Sequencer

Sequencer

Sequencer helps you move through a set of notes in a fixed order. It stores the order with two frontmatter properties, prev and next, so your notes stay normal Markdown files and the sequence remains easy to inspect or edit by hand.

Use it for reading lists, lesson notes, project logs, daily workflows, drafts, or any folder where "previous" and "next" are more useful than a loose collection of links.

How It Works

Each note can point to the note before it and the note after it:

---
prev: "[[Chapter 1]]"
next: "[[Chapter 3]]"
---

When a note has either prev or next, Sequencer adds previous and next arrow buttons to the note header. Click an arrow to open the linked note, or Ctrl-click/Cmd-click to open it in a new tab.

Sequence properties accept a string or a singleton string list (for example, next: ["[[Chapter 3]]"]). Multi-target lists are not supported.

Getting Started

1. Open the first note in your sequence.
2. Run Sequencer: Insert note after current note from the command palette.
3. Choose an existing note, or type a new note name to create one.
4. Move to the next note and repeat until the sequence is complete.

Sequencer writes the matching links needed to keep the chain connected. For example, inserting Chapter 2 after Chapter 1 adds next: "[[Chapter 2]]" to Chapter 1 and prev: "[[Chapter 1]]" to Chapter 2.

Commands

The legacy Add link to previous note and Add link to next note commands now insert notes before or after the current note, including reconnecting neighbors. Targets already connected to another sequence are rejected; remove them from that sequence first. Selecting the existing neighbor is a no-op.

Insert Note Before Current Note

Command palette name: Sequencer: Insert note before current note

Opens a note picker and inserts the chosen note immediately before the current note. Sequencer updates the chosen note, the current note, and the previous neighbor so the chain stays connected.

If the chosen note does not exist yet, type its name in the picker to create it.

Insert Note After Current Note

Command palette name: Sequencer: Insert note after current note

Opens a note picker and inserts the chosen note immediately after the current note. Sequencer updates the current note, the chosen note, and the next neighbor so the chain stays connected.

If the chosen note does not exist yet, type its name in the picker to create it.

Delete Current Note From Sequence

Command palette name: Sequencer: Delete current note from sequence

Deletes the current note and reconnects its previous and next notes. Sequencer asks for confirmation by default, and the confirmation dialog includes an option not to ask again.

Remove Current Note From Sequence

Command palette name: Sequencer: Remove current note from sequence

Removes the current note from the sequence without deleting the file. Sequencer clears the current note's prev and next properties, then reconnects the previous and next notes around it.

Unlink Current Note From Sequence

Command palette name: Sequencer: Unlink current note from sequence

Does the same thing as Remove current note from sequence. This alias exists so the command is easier to find by either term.

Navigation

Sequencer shows arrow buttons in the note header when the open note has sequence frontmatter:

• Previous arrow: opens the note in prev
• Next arrow: opens the note in next
• Ctrl-click or Cmd-click: opens the target note in a new tab

If a linked note cannot be found, Sequencer shows a notice instead of changing notes.

Settings

Automatically Sync Inverse Properties

When enabled, manual frontmatter edits synchronize the matching inverse property. For example, setting A.next to [[B]] sets B.prev to [[A]]; editing B.prev works in the other direction too. Removing or retargeting a link clears only its matching old reciprocal. Turning this off disables manual synchronization, not the explicit insert/remove/delete commands: those always maintain the next/prev chain.

Inverse Relations

Configure one forward: reverse pair per nonempty line. Defaults:

next: prev
succ: pred

Names are case-sensitive and may contain spaces. Each property can belong to only one pair; identical keys, duplicate/overlapping pairs, dangerous object keys, and ambiguous punctuation are rejected. Invalid saved configuration falls back to the defaults with a notice. An empty configuration disables manual inverse pairs. Commands and arrow navigation still use next and prev, regardless of configured custom pairs.

Only scalar strings and singleton string lists are supported; malformed or multi-target properties are rejected without guessing. Links resolve relative to the source note and can include aliases or headings. Synchronization never overwrites an occupied inverse pointing elsewhere: a conflict notice is shown before changing either target. Your manual source edit is retained, so resolve the conflict explicitly. Unrelated properties are preserved.

This is one-hop inverse synchronization, not transitive closure or a general graph engine. Startup captures baselines without migrating existing notes. Changing the configuration resets baselines from current note contents, without rewriting the vault. Missing targets are skipped with a notice and retried when Obsidian finishes resolving metadata, without polling. Repeated or delayed metadata events use fresh note contents; command writes and synchronization are serialized to avoid treating intermediate chain states as manual edits.

Only Show Sibling Notes

When enabled, the note picker only suggests notes in the same folder as the current note. This keeps sequence-building focused when your vault has many notes.

Turn this off if your sequences often cross folder boundaries.

Repair Sequences When Deleting Notes

When enabled, Sequencer watches for normal Obsidian file deletes. If a deleted note had prev/next or configured custom inverse links, Sequencer reconnects the neighboring notes automatically. Explicit sequence deletion also repairs custom pairs. Remove/unlink commands only detach the default next/prev sequence; custom pairs have no navigation or insert commands.

Repair uses Obsidian's previous metadata, falling back to lightweight sequence metadata snapshots captured at startup and refreshed on metadata changes. If a note was never indexed and neither source is available, Sequencer shows a notice instead of guessing its neighbors.

Multi-file writes are not transactional: a native write or trash failure can leave earlier successful writes in place. Conflicting, malformed, or missing relationships require manual correction; the plugin does not scan incoming links to reconstruct an unknown chain.

Confirm Sequence Note Deletion

When enabled, Delete current note from sequence asks before deleting the note. Turn this off if you want the command to delete and reconnect immediately.

Frontmatter Example

This sequence:

Chapter 1 <-> Chapter 2 <-> Chapter 3

is stored like this:

<!-- Chapter 1.md -->
---
next: "[[Chapter 2]]"
---

<!-- Chapter 2.md -->
---
prev: "[[Chapter 1]]"
next: "[[Chapter 3]]"
---

<!-- Chapter 3.md -->
---
prev: "[[Chapter 2]]"
---

Tips

• Keep each sequence in one folder if you want the note picker to stay compact.
• Use clear note names so the previous and next arrows are easy to follow.
• You can edit prev and next manually if you need to repair or reshape a sequence.

Releasing

Run these commands from a clean, up-to-date master branch after merging the changes to release:

npm ci
npm test
npm run lint
npm run build
npm version minor -m "%s"
npm run release

Use patch instead of minor for a bug-fix-only release. npm version updates the package files, manifest.json, and versions.json, then commits and creates the version tag. .npmrc keeps the tag identical to the manifest version, without a v prefix. Update minAppVersion before versioning if newer Obsidian APIs are required; version 0.5.1 requires Obsidian 1.5.7 or later. On Obsidian versions before 1.6.6, sequence deletion uses system trash with a vault-trash fallback; newer versions follow the user's trash preference.

Pushing the tag triggers the release workflow, which runs checks, builds the plugin, and creates a GitHub draft release containing main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css. Wait for the workflow to succeed, review the release notes and assets, then publish the draft from the repository's Releases page. For a plugin already listed in Obsidian's community directory, no new store submission is needed for each update.

For a first-time listing, sign in at community.obsidian.md, link your GitHub account, and use Plugins → New plugin to submit https://github.com/alieron/obsidian-sequencer. The directory reads manifest.json from the default branch and requires the matching published GitHub release.