Vault Cleanup Dashboard

English | 中文

An Obsidian plugin for intelligently cleaning up orphaned files and attachments in your vault.

Features

• Visual Dashboard: One-click access via ribbon icon with real-time scan status and statistics
• Smart Detection: Accurately identifies orphaned notes, attachments, and other files, including Canvas file links
• Selective Deletion: Preview and confirm files before deletion to prevent accidental loss
• Custom Recycle Bin: Deleted files are moved to a custom trash folder (default: .vault-trash) for easy recovery
• Scheduled Auto-Cleanup: Automatically scan and clean orphaned attachments at customizable intervals (in days)
• File Protection: Recently modified files are automatically protected (default: 7 days) to prevent accidental deletion
• Flexible Configuration: Supports whitelist folders, regex ignore patterns, custom attachment paths, and more
• Bilingual Interface: Full internationalization support with English and Chinese

How It Works

Orphan File Detection

A file is considered orphaned when it meets ALL of the following conditions:

• No inbound links: No other file links to it
• No outbound links: It doesn't link to any other file (including attachments - linking to an attachment means it's not orphaned)
• No canvas references: Not referenced in any Canvas file

Attachment Detection

A file is classified as an attachment if it matches your configured attachment paths:

Path Type	Example	Matching Logic
Absolute path	attachments	File parent path or file path starts with it
Relative path	./attachments	File path starts with attachments (default) or any parent directory name matches attachments (alternative algorithm)

Excluded from Scanning

• Files in whitelisted folders
• Files matching ignore patterns (regex)
• Recently modified files (within protection period, default: 7 days)
• Files in .obsidian/ and other system folders

Screenshots

Usage

Quick Start

1. Click the Vault Cleanup Dashboard icon in the sidebar to open the cleaning dashboard
2. Click Scan Vault to find orphaned files
3. Review statistics to see the number of orphaned files
4. Choose to clean attachments, notes, or all orphaned files as needed
5. Confirm the file list in the preview modal and execute cleanup

Command Palette

Quick access via Obsidian's command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P):

• Open Dashboard - Open the visual cleaning dashboard
• Clean Orphaned Attachments - Scan and clean orphaned attachments only
• Clean Orphaned Notes - Scan and clean orphaned notes only
• Clean All Orphaned Files - Scan and clean all types of orphaned files

Installation

From Community Plugins (Recommended)

1. Open Obsidian Settings → Community Plugins → Browse
2. Search for "Vault Cleanup Dashboard"
3. Click Install and Enable

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release from Releases
2. Extract the plugin folder into your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory
3. Open Obsidian Settings → Community Plugins → Enable "Vault Cleanup Dashboard"

Configuration

Cleanup Settings

Setting	Description	Default
Delete Strategy	Move to custom trash or permanent delete (dangerous)	Custom trash
Custom Trash Path	Folder location for deleted files	.vault-trash
Recently Modified Protection	Files modified within this many days are protected	7 days
Whitelist Folders	Folders excluded from scanning (one per line)	None

Auto-Cleanup Settings

Setting	Description	Default
Enable Auto-Cleanup	Automatically clean orphaned attachments on schedule	Disabled
Cleanup Interval	Frequency of auto-cleanup execution (days)	3 days
Check on Vault Open	Run auto-cleanup check when vault is opened	Enabled
Check on Plugin Load	Run auto-cleanup check when plugin is loaded	Enabled

Note

: Auto-cleanup only affects attachments and will not delete note files, ensuring your important content is safe.

Advanced Settings

Setting	Description	Default
Override Attachment Folders	Custom attachment storage locations (one per line)	Follows vault settings
Ignore Patterns	Regex patterns; matching files will be excluded	None
Test Settings	Test if a path is ignored (red = ignored, green = kept)	-
Alternative Attachment Algorithm	Enable if attachments in subfolders are not detected	Disabled

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v16 or higher)
• npm or yarn

Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/wlunan/vault-cleaner.git
cd vault-cleaner

# Install dependencies
npm install

Development Commands

# Development mode with hot reload (watches for changes and rebuilds)
npm run dev

# Build for production
npm run build

Local Testing in Obsidian

Method 1: Using Test Vault (Recommended)

1. Run npm run dev to start the development server
2. Open the test-vault folder in Obsidian as a vault
3. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins
4. Changes will auto-reload when you modify source files

Method 2: Copy to Your Vault

1. Run npm run build to build the plugin
2. Copy the following files to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/vault-cleaner/ directory:
   • main.js
   • manifest.json
   • styles.css
3. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins
4. Run npm run dev for auto-rebuild, then reload Obsidian to see changes

Method 3: Using hot-reload Plugin

1. Install the hot-reload plugin in your vault
2. Create a file named .hot-reload in your vault root
3. Run npm run dev - changes will auto-reload without restarting Obsidian

Release

# Bump version (updates package.json, manifest.json)
npm run version

# Commit and tag
git add .
git commit -m "Release vX.Y.Z"
git tag vX.Y.Z
git push && git push --tags

Create a new release on GitHub with the built files (main.js, manifest.json, styles.css).

Project Structure

src/
├── main.ts              # Plugin entry point, registers commands and ribbon icon
├── dashboardModal.ts    # Visual cleaning dashboard
├── scanService.ts       # Orphan file scanning service
├── actionService.ts     # File operation service (delete/restore)
├── previewModal.ts      # Delete preview confirmation modal
├── autoCleanScheduler.ts # Scheduled auto-cleanup scheduler
├── settings.ts          # Settings interface
└── locales/             # Internationalization language packs
    ├── zh-CN.ts         # Chinese
    └── en-US.ts         # English

License

MIT

Acknowledgments

• This plugin is a fork of nuke-orphans-plugin, enhanced with a visual dashboard, scheduled auto-cleanup, file protection mechanisms, and more. Thanks to the original author for their excellent work.
• Thanks to all developers contributing to the Obsidian community.