Read Only View

Keep selected Markdown notes in Obsidian Reading view by matching their vault paths against simple include and exclude rules.

• Community Plugin: available through Obsidian Community Plugins
• Platforms: Desktop and Mobile
• Requires: Obsidian 1.10.3+
• License: 0BSD
• Support: GitHub Issues

Privacy: no network requests, all rule matching stays local.

What it does

Read Only View forces matched .md notes to stay in Reading view.

• Use include rules to choose which notes should stay read-only.
• Use exclude rules to carve out exceptions.
• Match one folder, one file, or a broader pattern set.
• Use built-in diagnostics and the Path tester when a rule does not behave as expected.

This plugin changes Obsidian view behavior only. It does not change file-system permissions.

Read-only protection uses two layers:

• editor-level input blocking for CodeMirror-backed Markdown editors
• automatic return to Reading view for matched notes as a view-level fallback, including when a read-only editor context is interacted with

This additional editor layer is intended to cover contexts such as Page Preview / Hover Preview more directly, though some edge cases still depend on Obsidian internal view behavior.

Quick start

By default:

• Use glob patterns is off, so rules are matched as plain path prefixes.
• Case sensitive is on.
• Exclude rules override matching include rules.

First working setup in default mode:

1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse.
2. Search for Read Only View, then Install and Enable it.
3. Open Settings → Read Only View.
4. Make sure Enabled is on.
5. In Include rules, add a folder rule such as:

projects/

6. Open a note inside that folder, for example projects/plan.md.
7. The note should stay in Reading view.

If it does not apply:

• confirm the note path starts with projects/
• check whether Case sensitive matches the actual path casing
• check whether an Exclude rule also matches
• run Re-apply rules now from the Command Palette
• use the Path tester with the exact note path

A note that matches the configured rules is kept in Reading view.

Installation

Community Plugins

Recommended for normal use.

1. Open Settings → Community plugins.
2. Click Browse.
3. Search for Read Only View.
4. Click Install.
5. Click Enable.

BRAT (beta or dev testing)

Use this only to test unreleased changes instead of the Community Plugins release.

1. Install Obsidian42 - BRAT from Settings → Community plugins → Browse.
2. Open the Command Palette and run BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing.
3. Paste:

https://github.com/mrKazzila/Read-Only-View

4. Add the plugin, refresh the plugin list if needed, then enable Read Only View.

Manual installation

Use this only as a fallback for local development or manual testing.

1. Download or build the plugin files.
2. Copy them into:

<Vault>/.obsidian/plugins/read-only-view/

3. Required files:
   • main.js
   • manifest.json
4. Optional file:
   • styles.css
5. Restart Obsidian or reload plugins, then enable Read Only View.

Local dev install with just

Use this to install a clearly marked local dev build into the repo demo vault by default without changing the repo manifest.json.

just link-plugin
DEV_PLUGIN_VERSION=999.1.0 just link-plugin
just unlink-plugin

• just link-plugin symlinks main.js and optional styles.css, then generates a vault-local manifest.json with a DEV label.
• By default, just link-plugin and just unlink-plugin target ./demo-vault in the repository root.
• Use VAULT=/path/to/vault just link-plugin or VAULT=/path/to/vault just unlink-plugin to target a different vault.
• DEV_PLUGIN_VERSION=... just link-plugin overrides the default dev manifest version 999.0.0.
• just unlink-plugin removes only the local dev plugin install from the target vault after confirmation and leaves the vault notes intact.
• Dev and release builds use the same plugin ID read-only-view, so they cannot coexist in the same vault.
• If ./demo-vault does not exist yet, run just demo-vault or just demo-vault-no-plugin first.

Demo vault for QA and media

Use the synthetic demo vault when you need manual QA, screenshots, or short videos without opening real notes.

just demo-vault
just demo-vault-reset
just demo-vault-no-plugin

• just demo-vault creates or refreshes ./demo-vault and links the current local plugin build by default.
• just demo-vault-reset recreates the vault from scratch.
• just demo-vault-no-plugin creates the same synthetic notes without linking plugin files.
• The generated vault preconfigures Include rules for Read Only/ and Archive/, plus an Exclude rule for Read Only/Drafts/.
• If main.js is missing, the generator stops with a clear build-first message instead of creating a broken plugin install.

See docs/DEMO_VAULT.md for setup details and recommended recording scenarios.

How matching works

• Only Markdown files (.md) are affected.
• A note becomes read-only only if at least one include rule matches it.
• If an include rule and an Exclude rule both match, the Exclude rule wins.
• With Use glob patterns off, rules are treated as plain path prefixes.
• With Use glob patterns on, rules may use *, **, and ?.
• Matching is case-sensitive unless you turn Case sensitive off.

Default mode examples:

• projects/ matches notes under that folder, such as projects/spec.md
• notes/policies/security.md matches that exact file path

If a rule surprises you, test the exact path in Path tester before changing several rules at once.

Rule examples

One folder in default mode

Use glob patterns off:

Include:
projects/

Exclude:

One exact file path

Use glob patterns off:

Include:
notes/policies/security.md

Exclude:

Include a folder, exclude one subfolder

Use glob patterns off:

Include:
projects/

Exclude:
projects/drafts/

Glob mode example

Turn Use glob patterns on first:

Include:
project_a/**
**/README.md

Exclude:
project_a/archive/**

Commands

Available from the Command Palette:

• Enable read-only mode
• Disable read-only mode
• Toggle read-only mode
• Re-apply rules now

Enable read-only mode appears only when the plugin is currently disabled. Disable read-only mode appears only when the plugin is currently enabled.

Diagnostics and path tester

In Settings → Read Only View, you can configure:

• Enabled
• Use glob patterns
• Case sensitive
• Debug logging
• Debug: verbose paths
• Include rules
• Exclude rules

While editing rules:

• settings are saved automatically after a short delay
• status text shows Saving..., Saved., or Save failed.
• diagnostics show suspicious or non-effective lines inline
• very large rule sets may cause extra lines to be ignored

Use Path tester to paste the exact note path and confirm:

• which include rules matched
• which exclude rules matched
• whether the final result is READ-ONLY ON or READ-ONLY OFF

Inline diagnostics help explain why a rule is valid, suspicious, or ignored.

Troubleshooting

• A note is not switching to Reading view:
  • confirm the plugin Enabled toggle is on
  • confirm the file is a .md note
  • confirm at least one include rule matches
  • confirm no Exclude rule matches the same path
• A rule looks right but still does not match:
  • copy the exact note path into Path tester
  • check path casing if Case sensitive is on
  • check whether Use glob patterns is off and wildcard characters are being treated literally
• A folder rule matches too broadly:
  • in default mode, remember that matching uses plain path prefixes
  • keep a trailing / for folder rules
• Rule changes do not seem to apply yet:
  • wait for Saved.
  • run Re-apply rules now
  • reopen the note if needed
  • after very rapid view toggles, allow a brief moment for the plugin to retry after the layout burst settles
• Diagnostics show ignored rules:
  • reduce the number of rules
  • merge similar paths where practical
  • prefer broader glob rules only if you intentionally enabled glob mode

Limitations

• This is not an OS-level read-only lock.
• It only affects Obsidian view behavior for Markdown files.
• It does not protect non-Markdown files.
• It is not a security boundary against other apps, editors, or external tools.

Development

For local development:

npm install
npm run lint
npm test
npm run build

For installing the plugin into a local test vault, use just link-plugin; remove it later with just unlink-plugin.

Repository guidance and contributor workflow live in CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Licensed under 0BSD. See LICENSE.