replace variables in the selection (or line) in place
Replace all in document	Replace every variable in the document body
Replace in document and filename	Replace in the body and rename the file
Rename file (replace variables)	Resolve variables in the filename only
List all variables	Open a searchable list of variables and their state
Set variable value	Set the frontmatter value for the variable at the cursor

A Tidemark: Set variable value item is also added to the editor right-click menu.

How it works

Values live in the note's frontmatter; {{variables}} in the body reference them. Tidemark reads the frontmatter from the live editor buffer (so unsaved edits count), resolves each token, and colors it by state. Copy commands leave the document untouched; replace commands apply targeted edits; and setting a value writes only the frontmatter block — never overwriting invalid YAML.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md and the Code of Conduct before opening a pull request.

License

Released under the MIT License.