Lisible: a small Mac app to open single vault notes outside Obsidian

Share & showcase Workflows & Templates
1

Disclaimer

Is this project open source? No
Is this project completely free? Yes
Is this project made with AI beyond the author’s ability to comprehend how it works? No

My AI tools write about 150 Markdown files a week into my Obsidian vault. When I double-click one in the Finder, I want a finished page with working links.

For one note, Obsidian is a lot of app. So I built Lisible, a Mac app, and made it my default for .md files. I’m the developer.

Lisible showing a vault note: frontmatter card, outline, link to another note
Lisible showing a vault note: frontmatter card, outline, link to another note2080×1393 112 KB

How it works with Obsidian

  • It finds your vault from the nearest .obsidian folder. Nothing to set up.
  • [[wikilinks]] resolve by note name, like in Obsidian, including [[Note|alias]] and [[Note#Heading]]. A linked note opens in its own window, with its own theme.
  • ![[image.png]] embeds show up. Frontmatter shows as a key / value card.
  • Edit in the rendered page or in source. It saves to the same .md file as you type. If Obsidian or an AI agent changes the file, a banner offers to reload it.

File tree, backlinks and vault search stay in Obsidian. Callouts show as plain quotes.

Free, 6 MB, macOS 14+ on Apple silicon: debane.org/lisible
Not notarized yet: the first launch needs Open Anyway (steps on the page).

Tell me which note breaks it.

2

Very nice! I installed it and opened a few notes in and out of the vault, works great! It followed link within the vault by opening a new window. I’d maybe provide an option to use the same window when clicking links. Nice work!

3

Thanks for trying it, and for the kind words! Opening links in the same window is a good idea, noted.

Update: Lisible 1.14 is now signed and notarized by Apple, so the Open Anyway step is gone.

4

Do you know why you would prefer links to open in the same window rather than a new one?

5

Seems more familiar, like a web browser. Would be nice to click forward and backward through info instead of filling up the screen with tons of windows to sort through.