Mobile Camera & QR Scanner Plugin for Obsidian

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An Obsidian plugin designed for mobile devices, providing camera photo capture and QR code recognition functionality.

📱 Mobile Only: This plugin is designed exclusively for mobile devices (Android). It will load silently on desktop without any errors or notifications, but all features are disabled. iOS support is not yet implemented.

Features

• 📷 Take Photos: Use the rear camera to take photos and insert them into notes
• 🔍 Capture QR Codes: Take photos of QR codes and insert the recognized content into notes
• 📁 Flexible Storage: Support for custom save path templates
• ✏️ File Naming: Optional file rename prompt and customizable filename template

Screenshots

Installation

Method 1: From Release (Recommended)

1. Go to the Releases page
2. Download the latest release files (main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css if available)
3. Create a folder named mobile-camera-qr-plugin in your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory
4. Copy the downloaded files into the mobile-camera-qr-plugin folder
5. Reload Obsidian and enable the plugin in Settings → Community plugins

Method 2: Manual Build

1. Download or clone this repository
2. Run npm install to install dependencies
3. Run npm run build to build the plugin
4. Copy main.js and manifest.json to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/mobile-camera-qr-plugin/ directory
5. Enable the plugin in Obsidian settings

Method 3: Development Mode

1. Clone this repository to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory
2. Run npm install
3. Run npm run dev to start development mode (auto-watch for file changes)
4. Enable the plugin in Obsidian settings

Usage

The plugin provides three commands:

1. Camera: Main Menu - Open the main menu to choose between taking a photo or capturing a QR code
2. Camera: Take Photo - Directly enter photo mode
3. Camera: Capture QR Code - Directly take a photo to recognize QR code

Quick Start

1. Open a note
2. Search for the above commands in the command palette, or pin command shortcuts in the mobile toolbar for quick access
3. Choose to take a photo or capture a QR code
4. After taking a photo, the image will be automatically saved and inserted into the note
5. After capturing a QR code photo, the recognized content will be automatically inserted into the note

Use Case Examples

📝 Daily Journal with Photos

Scenario: Quickly add photos to your daily notes

1. Open today's daily note
2. Tap the camera command (pin it to toolbar for quick access)
3. Take a photo of your meal, workspace, or anything noteworthy
4. Photo is automatically inserted with ![[image.jpg]] syntax

Tip: Enable "Direct import" in settings for fastest workflow

📦 Product Documentation

Scenario: Document products with QR codes and photos

1. Create a note for the product
2. Use "Capture QR Code" to take a photo and recognize product information
3. Use "Take Photo" to capture product images
4. All content is automatically inserted into your note

Tip: Disable "Direct import" to rename photos with descriptive names

🎫 Event Collection

Scenario: Collect QR codes from tickets, business cards, or posters

1. Create a collection note (e.g., "Conference 2024")
2. Use "Capture QR Code" command repeatedly
3. Each recognized QR code content is inserted as text
4. Add your own notes between captures

📚 Research Notes

Scenario: Capture book pages, whiteboards, or documents

1. Open your research note
2. Use "Take Photo" to capture content
3. Photos are saved in {notepath}/image by default
4. Organize by customizing the save folder path

Tip: Use {notepath}/attachments to keep photos organized by note location

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For more advanced usage, see the Advanced Guide.

Configuration Options

You can configure the following in the plugin settings:

• Save folder: Photo save path template

  • Default: {notepath}/image
  • {notepath} will be replaced with the current note's directory
  • Examples: Camera or {notepath}/attachments

• Auto-save photo: Whether to save photos automatically

  • Enabled: Photos are saved directly after capture
  • Disabled: Prompt for a filename after taking a photo

• Photo filename template: Customize the auto-generated filename

  • Default: {YYYY}{MM}{DD}-{HH}{mm}{ss}{SSS}-{random}
  • Placeholders: {YYYY} {MM} {DD} {HH} {mm} {ss} {SSS} {random}

• Copy QR result to clipboard: Copy recognized QR text to clipboard

  • Default: Off

Privacy & Permissions

Permissions

• Camera Permission: This plugin requires access to the device camera to take photos and capture QR codes
• When first used, Android will request camera permission; please allow it to use this plugin

Privacy Policy

This plugin highly values your privacy:

• ✅ Local Storage: All photos and recognized QR code content are saved only in your local Obsidian vault
• ✅ No Network Activity: This plugin does not send data to any external servers
• ✅ No Data Collection: No usage data or analytics are collected
• ✅ No Telemetry: No tracking or statistics code is included
• ✅ Open Source Transparency: All code is publicly available for review

Your photos and data are completely under your control and never leave your device.

Tech Stack

• TypeScript
• Obsidian API
• jsQR - QR code decoding library
• esbuild - Fast build tool
• Web APIs (File Input with camera capture)

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Development mode (auto-watch for file changes)
npm run dev

# Production build
npm run build

Build Notes

This project uses esbuild as the build tool, which is faster and lighter than traditional Rollup or Webpack.

• Development mode generates code with sourcemaps for easier debugging
• Production mode performs code minification and tree-shaking optimization

QR Code Recognition

The plugin uses a dual strategy for QR code recognition from photos:

1. Prioritizes the native BarcodeDetector API (if the browser supports it)
2. Falls back to the jsQR library for multi-scale image processing

This ensures optimal compatibility and performance across different devices.

License

MIT