Disclaimer
Is this plugin open source? Yes
Is this plugin completely free? Yes
Is this plugin vibe-coded beyond the author’s ability to comprehend how it works? No
Community Directory: advanced-metadata-cache
Some questions Obsidian answers about a vault have no index behind them. “Which notes link to this one?” means scanning every note on every call. The Backlinks pane pays that cost, and so does every plugin that asks. “What is every note called?” is the same walk, and the [[ autocomplete pays it every time you open it. On a big vault you can feel it.
This plugin keeps real indexes for those questions and answers from them. It replaces the method that already asks the question, so nothing needs to know it is installed. The Backlinks pane gets faster, and so does any other plugin that asks for backlinks.
- Backlinks: an index that keeps itself current, so backlinks stop costing a full scan. Canvas files are indexed too.
- Names: an index behind the
[[autocomplete, so opening it stops rescanning every note for its name and aliases. - Titles: a frontmatter property such as
titlecan name a note, and the[[autocomplete can offer it if you want. - Each index is a module you switch on or off separately, so a vault only pays for what it uses. On a small vault you won’t notice any difference, and you don’t need it.
The docs are a demo vault with buttons that measure the difference on your own machine. Run Advanced Metadata Cache: Open demo vault, or read it on GitHub.
If you use Backlink Cache, this is its replacement. Backlink Cache is being retired, and this plugin takes over its settings.