Obsidian Link Opener

Open URLs from Obsidian markdown files' frontmatter

Oliver Steele

New

Install Extension

Overview

Obsidian Link Opener

Use your Obsidian vault into a bookmark manager. This extension lets you quickly access URLs stored in your notes' frontmatter, treating your knowledge base as a structured collection of bookmarks organized by project, topic, or any system you prefer.

Why Use Obsidian as a Bookmark Manager?

Contextual Organization: Keep URLs alongside your project notes, research, and documentation
Rich Metadata: Store multiple related URLs per note (docs, homepage, repo, etc.)
No Lock-in: Your bookmarks live in plain markdown files you control
Powerful Search: Leverage Obsidian's existing organization with Raycast's quick access

Features

🔍 Direct Vault Scanning: Scans your Obsidian vault to find all URLs in frontmatter
🚀 Quick URL Access: Open URLs from your notes without opening Obsidian
🎯 URL Property Detection: Automatically finds URLs in ANY frontmatter property
⚡ Fast Search: Quickly find notes by title or URL
📊 Smart Sorting: Sort by frecency (frequency + recency) or alphabetically
⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts: Quick access to related URLs from the same note

Prerequisites

Raycast: This is a Raycast extension, so you need Raycast installed
Obsidian Vault: An existing Obsidian vault with markdown files containing URLs in frontmatter

Installation

From Raycast Store (Coming Soon)

The extension will be available in the Raycast Store once published.

Manual Installation

See the Development Guide for instructions on installing from source.

Configuration

Configure the extension in Raycast preferences:

Settings

Use Frecency Sorting: Sort notes by frequency and recency of use (default: enabled). When disabled, sorts alphabetically by note title.

Usage

Open Link

The main command that displays a list of all notes with URLs in their frontmatter. You can:

Search notes by title or URL
Open URLs in your default browser
Copy URLs to clipboard
Quickly open other URLs from the same note using keyboard shortcuts
URLs within each note are sorted with homepage first, then alphabetically by property name

Select Vault

Choose which Obsidian vault to scan for URLs. The extension remembers your selection for future use.

Quick Access to Other URLs

When viewing any URL from a note that has multiple URLs, you can use keyboard shortcuts to quickly open other URLs from the same note:

⌘D - Open documentation/docs URL
⌘H - Open help URL
⌘G - Open GitHub repository URL
⌘⇧W - Open web app URL
⌘B - Open dashboard URL
⌘O - Open homepage URL

These shortcuts work regardless of which URL is currently selected, making it easy to jump between different resources for the same project or topic.

How URL Detection Works

The extension automatically detects any frontmatter property that contains a valid URL. You can use any property name you want - if it contains a valid URL (starting with http:// or https://), it will be found and displayed.

Common property names like homepage, documentation, github, etc. get special icons for easier visual identification, but the extension works with any property name you choose to use.

Example Frontmatter

The extension will detect URLs in ANY frontmatter property:

---
title: "My Project"
homepage: https://example.com
documentation: https://docs.example.com
github: https://github.com/username/project
custom_link: https://custom.example.com
my_special_url: https://special.example.com
---

# My Project Notes
...

All URLs above will be found and displayed, regardless of the property name used.

Troubleshooting

Extension doesn't find my vault

Ensure the vault path in preferences points to the root directory of your Obsidian vault
Check that the directory contains .obsidian folder and .md files

URLs not appearing

Verify your notes have valid URLs in frontmatter properties (any property name works)
Check that the frontmatter is valid YAML format
Ensure URLs start with http:// or https://
Try running a manual refresh

Performance issues

The extension scans your vault files each time it runs
For very large vaults (10,000+ files), scanning may take a moment. (See ROADMAP.)

Why a Separate Extension?

This extension is intentionally separate from the main Obsidian extension because it serves a fundamentally different use case:

Different Purpose: While the main Obsidian extension focuses on note management and creation, this extension treats Obsidian as a structured bookmark manager for URLs stored in frontmatter properties
Direct File Access: This extension bypasses Obsidian entirely, directly scanning markdown files to extract URLs. The main extension interacts with Obsidian through its URI protocol
Specialized Workflow: Designed for users who store project links, documentation URLs, and web resources in their notes' frontmatter and want quick access without opening Obsidian
No Feature Overlap: The commands provided (opening URLs from frontmatter) don't duplicate any functionality from the main extension's note search, creation, or daily note features