Emacs text editor

Emacs Text Editor for Obsidian

This plugin adds a few commands to use Obsidian with Emacs-like keybindings.

Purpose of the project

What is this plugin:

1. Basic imitation of Emacs commands to make text editing for Emacs users more smooth

What isn't this plugin:

1. Implementation of complete GNU Emacs functionality and integration elisp into Obsidian
2. Exact reproducing behavior of GNU Emacs commands

How to install

Run:

export OBSIDIAN_PLUGINS_DIR=/path/to/obsidian/vault/.obsidian/plugins
make install

How to uninstall

export OBSIDIAN_PLUGINS_DIR=/path/to/obsidian/vault/.obsidian/plugins
make uninstall

Example of keybindings configuration

Key Repeat

When enabled in Settings → Community plugins → Emacs text editor, the following additional hotkeys will repeat when held down, as in emacs:

• Character movement: Ctrl+F, Ctrl+B
• Line movement: Ctrl+N, Ctrl+P
• Word movement: Alt+F, Alt+B
• Character, Word Deletion: Ctrl+D, Alt+D

In the Settings, you can also adjust the initial repeat delay or interval, or use quick presets (Slow/Medium/Fast). This repeat mechanism works around Obsidian API limitations which prevent changing ctrl or alt key repeats. It is separate from your OS keyboard repeat controls; changing repeat timing here affects only Obsidian hotkey behavior.

macOS support

On macOS the Option (Alt) key composes special characters — Alt+F types ƒ, Alt+D types ∂ — before Obsidian sees the keystroke. As a result the Emacs meta chords that work on Windows/Linux never fire on a Mac: nothing matches the hotkey and the special character gets inserted into the note instead. This fork fixes that in two places:

1. Physical-key matching for key repeat. Held-down movement chords (including Alt+F, Alt+B, Alt+D) are now matched by physical key position (KeyboardEvent.code) instead of the composed character, so they repeat correctly on macOS and on any keyboard layout.
2. Key rescue dispatcher. When a keystroke arrives composed (its delivered key differs from its physical position, e.g. ƒ vs f) and it matches one of this plugin's bindings — including bindings you reconfigured in Obsidian's Hotkeys settings — the plugin runs the matching command itself and swallows the event, so the special character is not inserted. This makes Alt+F/B/D/W, Alt+U/L/C, Alt+Shift+[ ] , ., Alt+Backspace, and Ctrl+Space work on macOS. Chords that Obsidian already handles natively (e.g. Ctrl+F, Alt+Backspace) are left untouched, and pressing Cmd as Meta for custom rebinds needs no rescue at all.

Configure it under Settings → Community plugins → Emacs text editor → macOS key rescue:

• Auto (default): active on macOS only — Windows/Linux behavior is completely unchanged.
• Always on: mainly useful for testing on non-mac machines, or on platforms where the plain Alt key itself composes characters. Note that Windows/Linux report AltGr as Ctrl+Alt, so an AltGr-composed chord does not match a plain Alt binding and will not be rescued — rebind the command to Ctrl+Alt+<key> if you want that chord.
• Disabled: previous upstream behavior.

Notes:

• Keys are matched by physical position, so on non-US layouts a chord refers to the key at the same position as on a US layout — which is usually where your muscle memory expects it.
• If Ctrl+Space (set mark) still does nothing, macOS itself is intercepting it as the "Select the previous input source" system shortcut. Disable that shortcut in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Input Sources, or rebind Set mark command in Obsidian's Hotkeys settings.

Known issues

1. Move to beginning of line command (Ctrl + a) conflicts with select all action. Solution: Use Home/End + Shift.
2. Conflicts with existing hotkeys. Solution: use additional plugin for custom bindings, for example https://github.com/tgrosinger/leader-hotkeys-obsidian
3. Absent support of "kill-ring". Solution: use plugin https://github.com/Karakaz/obsidian-paste-from-history with Alt + y keybinding
4. Absent support of scroll-up/scroll-down commands. Solution is not found