Obsidian Incident Runbook

Overview

Systematic procedures for diagnosing and resolving Obsidian plugin incidents.

Prerequisites

Access to affected system/vault
Developer Console access
Plugin source code access

Severity Levels

Level	Definition	Response Time	Examples
P1	Data loss/corruption	Immediate	Notes deleted, vault corrupted
P2	Plugin unusable	< 1 hour	Crash on load, all features broken
P3	Feature degraded	< 4 hours	One feature not working
P4	Minor issue	Next release	UI glitch, minor inconvenience

Instructions

Step 1: Quick Triage

## Initial Assessment

1. **Identify the issue**
   - What is the user-reported symptom?
   - When did it start?
   - What changed (Obsidian update, plugin update, new plugins)?

2. **Check the basics**
   - [ ] Obsidian version?
   - [ ] Plugin version?
   - [ ] Desktop or mobile?
   - [ ] Operating system?

3. **Reproduce the issue**
   - [ ] Can you reproduce it?
   - [ ] Is it consistent or intermittent?
   - [ ] Does it happen in a new vault?

Step 2: Gather Diagnostic Information

## Diagnostic Commands

### In Obsidian (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+I)

1. **Check Console for errors:**
   - Look for red error messages
   - Note any stack traces
   - Check for repeated errors

2. **Check plugin status:**
   ```javascript
   // In console
   app.plugins.getPlugin('my-plugin-id')

Check settings:

// View plugin settings
app.plugins.getPlugin('my-plugin-id').settings

Check loaded status:

// Is plugin loaded?
app.plugins.enabledPlugins.has('my-plugin-id')

File System Checks

# Check plugin files exist
ls -la /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/my-plugin/

# Check for corrupt JSON
cat /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/my-plugin/manifest.json | jq .
cat /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/my-plugin/data.json | jq .

# Check file permissions
ls -la /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/my-plugin/*


### Step 3: Decision Tree

Plugin not loading? ├─ Error in console? │ ├─ "Cannot find module" → Missing dependency, rebuild plugin │ ├─ Syntax error → Check main.js, rebuild │ ├─ "Plugin failed to load" → Check manifest.json │ └─ Runtime error → Check onload() code ├─ No error, plugin enabled but not working? │ ├─ Commands not appearing → Check addCommand() calls │ ├─ Settings not showing → Check addSettingTab() │ └─ Features not working → Check specific feature code └─ Plugin not in list? ├─ Check .obsidian/plugins folder └─ Check community-plugins.json

Data corruption suspected? ├─ Settings corrupted → Delete data.json, restart ├─ Notes corrupted → Check recent vault backups ├─ Links broken → Run link consistency check └─ Frontmatter corrupted → Parse and fix YAML


### Step 4: Common Fixes by Error Type

#### Plugin Fails to Load
```bash
# Fix 1: Rebuild plugin
cd /path/to/plugin
npm run build

# Fix 2: Reset plugin data
rm /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/my-plugin/data.json

# Fix 3: Reinstall plugin
rm -rf /path/to/vault/.obsidian/plugins/my-plugin
# Reinstall from community plugins or manually

Settings Corrupted

// In console - reset to defaults
const plugin = app.plugins.getPlugin('my-plugin-id');
plugin.settings = { /* DEFAULT_SETTINGS */ };
await plugin.saveSettings();
// Restart Obsidian

Crash on Specific File

// Identify problematic file
// Check recent file-open events in console

// Test with specific file
const file = app.vault.getAbstractFileByPath('problematic/file.md');
const content = await app.vault.read(file);
// Check for unusual content/frontmatter

Step 5: Emergency Procedures

P1: Data Loss Prevention

#!/bin/bash
# emergency-backup.sh

VAULT_PATH="/path/to/vault"
BACKUP_PATH="/path/to/backup-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"

# Immediate backup
cp -r "$VAULT_PATH" "$BACKUP_PATH"
echo "Backup created at: $BACKUP_PATH"

# Disable the problematic plugin
echo '[]' > "$VAULT_PATH/.obsidian/community-plugins.json"
echo "All plugins disabled. Restart Obsidian."

P1: Vault Corruption Recovery

## Vault Recovery Steps

1. **Stop Obsidian immediately**
   - Don't make any changes
   - Close all Obsidian windows

2. **Create backup of current state**
   ```bash
   cp -r /path/to/vault /path/to/vault-corrupted-backup

Check for Obsidian sync backup
- Obsidian Sync: Settings > Sync > View version history
- Manual: Check your backup solution

Restore from backup

# If using git
cd /path/to/vault
git log --oneline -20  # Find good commit
git checkout <commit>

Disable plugins
- Start Obsidian in safe mode (hold Shift on startup)
- Or manually: echo '[]' > .obsidian/community-plugins.json


### Step 6: Communication Templates

#### User Response Template
```markdown
## Response to User

Hi,

Thank you for reporting this issue. I'm sorry you're experiencing problems with [plugin name].

**What I understand:**
- [Summarize the issue]

**Immediate steps to try:**
1. [First thing to try]
2. [Second thing to try]

**Information I need:**
- Obsidian version (Settings > About)
- Plugin version
- Any error messages from Developer Console (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+I)

**Workaround (if available):**
[Describe temporary workaround]

I'll investigate this as a priority and provide an update within [timeframe].

GitHub Issue Template

## Bug Report

**Plugin:** [name] v[version]
**Obsidian:** v[version]
**OS:** [Windows/macOS/Linux]

### Issue Description
[Clear description]

### Steps to Reproduce
1.
2.
3.

### Expected Behavior
[What should happen]

### Actual Behavior
[What happens]

### Console Errors

[Paste errors]


### Additional Context
- Started after: [event/update]
- Frequency: [always/sometimes/once]
- Workaround: [if any]

Step 7: Post-Incident Actions

Root Cause Analysis Template

## Post-Incident Review

**Incident:** [Brief description]
**Date:** [Date]
**Duration:** [Time to resolution]
**Severity:** P[1-4]

### Timeline
- [Time] - Issue reported
- [Time] - Investigation started
- [Time] - Root cause identified
- [Time] - Fix deployed
- [Time] - Confirmed resolved

### Root Cause
[Technical explanation]

### Impact
- Users affected: [estimate]
- Data loss: [yes/no, details]

### Action Items
- [ ] [Preventive measure] - Due: [date]
- [ ] [Documentation update] - Due: [date]
- [ ] [Test coverage] - Due: [date]

### Lessons Learned
[What can we do better]

Output

Issue identified and categorized
Diagnostic information collected
Fix applied
Users notified
Post-incident review completed

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Quick Fix
Console not opening	Obsidian crash	Start with --remote-debugging-port
Can't access vault	Permissions	Check file permissions
Plugin won't disable	Corrupt config	Edit community-plugins.json manually
Total crash	Memory/disk	Free up system resources

Examples

Quick Health Check Script

// Run in Obsidian console
(function checkPluginHealth() {
  const plugin = app.plugins.getPlugin('my-plugin-id');

  console.log('Plugin Status:');
  console.log('- Loaded:', !!plugin);
  console.log('- Enabled:', app.plugins.enabledPlugins.has('my-plugin-id'));

  if (plugin) {
    console.log('- Version:', plugin.manifest.version);
    console.log('- Settings valid:', !!plugin.settings);
  }

  console.log('\nRecent Errors:');
  // Check for recent errors in your error tracking
})();

Resources

Next Steps

For data handling patterns, see obsidian-data-handling.

obsidian-incident-runbook