Features Overview
Nexus Properties provides a comprehensive suite of features for managing and visualizing relationships in your Obsidian vault. This page gives you a bird's-eye view of what the plugin can do.
Core Features
🔗 Bidirectional Relationship Management
Automatically synchronize parent-child and related relationships across your vault.
- Set a child in one file, parent is auto-updated in the other
- Create related connections that sync bidirectionally
- Automatic sibling linking (optional)
- Recursive tree computation
📊 Interactive Relationship Graph
Visualize your knowledge network with multiple viewing modes and layouts.
View Modes:
- Hierarchical - Parent-child tree structures
- Related - Direct related connections
- All Related - Entire constellations of related notes
- Start from Current - Focus on specific nodes
📝 Bases View
A focused, list-based view of the current note's relationships.
Features:
- Children - Notes that reference the current note as a parent
- Parent - Notes that reference the current note as a child
- Related - Notes with mutual related connections
- Automatically filters out archived notes
- Real-time updates when switching notes
- Clean, linear navigation interface
Perfect for focused work on a single note's context without visual clutter.
🎨 Node Color Rules
Apply conditional colors to nodes based on frontmatter properties.
- Create JavaScript expressions to define color rules
- Unlimited custom rules with priority ordering
- Visual categories for instant identification
- Supports hex, HSL, and named CSS colors
🔍 Filtering System
Focus on relevant parts of your knowledge network with powerful filtering.
- JavaScript expression-based filtering
- Named filter presets for quick access
- Multi-expression AND logic
- Filter persists across sessions
🔬 Zoom Mode
Deep-dive into any node with inline preview.
- Click any node to enter zoom mode
- View frontmatter and content inline
- Navigate between nodes without leaving the graph
- Use arrow keys for keyboard navigation (Up/Down for parent/child, Left/Right for spatial)
- Toggle visibility of frontmatter/content sections
🎯 Context Menus
Right-click any node or edge for quick actions.
Node Context Menu:
- Open file
- Open in new tab
- Add parent/child/related relationships
- Edit node frontmatter
- View node preview
- Copy node path
Edge Context Menu:
- Remove relationship
- Navigate to connected nodes
- View relationship details
💬 Property Tooltips
Hover over nodes to see their properties instantly.
- Shows all frontmatter properties
- Clickable wiki links in tooltips
- Configurable width
- Respects hide empty/underscore settings
- Can be toggled with hotkey
🔎 Graph Search
Quickly find and highlight nodes in the graph.
- Real-time search as you type
- Highlights matching nodes
- Dims non-matching nodes
- Keyboard-accessible
- Toggle with command
⚡ Quick Node Creation
Create parent, child, or related nodes instantly from commands.
- Create Parent Node - Creates a parent with bidirectional link
- Create Child Node - Creates a child with bidirectional link
- Create Related Node - Creates a related node with bidirectional link
All new nodes:
- Inherit frontmatter properties (except excluded)
- Get unique Zettel IDs automatically
- Establish bidirectional relationships
- Open immediately for editing
🗂️ Smart Layout System
Automatic organization of nodes for optimal visualization.
Constellation-Based:
- Groups of related notes form constellations
- Automatic spacing and collision detection
- Hierarchical arrangement for parent-child
- Radial arrangement for related networks
Layout Modes:
- Dagre - Tree layout for hierarchies
- Constellation - Grouped layout for related networks
- Automatic switching based on view mode
⚙️ Property Exclusion
Control which properties are copied when creating new nodes.
- Default exclusion list applies to all nodes
- Path-based rules for specific directories
- Exclude relationship and system properties
- Customizable per-directory rules
Integration Features
Directory Scanning
- Scan entire vault or specific directories
- Automatic indexing of new files
- Real-time relationship updates
- Manual rescan option for full vault sync
Command Palette Integration
All major features accessible via command palette:
- Show/hide graph view
- Toggle search, filter, presets
- Enlarge graph
- Create nodes
- Toggle zoom features
Hotkey Support
Assign custom hotkeys to any command:
- Show relationship graph
- Toggle features
- Navigate graph
- Create nodes
- And more...
View Modes Comparison
| Mode | Purpose | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Hierarchical | Show parent-child trees | Project hierarchies, outlines |
| Related | Show direct related links | Exploring connections |
| All Related | Show entire constellations | Discovering indirect connections |
| Start from Current | Focus on current file | Limiting scope to one node |
| Bases View | List current note's relationships | Focused navigation, quick review |
Technical Features
Performance Optimizations
- Incremental graph updates
- Lazy loading for large networks
- Configurable animation duration
- Efficient collision detection
- Debounced resize handling
Data Consistency
- Automatic bidirectional sync
- Orphaned relationship cleanup
- File deletion handling
- Rename/move tracking
- Transaction-based updates
Extensibility
- JavaScript expression engine
- Custom color rules
- Filter presets
- Property-based customization
- Directory-based configurations
Feature Matrix
| Feature | Free | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bidirectional Sync | ✅ | Automatic relationship synchronization |
| Graph Visualization | ✅ | Interactive relationship graph |
| Multiple View Modes | ✅ | Hierarchical, Related, All Related |
| Bases View | ✅ | List-based relationship view |
| Color Rules | ✅ | Unlimited conditional node colors |
| Filtering | ✅ | Expression-based filtering |
| Filter Presets | ✅ | Named filter shortcuts |
| Zoom Mode | ✅ | Inline node preview |
| Context Menus | ✅ | Right-click actions |
| Tooltips | ✅ | Property previews on hover |
| Search | ✅ | Real-time node search |
| Node Creation | ✅ | Quick parent/child/related creation |
| Layout Optimization | ✅ | Automatic constellation layout |
| Property Exclusion | ✅ | Control property inheritance |
| Directory Scanning | ✅ | Selective vault indexing |
| Hotkey Support | ✅ | Custom keyboard shortcuts |
All features are free and open source under the MIT license!
What's Next?
Explore each feature in detail:
- Start with the basics: Bidirectional Sync
- Master the graph: Graph Views
- Add visual categories: Color Rules
- Focus your view: Filtering
- Dive deeper: Zoom Mode
- Speed up your workflow: Node Creation
Or jump to Configuration to customize everything!