Obsidian Stats logoObsidian Stats

Inlay

by brightwav3
Screenshot of the Inlay Obsidian theme
5
4
3
2
1
New Theme
Code

Description

This theme supports Dark Mode
This theme supports Light Mode

README file from

Github

Inlay

The Obsidian workspace as a single card, inlaid in a calm neutral shell.

Release Obsidian Style Settings Light & dark Lint License: MIT

Why Inlay

Most themes restyle everything. Inlay changes one idea: your notes sit on a raised card, and the app chrome around it falls back into a quiet shell. Everything else stays exactly as Obsidian made it.

  • Inlaid card. The editor and file explorer share one floating card with a soft shadow.
  • Quiet shell. The ribbon, title bar and right sidebar rest on the shell beside the card.
  • Default where it matters. Fonts, sizes, spacing and the rendering of your notes (editor, reading view, properties, callouts, code) are untouched.
  • Obsidian's own palette. Light and dark mode use the default colour scale, so plugins and snippets look the way they expect.
  • Optional glass. A translucent shell over the OS blur, and a frosted note header that text scrolls beneath.
  • Details. Curved file-tree guides, unified tab outline, pop-out windows with their own card.
  • Mobile. Drawers sit on the shell and the open note is the card.

Screenshots

Light Dark
Inlay in light mode Inlay in dark mode

Installation

From the community directory

Once Inlay is published: Settings → Appearance → Themes → Manage, search for Inlay, then select Use.

Manually

  1. Download manifest.json and theme.css from the latest release.
  2. Put them in <your vault>/.obsidian/themes/Inlay/.
  3. Select Inlay in Settings → Appearance → Themes.

Customisation

Install Style Settings, then open Settings → Style Settings → Inlay.

Section Options
Colours Theme or app accent · shell · card · left sidebar (light and dark)
Layout Flat mode · card gap · card radius · card shadow
Tabs & sidebars Close button on hover · curved or straight tree guides · auto-hide explorer buttons
Translucent window Shell opacity · frost amount and colour · grain · card and sidebar opacity
Glass note header Opacity · blur · saturation

[!NOTE] Translucent window needs Settings → Appearance → Translucent window (macOS and Windows). The operating system draws the blur behind the window, so a theme can't adjust its strength. The glass note header turns itself off while the window is translucent, because in-app blur on a translucent window breaks Chromium's repainting while scrolling.

Compatibility
Obsidian 1.14 or newer, desktop (tested on 1.14.4, macOS)
Mobile Phone and tablet: drawers rest on the shell, the open note is the card (rounded on tablets)
Plugins Style Settings (optional) · Iconize and other plugins that use Obsidian's variables work unchanged

Development

git clone https://github.com/Brightwav3/obsidian-inlay.git
cd obsidian-inlay
npm install
Command What it does
npm run lint Checks theme.css against stylelint-config-obsidianmd, the rules used in theme review
npm run sync Copies manifest.json and theme.css into showcase-vault/ and every vault listed in vaults.local.txt (one path per line, git-ignored). Obsidian doesn't pick up edits made through symlinks, so vaults get real copies
npm run version Writes the package.json version into manifest.json and versions.json

showcase-vault/ is a small demo vault for trying the theme and taking screenshots. Open it as a vault after npm run sync.

Releasing

  1. Bump version in package.json and run npm run version.
  2. Commit, tag the version and push it: git tag 0.2.0 && git push --tags.
  3. The release workflow creates a draft release with manifest.json and theme.css. Review it, then publish.

Credits

License

MIT © 2026 Simon Zelenkovi

Sponsors