# Streamline – A stream-of-consciousness writer for Obsidian **URL:** \ **Category:** Workflows & Templates\ **Created:** [December 20, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/streamline-a-stream-of-consciousness-writer-for-obsidian/50108 "2022-12-20T14:26:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 18
**Author:** ![akaalias](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/akaalias/32/2109_2.png) [@akaalias](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/akaalias)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2022, 10:21am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/streamline-a-stream-of-consciousness-writer-for-obsidian/50108/18 "2022-12-31T10:21:25Z")
Fantastic @ayli.voltok , thank you for trying it out (_again and again no less_). For future reference for anyone building a macOS app trying to access the contents of a folder like your Obsidian vault, I tried the following work-arounds I tried. After failing 5 times, my “last resort” turned out to be the solution. **TLDR: Invest an extra hour and make your app downloadable as a `.dmg` file from the start instead of taking a well-meant shortcut of using `.zip` files.** ## A detailed run-down ### Testing my obvious assumptions Since it worked on my machine (classic), I used my gf’s computer when she wasn’t working. I was able to replicate the issue you described. _“I believe markdown files are not indexed on your machine because…”_ 1. AppKit file permissions have changed so much recently that even the smallest deviation of what is know to work results in failure\[1\] (False) 2. According to this blog post, Dropbox may be interfering\[2\] which results in unexpected behavior (False) 3. There is a significant difference between my macOS version 13.1 and lower versions. (False) 4. On my machine, Obsidian’s markdown files have content-type `net.daringfireball.markdown` but that might not necessarily on other machines\[3\]. (False) 5. Whatever the reason, the exception/error will _not_ fail silently but throw some information that I can use to fix it.\[4\] (False) ### Rethinking my known risks So I had to re-rethink my riskiest assumptions when all these experiments did **not** change the outcome on your machines. ![known-risks](https://forum.obsidian.md/uploads/default/original/3X/4/a/4a40b3c7e881882a3087e018ef7e8d05983ff5da.png) - If it wasn’t the code… - If it wasn’t the OS… - If it wasn’t some known _unholy_ behavior from Dropbox… - And if it wasn’t vocal about throwing any exceptions… ### Finding an unknown risk - What comes before all of that? - What am I doing now that is so mundane that I don’t believe it’s a risk? - What [blind spot](https://publish.obsidian.md/alexisrondeau/Risky+Blind+Spots+Getting+Facebook+Ads+Delivered) am I missing? ![blind-spots](https://forum.obsidian.md/uploads/default/original/3X/1/e/1e06a61e3688cc43ff71765763e4228544298af4.png) Then I remembered that little **red alert** Chrome showed when I first downloaded the `.zip` with the message. I had never seen it before. _“This file is not commonly downloaded. Are you sure you want to save it?”_ What if… - macOS is very, very hesitant\[5\] to provide file access to apps that were downloaded as `zips` - macOS does so _silently_? Having shipped [another app of mine named “Unblah”](https://unblah.me/) as `.dmg` in the past without security hiccups, I figured this could totally be a reason. I re-used most of that setup\[6\] to create [`Streamline.dmg` in v3.5.3](https://github.com/akaalias/getstreamline/releases/tag/v3.5.3) and it immediately worked on my gf’s machine. ![Screenshot 2022-12-30 at 16.38.29](https://forum.obsidian.md/uploads/default/original/3X/9/f/9fdfe05e05c3cc6b4351ef69ec5b4bf48fb3918a.jpeg) So, yeah. I might have saved myself some time starting at the top. I don’t know. But whoever reads this in the future: You’re not crazy. Thanks! ### Footnotes and references * * * 1. Revised, refactored and tested several versions [1](https://github.com/akaalias/Streamline/commit/f0c7be91147e56fafefc3850007cb6df0537a8bf#diff-ef0e07f50f67d679c79416d86c7c538bcd3f0ad84277d55164d78a5026746d99R126) and [2](https://github.com/akaalias/Streamline/commit/f0c7be91147e56fafefc3850007cb6df0537a8bf) 2. _“Watch out for Dropbox and other filesystem-bending plugins. Dropbox does some useful but unholy things to Finder and the file system in order to do its job. This might result in strange behavior when trying to access those files & folders.”_ – Stopped any and all Dropbox daemons on her laptop, compare before/after 3. Commit [3](https://github.com/akaalias/Streamline/commit/809309471165e5e45582b1106d4bc9300ada38aa#diff-ef0e07f50f67d679c79416d86c7c538bcd3f0ad84277d55164d78a5026746d99R152) where I am relying on the file-extension `.md` to indicate a markdown file. 4. Added a simple [log storage system](https://github.com/akaalias/Streamline/commit/f0c7be91147e56fafefc3850007cb6df0537a8bf#diff-b23383a8d8cb298ce8e1196c7e2744790597fbf228052e8c7c0c6ed2915e6f1cR12) to keep track, copy/paste errors 5. _“The technically sophisticated runtime protections in macOS work at the very core of your Mac to keep your system safe from malware. This starts with state-of-the-art antivirus software built in to block and remove malware. Technologies like XD (execute disable), ASLR (address space layout randomization), and SIP (system integrity protection) make it difficult for malware to do harm, and they ensure that processes with root permission cannot change critical system files.”_ via [macOS Security](https://www.apple.com/macos/security/) and [Apple Platform Security](https://support.apple.com/guide/security/welcome/web) 6. I use this [run.sh](https://github.com/akaalias/Streamline/commit/d113095604ce4c4f07ca36e1f27daf7700ec13c4#diff-11d77f9f8de6c8bb8ef705dc596ecfa84770d8dd5de3a2645f2bfe7c23a11c56) that to compile the image. --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/streamline-a-stream-of-consciousness-writer-for-obsidian/50108)._