Graph Filter Chips

Graph Filter Chips

Turn the graph view filter into removable chips.

Today the graph filter is a single text field, and pressing Esc wipes it out. This plugin changes that:

Features

• Enter commits the current query as a chip.
• Esc only blurs the field; the filter stays.
• Each chip has an x to remove just that term.
• Click a chip's label to edit it in place: Enter or clicking away saves, Esc cancels, and saving an empty chip removes it.
• Ctrl/Cmd + Z undoes the last chip change (add, edit, or remove), one step at a time, while the graph is the active tab. Inside a text field with text, it keeps undoing your typing as usual. The history lives in memory only.
• Works on the global graph and on local graphs.
• The filter keeps being saved normally in graph.json, so it survives restarts.

Why

The graph filter is easy to lose: a single stray Esc erases a carefully built query. Chips make the filter explicit, visible, and individually removable.

Installation

Community plugins (after it is published)

Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search for Graph Filter Chips → Install → Enable.

BRAT (beta)

1. Install the BRAT plugin.
2. Run BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing and paste the repository URL.

Manual

Copy main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/graph-filter-chips/ and enable the plugin.

Usage

1. Open the graph view and expand the Filters section.
2. Type a query, for example path:"Projects", -file:home, or tag:idea.
3. Press Enter to turn it into a chip.
4. Press Esc any time to leave the field without losing what you typed.
5. Click a chip to edit it in place, or the x to remove it.
6. Press Ctrl/Cmd + Z to undo the last chip change.

How it works

The plugin relies on a few stable graph internals:

• The filter input is .graph-controls .setting-item.mod-search-setting input[type="search"].
• Obsidian reads the effective value with engine.filterOptions.search.getValue() and applies it with engine.updateSearch().
• Esc clearing the field is the native behavior of <input type="search"> in Chromium, not Obsidian's code.

The plugin overrides getValue/setValue on the filter instance only (chips become the source of truth) and intercepts keydown in the capture phase on an ancestor of the input, so its preventDefault runs before the native clear. Everything is restored when the plugin unloads, including the full query, which goes back into the native input so the graph keeps its filter when the plugin is disabled or updated.

Editing a chip swaps it for a plain text input in the same spot; the graph filter only changes when the edit is saved. Undo keeps a snapshot of the chip list before each change (up to 100 per graph) and listens for Ctrl/Cmd + Z on the document, acting only when a graph view is the active leaf.

Compatibility and caveats

• Built and tested against Obsidian 1.12.7 (minAppVersion).
• Because it hooks undocumented graph internals, a future Obsidian update could change these objects. The plugin fails gracefully (it simply stops attaching), but it may need maintenance. Issues and PRs are welcome.
• A chip typed with spaces stays one chip in the session; after reload, the saved query is split back into chips on whitespace (outside quotes). The filtering result is identical.
• Undo history is kept in memory only: it is lost when Obsidian reloads (the filter itself stays saved). There is no redo yet.
• Ctrl/Cmd + Z only works for graphs in the main window, not in pop-out windows.
• While a chip is being edited, clicking another chip's label first saves the current edit; click again to edit the other chip.

Development

No build step, plain JavaScript.

# copy the plugin into a vault for live testing
./scripts/sync-to-vault.sh

Then reload Obsidian (Ctrl/Cmd + P → Reload app without saving).

License

MIT