Custodian

Rule-driven file organization for Obsidian.

Custodian turns ordinary vault folders into smart folders. Define ordered rules based on a file's title, YAML frontmatter, tags, extension, or current folder, and Custodian places matching files in their designated location.

Install with BRAT

1. Install and enable BRAT in Obsidian.
2. Open BRAT settings and choose Add Beta Plugin.
3. Enter Giblicious/custodian.
4. Enable Custodian under Community plugins.

Custodian supports Obsidian on desktop and mobile.

Rules

Rules are evaluated from top to bottom. The first matching rule owns the file. Conditions within a rule are combined with AND; blank conditions are ignored.

Available conditions:

• Title: glob patterns such as Meeting - * or * Invoice
• Frontmatter: property exists, does not exist, equals, or contains a value
• Tags: require any or all listed tags
• Extension: for example md, pdf, or png
• Source folder: limit a rule to one part of the vault

Destinations may be static (Projects/Active) or templated:

• Journal/{{year}}/{{month}}
• Projects/{{property:project}}
• Attachments/{{extension}}
• People/{{property:owner}}

Template values are sanitized into safe folder names. Custodian never overwrites a file and rejects paths that could escape the vault.

Commands

• Preview file organization: report how many files would move without changing the vault
• Organize all files now: apply the current rules across the vault

Automatic organization can be disabled globally while rules are being designed. Individual rules can also be disabled.

Privacy

Custodian works entirely inside Obsidian. It has no network requests, telemetry, accounts, advertising, or analytics.

Development

npm install
npm run check

Create a semantic version tag matching manifest.json (for example 0.1.0) to publish the BRAT release assets.

License

MIT