Hidden Folders Access
An Obsidian plugin that makes hidden root-level folders (names starting with a dot, e.g. .claude, .github) fully visible to Obsidian — file explorer, search, graph, metadata cache, and Bases — while keeping their names hidden on disk so external tools (Claude Code, git, editors, etc.) keep working unchanged.
Obsidian normally ignores any path starting with .. That makes sense for .obsidian/ and friends, but it means useful content stored in dot-folders can't participate in search, the link graph, or Bases. Renaming the folder breaks external tools. Symlinks break Obsidian Sync and cross-platform workflows.
This plugin solves the problem without touching the filesystem: you pick which hidden root folders Obsidian should index, and the plugin injects them into the live vault cache.
- Per-folder opt-in from the settings tab.
- Full integration: file explorer, Quick Switcher, search, graph, metadata cache, Bases, Dataview, and any plugin that uses the standard vault API.
- Live updates via filesystem watchers (create / modify / rename / delete).
- Clean disable: turning a folder off (or disabling the plugin) removes every injected entry — nothing on disk is touched.
- Desktop-only, cross-platform (Linux / macOS / Windows).
Requires Obsidian 1.13.0 or later. The settings pane uses the declarative settings API introduced in 1.13. On an older version the plugin will not load, and the community catalog will not offer it to you — but a manual or BRAT install can still put an incompatible build in your vault, so check Settings → About first.
- In Obsidian, go to Settings → Community plugins.
- Disable Restricted mode if it's enabled.
- Select Browse, search for Hidden Folders Access, install it, then enable it.
You can also browse the catalog on the Obsidian Community website.
If the plugin isn't listed in the community catalog yet (or you want a specific version):
- Download
main.js,manifest.json, andstyles.cssfrom the latest release. - Copy them into
<Vault>/.obsidian/plugins/hidden-folders-access/. - Reload Obsidian and enable Hidden Folders Access in Settings → Community plugins.
BRAT (Beta Reviewers Auto-update Tool) installs plugins straight from a GitHub repo and keeps them updated automatically. Use this if you want the latest commits — things might break.
- Install Obsidian42 - BRAT from Settings → Community plugins → Browse and enable it.
- Run BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing from the command palette.
- Paste
https://github.com/dsebastien/obsidian-hidden-folders-access. - Select the latest version and confirm.
- Enable Hidden Folders Access in Settings → Community plugins.
- Open Settings → Hidden Folders Access.
- Toggle on any folder you want Obsidian to index (e.g.
.claude). - The files immediately appear in the file explorer and become queryable from Bases, Dataview, search, etc.
Full user documentation lives in docs/.
The plugin wraps two undocumented methods on Obsidian's desktop FileSystemAdapter (listRecursiveChild and reconcileFile) so whitelisted hidden paths skip the internal hidden-path filter and flow through reconcileFileInternal just like normal files. A fs-watcher is registered for each enabled folder so changes propagate live. On disable, every injected entry is removed and the original methods are restored.
Technical design notes: documentation/Architecture.md and documentation/Domain Model.md.
bun install
bun run dev # watch build, copies to $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_LOCATION/.obsidian/plugins/hidden-folders-access
bun run tsc:watch
bun run lint
bun testSee DEVELOPMENT.md for the full workflow.
- Obsidian 1.13.0+ (declarative settings API)
- Desktop only (
isDesktopOnly: true). Mobile Obsidian does not expose the filesystem primitives this plugin relies on.
MIT — see LICENSE.
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Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue.