An Obsidian plugin to manage frontmatter tags through interactive nested checkbox and radio button lists — no more typing tags manually.
Define your tag structure once in a frontmatterinput code block using simple YAML. The plugin renders a clickable UI inside your note — check a box and the tag is added to your frontmatter; uncheck it and the tag (and all its children) are removed. Works great in templates.
- Checkboxes for multi-select tagging, radio buttons for exclusive single-selection
- Nested hierarchies — child lists appear only when their parent is selected, building structured tags like
activity/run/race/10k - Smart cleanup — unchecking a parent removes all its child tags automatically
- Flexible layout — choose vertical or horizontal orientation per list
- Duplicate prevention — only unique tags are written to frontmatter
- Template-friendly — embed in note templates for consistent tagging across your vault
The plugin has been submitted to the Obsidian community plugin list. Once approved it will be searchable directly in Settings > Community Plugins.
BRAT (Beta Reviewers Auto-update Tester) is the standard Obsidian way to install plugins awaiting review.
- Install BRAT from Community Plugins if you haven't already
- Open Settings > BRAT > Add Beta Plugin
- Paste:
scottgrayart/Frontmatter-input - Enable the plugin under Settings > Community Plugins
BRAT will also notify you of future updates automatically.
- Go to the latest release
- Download
main.js,manifest.json, andstyles.css - Create the folder
.obsidian/plugins/frontmatter-input/inside your vault - Copy the three downloaded files into that folder
- Enable the plugin under Settings > Community Plugins
Add a frontmatterinput code block to any note or template. The plugin renders it as an interactive list in Reading view and Live Preview.
```frontmatterinput
btns:
- Option A: { tag: option-a }
- Option B: { tag: option-b }
- Option C: { tag: option-c }
``````frontmatterinput
root: activity
orientation: horizontal
btns:
- Run:
tag: run
type: radio
btns:
- Regular: { tag: regular }
- Long: { tag: long }
- Race:
tag: race
type: radio
orientation: horizontal
btns:
- 5k: { tag: 5k }
- 10k: { tag: 10k }
- Half Marathon: { tag: half }
- Walk: { tag: walk }
- Hike: { tag: hike }
```Selecting Run > Race > 10k adds activity/run/race/10k to your frontmatter tags. Deselecting Run removes all three tags at once.
| Key | Values | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
root |
any string | (none) | Prefix added to the start of every tag path |
orientation |
vertical / horizontal |
vertical |
Layout direction for this list |
type |
checkbox / radio |
checkbox |
Selection mode for this list |
btns |
list | (required) | The items in this list |
Each item under btns uses the label as its key. The value can be shorthand or expanded:
Shorthand (no nesting needed):
btns:
- My Label: { tag: my-label }Expanded (use when adding nested lists, type, or orientation):
btns:
- My Label:
tag: my-label
type: radio
orientation: horizontal
btns:
- Child A: { tag: child-a }
- Child B: { tag: child-b }Tag values must follow Obsidian's tag rules: lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, and forward slashes only. No spaces. Use quotes around values containing special characters: tag: "my-tag".
- Indentation uses 2 spaces (not tabs)
- Comments start with
# - The
rootattribute only applies to the top-level list, not nested lists
The root value and each nested tag value are joined with / to form the final tag:
root: activity
tag: run
tag: race
tag: 10k
→ activity/run/race/10k
If no root is set, the chain starts at the first selected tag.
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome. Please open an issue with a description and, if relevant, the YAML block that reproduces the problem.
If this plugin saves you time, consider supporting its development:
MIT — see LICENSE for details.