Toastmaster

Make toast notifications in Obsidian last as long as you actually need to read them, or stop them from disappearing at all — from any plugin, or from Obsidian core.

The Problem

Obsidian's toast notifications (Notice) auto-hide after a fixed 4 seconds by default, and there's no setting anywhere in Obsidian to change that. This is a long-standing complaint:

• Notification toast disappears too fast
• "Notice" toast message broken
• Keep a log of notification bubbles (toast)

If a plugin shows you a message with useful detail (an error, a summary, a list of file names) and it vanishes before you finish reading it, that's this problem.

What It Does

Toastmaster patches the single method Obsidian's Notice class uses internally to schedule its auto-hide timer. Because every toast (from every plugin, and from Obsidian core) goes through that same method, this one patch controls duration for all of them — not just Toastmaster's own notices.

Two modes, both configurable in Settings → Toastmaster:

• Minimum toast duration (default 8000ms): any toast that would have disappeared sooner is extended to last at least this long. A toast a plugin intentionally set to last longer than this is left alone — this only raises a floor, it never shortens anything.
• Persist until dismissed: ignore duration entirely; every toast stays on screen until you click it.

Toastmaster also keeps a small log of recent toasts (from any plugin, or core), so you can review one you missed. Run "Show recent toasts" from the command palette, or open it from Settings → Toastmaster. Capped at a configurable size (default 50), oldest entries dropped first, and persists across restarts.

Already-existing behavior worth knowing about

Two things Obsidian already does, that most people don't know about, and which this plugin doesn't change:

• Clicking anywhere on a toast dismisses it immediately.
• Hovering your mouse over a toast pauses its auto-hide timer while the cursor is over it, resuming about a second after you move away.

Installation

From the Community Plugin Browser (recommended)

1. Open Obsidian Settings > Community Plugins
2. Search for Toastmaster
3. Click Install, then Enable

Manual Installation

1. Download manifest.json and main.js from the latest release
2. Create a folder at <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/toastmaster/
3. Place both files in that folder
4. Open Obsidian Settings > Community Plugins and enable the plugin

Configuration

Settings → Toastmaster:

• Minimum toast duration (ms) — default 8000
• Persist all toasts until dismissed — default off
• Keep a log of recent toasts — default on
• Log size — default 50

Compatibility

• Works on desktop and mobile
• Tested on Obsidian 1.x

Known Limitations

• Patches Notice.prototype.setAutoHide, an internal Obsidian API not formally documented in the public plugin API (only the Notice(message, timeout) constructor itself is documented). Works reliably on current Obsidian versions but may need an update if Obsidian changes how Notice schedules its auto-hide internally.
• Only affects toasts created after the plugin loads; any toast already on screen when you enable/disable the plugin keeps its original timing.

Support

Straight from the solar-powered TikiBarge, tools that don't exist that should make me nuts 🐒! If you feel the same, shoot me a message and keep the Kittehs in kibble: Support me on Ko-fi.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome. Please open an issue before submitting a PR for significant changes.

License

MIT

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