Obsidian Applets

Help
1

Use case or problem

Obsidian, thanks to its plugins, is now used for purposes far beyond simple text notes: task management, calendars, financial reports, drawings (Excalidraw), etc. In these cases, Obsidian acts as a “backend” for saving and managing data, almost like a local database.

However, the more plugins and features are added, the slower and heavier Obsidian’s startup becomes, reducing its responsiveness for simple and focused operations. For example, to add a simple task, you have to wait for the entire Obsidian environment to load, including the UI and all plugins, when a minimal interface focused on just one function would be sufficient.

Proposed solution

Applets in Obsidian

Introduce the possibility for plugins to be developed ad-hoc and installed/launched as “web apps” (applets), similar to Progressive Web Apps in browsers. These plugin/applications would be specifically designed to support this feature and would be able to define custom interfaces optimized for their own purpose.

These applets could request Obsidian to load only the backend (vault management and core APIs), without the UI or unnecessary plugins, providing a fast and dedicated environment. Applets would have controlled access to Obsidian APIs (for reading/writing files, metadata, etc.) and could be launched in standalone mode, appearing as real external applications that save data directly into the vault.

Examples of applets:

  • Minimal task manager with dedicated UI
  • Quick notes (already in development) with a tailored interface
  • Personal data analysis dashboard with custom visualizations
  • Finance management with automatic reports in daily notes and vertical UI

Full Obsidian application remains essential

The full version of Obsidian would remain essential for those who want a comprehensive overview and in-depth cross-analysis of all information, but applets would enable unmatched modularity and speed for specific tasks.

Current workaround

Some plugins try to implement modular plugin loading, but they do not solve the slowness caused by the UI and core plugins loaded at startup. Furthermore, they do not provide true standalone startup or a web-app-like mode with truly dedicated interfaces.

2

Since Obsidian 1.7.2, the loading of UI components of plugins is deferred by default unless they specifically force otherwise.

Optimizing plugin load time - Developer Documentation.

3

is there a way of knowing what is causing the slower loading ? Does obsidian support logging what causes the load times ? Windows has a feature like that.

Should the community plugin area mention potential loading time implications for each plugin ?

4

Settings>General>Advanced>Debug Startup time

1 Like
5

obsidian.slow.startup.notification
obsidian.slow.startup.notification908×690 35.9 KB

right you are !

Obsidian amazes me again :slight_smile:

6

Just to clarify: this is not a request for help about slow plugin loading or how to optimize my own plugins, but rather an architectural proposal to introduce a completely different mode of use.

In short, the idea is to allow launching applets/plugins in a standalone mode, where only the minimal required components are loaded (backend, vault, core APIs) — without the full Obsidian UI and without all unnecessary plugins.

This represents a different paradigm from the current one, more similar to Progressive Web Apps: modular applications, optimized for specific tasks (task managers, analytics dashboards, finance tools, etc.), with dedicated interfaces and minimal startup times.
Just like PWAs, these applets could be installed as fully-fledged local applications, running independently while remaining fully integrated with the Obsidian vault.

I understand that lazy loading is helpful (and I do use it), but it doesn’t solve the core issue: the inability to perform isolated operations without launching the entire Obsidian environment.

7

Ok, I understand now. I don’t see a future where we pursue that path.