BUG : Custom views are not detected while opening Obsidian in `onLayoutReady` callback

Tu2_atmanand · March 16, 2026, 10:45am

Hello Everyone!

I am not sure if this used to work earlier, or I never tested this. But say, I have my custom leaf opened and its not in active state right now → Then I closed the Obsidian → Then opened Obsidian again. Now, when my plugin tries to get the leaf using getLeavesOfType(), it receives leaves = []. I am calling it inside onLayoutReady().

Here is where I added a debugger :

github.com/tu2-atmanand/Task-Board

main.ts

1fb6cd832


      
          		console.log("Task Board : Uninstalling...");
          
          		// deleteAllLocalStorageKeys(); // TODO : Enable this while production build. This is disabled for testing purpose because the data from localStorage is required for testing.
          		// onUnloadSave(this.plugin);
          		// this.app.workspace.detachLeavesOfType(VIEW_TYPE_TASKBOARD);
          	}
          
          	async activateView(leafLayout: string) {
          		let leaf: WorkspaceLeaf | null = null;
          		const leaves = this.app.workspace.getLeavesOfType(VIEW_TYPE_TASKBOARD);
          
          		function isFromMainWindow(leaf: WorkspaceLeaf): boolean | undefined {
          			if (!leaf.view.containerEl.ownerDocument.defaultView) return;
          			return "Notice" in leaf.view.containerEl.ownerDocument.defaultView;
          		}
          
          		// Separate leaves into MainWindow and SeparateWindow categories
          		const mainWindowLeaf = leaves.find((leaf) => isFromMainWindow(leaf));
          		const separateWindowLeaf = leaves.find(
          			(leaf) => !isFromMainWindow(leaf),
          		);

Here is an image for more context :

Tu2_atmanand · March 16, 2026, 10:46am

Another approach I was thinking is by using the getLeafById(), but for that I will need to store the leaf ID . Ill think about this approach…

But, is there anything wrong with the current approach and why I am not able to retrieve the leaf?

the_tree · March 16, 2026, 12:03pm

You should register VIEW_TYPE_TASKBOARD directly in plugin.onload instead of in workspace.onLayoutReady.

plugin.registerView will replace all existing Views of this type with EmptyView

github.com/tu2-atmanand/Task-Board

main.ts

1fb6cd832


      
          			// Creating Few Events
          			this.registerEvents();
          
          			// Register few commands
          			this.registerCommands();
          
          			// For non-realtime scanning and scanning last modified files
          			this.createLocalStorageAndScanModifiedFiles();
          
          			// Register the Kanban view
          			this.registerTaskBoardView();
          
          			// Run openAtStartup if openOnStartup is true
          			this.openAtStartup();
          
          			// Register status bar element
          			this.registerTaskBoardStatusBar();
          
          			// Register editor extensions
          			this.registerEditorExtensions();

Tu2_atmanand · March 17, 2026, 2:20pm

I cant believe it!

I knew the Obsidian architecture, but never thought of that, I wish I could have looked my own code a little closer.

Thank you for the solution, its working👍