Apple Pencil for Obsidian

Handwrite directly inside Obsidian on iPad, then convert your handwriting to Markdown without leaving the note you are working on.

Built for people who want Apple Pencil capture inside their Obsidian workflow, not in a separate notes app.

Why This Plugin Exists

Most handwriting workflows on iPad force you to leave Obsidian, write somewhere else, then paste, export, or summarize later.

Apple Pencil keeps the whole loop in one place:

• Open a canvas for the current note
• Write naturally with Apple Pencil
• Convert handwriting to Markdown when you are ready
• Return to the same note with your text already inserted

What It Does

• Full-page canvas for any note — open a writing surface alongside the current note without leaving Obsidian
• Handwriting to Markdown — convert ink with OpenAI GPT-4o Vision, Claude, Google Gemini, Google Cloud Vision, or on-device Tesseract
• Edit existing notes by writing on them — load note text as a background layer, erase words with your finger, add handwritten changes, then update the note in place
• Draft autosave — preserve unfinished strokes when you close the canvas and restore them later
• Finger eraser with palm rejection — write with Pencil, erase with touch, ignore large palm contacts
• Theme-aware defaults — pen color adapts to light and dark themes

Best For

• Obsidian users who write primarily on iPad
• People who think faster with Apple Pencil than with the keyboard
• Anyone who wants rough handwritten capture but clean Markdown output

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.11.4 or later
• iPad with Apple Pencil

Installation

From the Community Plugin Browser

1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse
2. Search for Apple Pencil
3. Install and enable the plugin

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Copy them into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/apple-pencil/
3. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community plugins

Quick Start

1. Open any note
2. Tap the pencil ribbon icon, or run Open pencil canvas for current note
3. Write with Apple Pencil
4. Tap Convert to Text
5. Return to the note with ← Note

Usage Notes

• Erase a word — drag over it with your finger
• Undo a stroke — tap Undo
• Clear handwritten ink — tap Clear
• Create a new note and start writing immediately — run New note and open pencil canvas

Settings

Setting	Description
Handwriting recognition	OCR provider used to convert handwriting
API key	Key for the selected cloud provider
Default pen color	Starting color for new strokes
Default pen width	Starting width from 1 to 10
Insert converted text	Append immediately or append with a blank line
Auto-save draft on exit	Preserve unfinished strokes when closing the canvas

OCR Providers and API Keys

Cloud OCR providers require an API key entered in Settings → Apple Pencil. Keys are stored in Obsidian secret storage and are never written to data.json.

Provider	Notes
OpenAI GPT-4o Vision	Excellent handwriting accuracy
Claude (Anthropic)	Excellent handwriting accuracy
Google Gemini	Excellent handwriting accuracy
Google Cloud Vision	Fast and accurate
Tesseract	Runs fully on-device, no key required, weaker on handwriting

Key sources:

• OpenAI: platform.openai.com
• Anthropic: console.anthropic.com
• Gemini: aistudio.google.com
• Google Cloud Vision: console.cloud.google.com

Privacy and Disclosures

• Network use — Tesseract runs locally. OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and Google Cloud Vision send the rendered handwriting image to their APIs for transcription.
• Accounts required — cloud OCR providers require an account and API key with the selected service.
• Local storage — unfinished drafts are stored locally under plugins/apple-pencil/drafts in your vault config directory.
• Note access — the plugin reads and updates the note you open in the canvas.
• Telemetry and ads — no ads and no client-side telemetry.

Local Development

main.js is gitignored on purpose. Build it locally, then either copy the release files into a test vault or symlink the repo into the vault plugin directory.

Option 1: Copy Build Output Into a Test Vault

Set your test vault path once:

export OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH="/path/to/YourVault"

Then build and install the plugin into that vault:

npm install
npm run install:local

This copies main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into:

$OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/.obsidian/plugins/apple-pencil/

After code changes, run:

npm run install:local

Option 2: Symlink the Repo for a Faster Loop

Set your test vault path:

export OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH="/path/to/YourVault"

Create the symlink:

npm run link:local

Then rebuild in watch mode:

npm run dev

With the symlink setup, Obsidian reads the plugin directly from this repo. Reload Obsidian or disable and re-enable the plugin after changes.

Development Notes

• Use a throwaway vault, not your main vault
• link:local replaces an existing apple-pencil symlink in the target vault, but refuses to delete a real directory
• OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH must point to the vault root, not the .obsidian folder

Releasing

Build and stage release assets locally:

npm run check:release
npm run package:release

This creates:

release/1.0.0/

with the three files Obsidian expects in a GitHub release:

• main.js
• manifest.json
• styles.css

Submission helpers in this repo:

• docs/community-release.md — release and submission checklist
• docs/community-plugin-entry.json — exact community-plugins.json entry
• docs/community-pr-body.md — PR body for obsidianmd/obsidian-releases

License

MIT