Base Backlinks Viewer

unlisted

by Lumyo

Right-click any link to open a temporary base showing all files that link to it.

★ 1 starsUpdated 29d ago
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Base Backlinks Viewer

An Obsidian plugin that adds a "Show backlinks" entry to the right-click context menu of any link, opening a temporary Bases view filtered to show all notes that link to that target.

What it does

Right-clicking a link anywhere in Obsidian adds Show backlinks to the context menu. Clicking it creates (or updates) a single reusable _backlinks.base file filtered to display every note whose outgoing links include the clicked target.

  • Navigate Back works as expected: the base opens in the current leaf, so you can return to the note you came from with the standard shortcut.

Supported contexts

ContextBehaviour
Source mode & Live PreviewItem added to Obsidian's native context menu
Properties panelItem injected into Obsidian's native properties context menu
Reading modeCustom context menu shown (with open/navigate actions)

Customising the base view

The _backlinks.base file is reused across every "Show backlinks" action. Each time you trigger the command, only two things change:

  • The file.hasLink("...") filter — updated to the new target note.
  • The view name: label — updated to reflect the new target.

Everything else — view type (table, card, board), sort order, visible columns, column widths, grouping, and any other Bases settings — is left exactly as-is. This means you can open the base once, configure it however you like, and those settings will persist for all future searches.

Tip: To reset to defaults, simply delete _backlinks.base from your vault root. It will be recreated automatically on the next "Show backlinks" action.

Installation

Manual

  1. Download main.js and manifest.json from the latest release.
  2. Copy them into <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/base-backlinks-viewer/.
  3. Reload Obsidian and enable the plugin under Settings → Community plugins.

Using BRAT

BRAT lets you install plugins that aren't yet in the community directory.

  1. Install Obsidian42 - BRAT from the Community Plugins directory.
  2. Open Settings → BRAT and click Add Beta plugin.
  3. Enter the repository URL: https://github.com/tibog/obsidian-base-backlinks-viewer
  4. Click Add Plugin, then enable it under Settings → Community plugins.

BRAT will also notify you of future updates automatically.

From source

Requires Node.js and Yarn.

git clone https://github.com/tibog/obsidian-base-backlinks-viewer.git
cd obsidian-base-backlinks-viewer
yarn install
yarn build

Copy the resulting main.js and manifest.json into your vault's plugin folder as above.

Compatibility

  • Requires Obsidian 1.12+
  • Desktop and mobile

License

MIT

For plugin developers

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