Obsidian Stats logoObsidian Stats

Radial timeline

by Eric Rhys Taylor
5
4
3
2
1
Score: 49/100
Install Code

Description

The Radial Timeline plugin visualises a manuscript as a circular timeline, arranging scenes by act, subplot, and order so you can scan the whole story at once. It supports any plot system via YAML, shows rich details on hover (title, date, synopsis, subplot, character, overdue and revision lines), and opens the scene or plot note on click. Status colours make progress obvious, and a completion date is estimated from remaining work and recent pace. Switch between an all-scenes view and a main-plot mode that emphasises publishing stages. Zero-draft mode helps avoid premature editing by capturing pending edits in a dialog instead of opening the note. A fast search overlays results, subplot rings are labeled, and the layout rotates counter-clockwise to align act 2 beneath act 1 for readability.

Reviews

No reviews yet.

Stats

42
stars
4,217
downloads
2
forks
211
days
0
days
0
days
12
total PRs
0
open PRs
1
closed PRs
11
merged PRs
10
total issues
2
open issues
8
closed issues
9
commits

Latest Version

6.0.5
a day ago

Changelog

Radial Timeline 6.0.5

This is a localization, Inquiry, publishing, and timeline reliability release.

Note: Pandoc PDF Designer is still under development and is not yet released. Use one of the four built-in PDF templates for now.

Improvements

  • Added broader language support with expanded UI translations for Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and German, backed by English fallback text where coverage is still growing.
  • Improved Inquiry Saga processing for multi-book analysis across Book Manager profiles, with stronger provider handling for large Gemini and OpenAI runs.
  • Improved AI cost, cache, and provider-status reporting so Inquiry and runtime workflows show clearer estimates, cache reuse state, and provider errors.
  • Advanced the publishing system toward the Pandoc Design Wizard with generated style specs, LaTeX preview support, PDF wizard fixtures, font resolution checks, and visual QA baselines.
  • Updated Radial Timeline branding with the RT logo replacing the generic shell icon in key timeline surfaces.

Documentation

  • Reworked the wiki around the current four timeline modes, Inquiry, Publishing, Settings, and refreshed screenshot assets.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed Inquiry Saga scope issues across Book Manager profiles and provider runs.
  • Fixed AI cache and cost reporting so cache status, cache windows, and displayed estimates come from one source of truth.
  • Fixed Timeline Repair and normalizer edge cases with expanded regression coverage.
  • Fixed PDF publishing validation and font-resolution edge cases found while preparing the Pandoc Design Wizard.
See all version on GitHub

README file from

Github

What It Does

  1. Narrative time: the sequence you reveal events to readers.
  2. Chronological time: when events happen in your story's world. (Includes Planetary Time calculator for sci-fi/fantasy calendars).
  3. Author time: your scene writing progress with target completion dates from Todo to Complete.
  4. Publishing time: manuscript revision stages from Zero draft through Press-ready.

Docs (How-to & setup)

If you want the “how-to” details (setup, sets, properties, reordering, advanced options), they live in the wiki:

Sets, Properties, and Templates

  • Sets define the structural fields used in your notes.
  • Properties are custom metadata fields added to notes.
  • Presets are starter configurations for campaigns or workflows.
  • Templates are used only for export formatting (e.g., Pandoc).

YouTube Video Suite

Ongoing series on the Radial Timeline YouTube channel:

Installation

From Obsidian

  1. Open settings → community plugins.
  2. Click browse and search for "radial timeline".
  3. Click install and then enable.

Manual installation

  1. Download the latest main.js, styles.css, and manifest.json from the releases page.
  2. Extract the files to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/radial-timeline (may be hidden by file system)

Known Conflicts

  • Plugin Conflicts: If you experience visual glitches or strange behavior (such as the timeline overlapping with other UI elements), it may be due to a conflict with another plugin. Try disabling other plugins to isolate the issue. Please see known plugin conflicts.

Technical Notes

Screen Resolution

The radial timeline is designed for high pixel density displays (around 200 ppi or higher) for optimal visual quality.

  • All Apple Retina displays — 2x pixel density.
  • Recommend Windows systems with 4k displays or higher. (Tested down to 1440p 2560x1440)
  • Tablets.

If you're experiencing visual quality issues on Windows, please check your display scaling settings.

Acknowledgments

  • d3.js — powerful data-driven, SVG-based visualization patterns that present complex statistical data in a visually appealing and approachable format.
  • Save the Cat! Writes a Novel (2018), Jessica Brody — a practical articulation of the Save the Cat beats.
  • The Story Grid, Shawn Coyne — a rigorous methodology for analyzing scenes and beat flow.
  • Obsidian — for a thriving plugin ecosystem and thoughtful feature development.
  • W3C SVG specification — for making vector graphics on the web dependable.
  • 04 Font by Yuji Oshimoto — a beautiful Japanese freeware font. © 1998–2003 Yuji Oshimoto. 04.jp.org このフォントはフリーウェアです。非営利目的での配布、譲渡、転載は自由ですが、作者の許可なく販売したり、営利目的の製品に添付する事は固く禁じさせて頂きます。なお、このフォントを使用していかなる損害についても作者は責任を負わないものとします。御意見、御感想などよろしければメールください。

Bundled fonts (PDF export)

The plugin ships a small set of fonts so PDF export "just works" without manual font installation. Each font travels with its original license file in assets/fonts/<font-name>/.

  • Sorts Mill Goudy by Barry Schwartz — used by the Standard Manuscript, Contemporary Literary, and Signature Literary PDF templates. Licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. Source: Google Fonts.

The Modern Classic template uses Latin Modern Roman, which ships with every TeX distribution (MacTeX/TeXLive) and is loaded via the lmodern package — no install required.

Feedback and support

Check out the Discussions group at Discussions. If you encounter issues or have feature requests, please file an issue on the Github Repository Issues page.

Author

Created by Eric Rhys Taylor

Reviewed and approved for the Obsidian Community Plugins directory. Developed with best practices in mind.

License & Intellectual Property

Radial Timeline™ © 2025 Eric Rhys Taylor
Released under a Source-Available, Non-Commercial License.

  • You may view, install, and use this plugin for personal or educational purposes.
  • Commercial use, redistribution, or creation of derivative works using this source code is prohibited without written permission.
  • The "Radial Timeline" name is a trademark of Eric Rhys Taylor.

See the License and Notice pages for full details.

Disclaimer & Limitation of Liability

This software is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, express or implied. The author makes no guarantees regarding performance, reliability, or compatibility with third-party plugins, APIs, or services.

Sponsors