# Emeraldian Emeraldian is an open source [[Terminal User Interface (TUI)]] for [[Obsidian]] vaults. It lets you read, write, and navigate your existing notes without leaving the terminal. It's written in [[Rust]] with the Ratatui library, created by Rohith Nair, and licensed under GPL-3.0. It's an independent project, not affiliated with Obsidian. I discovered it through Orhun Parmaksız (the Ratatui maintainer), who shared it on X in September 2026 with a simple pitch: "Obsidian, now in the terminal!" ## Why this matters If you live in the terminal (SSH sessions, a headless server, a tiling window manager, [[Vim]] muscle memory), opening an Electron app just to edit a note is friction. Emeraldian removes it. The important part: it works on **the same Markdown files** as Obsidian. No import, no database, no lock-in. You can even keep Obsidian open on the same vault at the same time. That's the beauty of plain text files 🔥 ## Features - **Live preview** of [[Obsidian Flavored Markdown]]: wikilinks, tags, tasks, callouts, tables, syntax-highlighted code blocks - **Images** in compatible terminals (Kitty, [[Ghostty]], WezTerm, iTerm2, sixel), with a half-block fallback - **[[Excalidraw]] drawings** rendered as vector art on a braille canvas - **Backlinks pane** with the context line of each link - **Graph view**: force-directed (Barnes-Hut), plus a local graph - **Navigation**: file explorer (sort by modified, created, or name), outline, tag browser, quick switcher, command palette, full-text search. Following a link to a missing note creates it - **[[Vim]] mode** (toggle with `F4`): Normal, Insert, Visual, and V-Line modes, motions, operators, `:` commands, `/` search, `Space` as leader - **18 themes**, including Obsidian light/dark, Catppuccin, Gruvbox, Nord, Dracula, Rosé Pine, and one that inherits your terminal palette. Custom themes are TOML files - **Optional AI assistant** (`Ctrl+L`) that works on the vault using the same commands you do, and shows every tool call. Supports Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Groq, and local models via Ollama or LM Studio. There's a read-only mode Useful shortcuts follow Obsidian where possible: `Ctrl+O` (quick switcher), `Ctrl+P` (command palette), `Ctrl+Shift+F` (search), `Ctrl+E` (reading/editing), `Ctrl+G` (graph), `?` (all shortcuts). Privacy is solid: no telemetry, no update checks. The only network traffic comes from the assistant, if you enable it. ## Emeraldian vs Obsidian CLI These two get confused easily, but they solve different problems. | | [[Obsidian CLI]] | Emeraldian | |---|---|---| | What it is | Official command line interface for the Obsidian app | Independent terminal app for your vault | | How it works | Remote-controls a running Obsidian desktop app | Reads and writes the Markdown files directly | | Needs Obsidian? | Yes (and a display, or workarounds, on servers) | No | | Interaction | Commands, for scripts and automation | Interactive UI with panes and keyboard navigation | | Plugins | Everything Obsidian and its plugins can do | None of Obsidian's plugins | | Best for | Automating Obsidian, AI agents, scripting | Reading and editing notes in a terminal, headless machines | In short: the Obsidian CLI is a remote control for Obsidian, and Emeraldian is a terminal alternative to Obsidian's UI. They also work together. If the Obsidian CLI is available, Emeraldian's `/obsidian` command uses it to open the current note in the desktop app. Keep in mind that a TUI will never replace your plugins. Dataview, Bases, Templater and co. won't run in Emeraldian. For a vault that depends heavily on plugins (like mine), I see it as a companion for quick edits, not a replacement. ## Installation ```bash # macOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://emeraldian-tui.github.io/install.sh | sh # Homebrew brew install iamrohithrnair/tap/emeraldian # Cargo cargo install emeraldian ``` Prebuilt binaries exist for Apple silicon, Linux (x86_64 and aarch64), and Windows. Intel Macs build from source. The config lives in `~/.config/emeraldian/config.toml` on Linux, `~/Library/Application Support/emeraldian/config.toml` on macOS, and `%APPDATA%\emeraldian\config.toml` on Windows. ## References - Official website: https://emeraldian-tui.github.io/ - Source code: https://github.com/iamrohithrnair/emeraldian - Announcement shared by Orhun Parmaksız: https://x.com/orhundev/status/2097784253383630905 ## Related - [[Obsidian]] - [[Obsidian CLI]] - [[Terminal User Interface (TUI)]] - [[Rust]] - [[Vim]] - [[Neovim]] - [[Excalidraw]] - [[Ghostty]]