Home Base for Obsidian

Your dedicated home in your vault - opens a designated "home base" you can easily come back to when you need it.

Made for Vault CMS

Part of the Vault CMS project.

Features

Home Base Types

Home Base supports multiple types of home pages:

• File: Open a specific file (supports .md, .mdx, .canvas, and .base files)
• Workspace: Load a specific workspace layout
• Random file: Open a random file from your vault
• Random in folder: Pick a random file from a specific folder
• Graph view: Open the graph view
• Journal: Open today's journal entry (requires Journals plugin)
• Periodic Notes: Open today's daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly note (requires Periodic Notes plugin or Daily Notes core plugin)
• Nothing: Default new tab

Home Base Behavior

• Smart startup detection: Automatically detects if Obsidian is already opening to the home base and avoids reloading
• Configurable view modes: Choose how markdown and MDX files open (Default, Reading view, Source mode, or Live Preview)
• Opening modes: Control how home base opens on startup and manually:
  • Replace all open notes
  • Replace last note
  • Keep open notes
• Command on open: Automatically run any Obsidian command when opening the home base
• Auto-scroll: Automatically scroll to the bottom when opening
• Revert view: Restore default view when navigating away from home base

Tab Behavior

• Open on startup: Automatically open home base when launching Obsidian
• Replace new tabs: Option to replace new empty tabs with home base or a different file
• New tab modes:
  • Only when no other tabs are open
  • Always replace new tabs
• Use different file for new tabs: Configure a separate file to open for new tabs (independent from home base)
  • Supports all the same types as home base
  • New tabs are never pinned and multiple tabs are allowed
  • Works independently from home base behavior

Sticky Home Icon (Desktop)

• Always visible: A home icon that stays pinned to the left of the tab bar
• Fixed position: Never moves or disappears, even when tabs are opened or closed
• Customizable icon: Choose any Lucide icon for the sticky home button
• Hide tab header: Option to hide the home base tab header when using the sticky icon
• Active state: Icon highlights when home base is the active tab
• "Hidden" tab: The home base tab stays pinned and hidden, merging with new empty tabs to save space and reduce clutter

Mobile Features

• Separate mobile home page: Use a different home page on mobile devices
• Replace mobile new tab button: Change the mobile new tab button to a home icon
• Separate mobile new tab: Configure a different file to open for new tabs on mobile

Commands

• Home Base: Open - Open the home base
• Home Base: Set current file as home - Set the currently active file as your home base
• Home Base: Toggle sticky home icon - Show or hide the sticky home icon in the tab bar
• Home Base: Close - Close the home base tab

Installation

Home Base is not yet available in the Community plugins section. Install using BRAT or manually:

BRAT

1. Download the Beta Reviewers Auto-update Tester (BRAT) plugin from the Obsidian community plugins directory and enable it.
2. In the BRAT plugin settings, select Add beta plugin.
3. Paste the following: https://github.com/davidvkimball/obsidian-home-base and select Add plugin.

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release
2. Extract the files to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/home-base/ folder
3. Reload Obsidian
4. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community plugins

Development

1. Clone this repository
2. Run pnpm install
3. Run pnpm run dev to start compilation in watch mode
4. The plugin will be compiled to main.js

Usage

1. Open Settings → Home Base
2. Configure your home base:
   • Choose the home base type (File, Workspace, Random, etc.)
   • Set the value (file path, workspace name, folder path, etc.) if required
   • Enable "Open on startup" to automatically open when launching Obsidian
   • Choose opening mode (how to handle existing tabs)
   • Set view mode for markdown/MDX files
3. Configure new tab behavior:
   • Enable "Replace new tabs" to replace empty tabs
   • Choose new tab replacement mode (only when empty, or always)
   • Optionally enable "Use different file for new tabs" to configure a separate file for new tabs
4. Customize the sticky home icon (desktop only):
   • Enable "Sticky home icon" to show a persistent home button in the tab bar
   • Choose a custom icon
   • Optionally hide the tab header when using sticky icon
5. Configure mobile settings:
   • Enable "Separate mobile home page" to use different settings on mobile
   • Enable "Replace mobile new tab button" to change the mobile button icon
   • Optionally enable "Separate mobile new tab" for mobile-specific new tab behavior
6. Optionally set a command to run when opening home base
7. Bind commands to hotkeys in Settings → Hotkeys for quick access

Compatibility

• Works on both desktop and mobile
• Compatible with Obsidian 0.15.0 and later
• Obsidian 1.11.0+ Native Support: Acknowledges and integrates with Obsidian's native "Default file to open" feature. Home Base's "Open on startup" setting will override the native behavior if enabled.
• Uses backward-compatible settings grouping for Obsidian 1.11.0+ while supporting older versions

Why Home Base?

While Obsidian 1.11.0+ includes a native "Default file to open" feature, Home Base provides several advanced capabilities not available natively:

• Workspaces & Graphs: Open a specific workspace layout or the graph view as your home base.
• Sticky Home Icon (Ghost Tab): A persistent home button that stays pinned to the left, saving space and reducing tab clutter.
• Commands on Open: Automatically run any Obsidian command when your home base opens.
• New Tab Replacement: Replace new empty tabs with your home base (or a different file entirely).
• Mobile-Specific Config: Use different home bases and new tab behaviors for mobile vs desktop.
• Smart Cleanup: Optionally detach all open leaves or replace only the last note when opening home base.

Development

This project uses TypeScript and follows Obsidian plugin best practices.

Building

pnpm run build

Development Mode

pnpm run dev

Credits

• Homepage - Startup behavior, command execution, and ribbon icon patterns
• New Tab Default Page - New tab replacement logic and layout-change detection