Vertical Timeline List

An Obsidian plugin that utilizes task lists to create a timeline... or something like a timeline.

Features

• Timeline Rendering — Any task list whose parent task has a t status (e.g. - [t]) is rendered as a vertical timeline in Reading View.
• Customizable Spacing — Adjust dot separation, line padding, and detail block spacing from the settings tab.
• Theme-aware Colors — Independent light- and dark-mode color values for the line, dots, hover state, and detail backgrounds. The active set switches automatically when Obsidian's theme changes.
• Collapsible Dots — Toggle whether timeline entries with details can be collapsed and expanded.

Installation

Obsidian Community Plugins

1. Open Obsidian and go to Settings → Community plugins.
2. If restricted mode is on, click Turn on community plugins.
3. Click Browse and search for Vertical Timeline List.
4. Click Install, then Enable.

BRAT

BRAT installs plugins directly from their GitHub repository and auto-updates them on each release.

1. Install BRAT from Settings → Community plugins → Browse and enable it.
2. Open the command palette (Ctrl+P (Windows) or Command+P (macOS)) and run BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing.
3. Enter the repository URL: https://github.com/Jalad25/vertical-timeline-list.
4. Choose whether to track the latest release or the latest commit, then select Add Plugin.
5. Open Settings → Community plugins and enable Contact Note.

To get future updates, run BRAT: Check for updates to all beta plugins from the command palette, or enable auto-update in BRAT's settings.

Manual

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. In your vault, create the folder .obsidian/plugins/vertical-timeline-list/ if it does not already exist.
3. Copy the downloaded files into that folder.
4. Open Obsidian, go to Settings → Community plugins, and enable Vertical Timeline List.

Usage

A timeline is denoted by a task list whose parent task has a t status. Nested list items become the timeline's entries. Further nesting under each entry becomes its details.

For example:

# Example
- [t]
  - 2020
    - Detail for 2020
    - Additional detail for 2020
  - 2021
  - 2022

renders as:

Important

Add a space after the [t]. Without it, Obsidian does not recognize the line as a task and the timeline will not render.

Settings Reference

Spacing

Setting	Description	Default
Dot separation	Vertical gap between dots on the line.	10 px
Line padding	Left and right padding around the line.	12 px
Dot details padding	Padding inside the detail block (all sides).	10 px
Dot details top separation	Space above the detail block.	10 px
Dot details bottom separation	Space below the detail block.	10 px

Theme Colors

Each color has independent light- and dark-mode values. The active value applies whenever Obsidian's theme matches.

Setting	Description	Light Default	Dark Default
Dot color	Dots without details.	#888888	#888888
Dot collapsible color	Dots with details.	#8A5CF5	#8A5CF5
Dot collapsible hover color	Hover ring on collapsible dots (only visible when Dot collapsible is on).	#8A5CF5	#8A5CF5
Line color	The vertical line itself.	#000000	#ffffff
Dot details background color	Background of each detail block.	#8f8f8f67	#00000067

Behavior

Setting	Description	Default
Dot collapsible	When on, dots with details can be collapsed and expanded.	Off

Other Plugin Compatibility

Tested with:

• Dataview
• Tasks

Dataview

Internal links into nested timeline items work normally, but Dataview's TASK query only highlights a navigated-to task when every date in the note is already expanded in Reading View. The collapsible-dot option is therefore off by default. If you turn it on, this Dataview-specific highlight behavior will not work as expected.

Tasks

No issues were observed when using the Tasks plugin alongside this plugin. To exclude the timeline parent task from Dataview TASK queries, register t as a custom task status in the Tasks plugin and filter on that status.

Contributing

Contributions of all kinds are welcome!

See CONTRIBUTING.md for full guidelines.

License

GNU Affero General Public License v3.0. See LICENSE for details.