C4A Render

中文版本

C4A Render is the Obsidian companion plugin for C4A Context. It helps people and AI agents inspect the same compiled, source-linked C4A knowledge workspace inside Obsidian.

What It Does

C4A Render is a visualization layer. It does not capture source material, align documents, compile knowledge, or replace C4A Context. Knowledge production still happens through Context and an AI agent; this plugin makes the generated Markdown and metadata easier to read, verify, and navigate in Obsidian.

The plugin adds:

• Section metadata chips in rendered Markdown, including section kind, version range, status, source reference, and relations.
• One command-palette entry, C4A: 查看工作区, that opens the C4A Workspace workbench.
• Workspace overview metrics for nodes, edges, sections, issues, data root, and knowledge files.
• Node exploration with package, kind, relation-type, and text filters.
• A force-directed graph view for the filtered graph or the selected node neighborhood.
• Render issue checks and local view settings such as as-of and preview-link style.

The plugin does not add a separate ribbon icon. The main entry is the command palette, and the automatic visual enhancement appears directly in generated knowledge Markdown files.

Install

With BRAT

1. Install the Obsidian BRAT plugin.
2. In BRAT, choose "Add Beta plugin".
3. Enter this repository: context4ai/c4a-obsidian-render.
4. Enable "C4A Render" in Obsidian settings.

Manually

1. Download the release assets from this repository:

   • manifest.json
   • main.js
   • styles.css

2. Open the C4A data root as your Obsidian vault, then create this directory inside the vault:

   .obsidian/plugins/c4a-render/
   

3. Copy the three release assets into that directory.

4. Restart Obsidian.

5. Enable "C4A Render" in Obsidian settings.

Use

1. Open the C4A data root as the Obsidian vault. Knowledge files live under knowledge/.
2. Open a generated knowledge Markdown file.
3. Switch the Markdown file to Reading view or preview mode.
4. C4A Render automatically adds chips for C4A section metadata, such as spec, version range, source_ref, status, and relations.
5. Open the Obsidian command palette with Cmd+P on macOS or Ctrl+P on Windows/Linux, type C4A, then run C4A: 查看工作区.

The C4A Workspace workbench has four tabs:

• Overview: workspace counts, view settings, high-degree nodes, package distribution, and relation-type distribution.
• Explorer: searchable and filterable node list; selecting a node shows its metadata and edges.
• Force: force-directed graph for the filtered graph or the selected node neighborhood.
• Issues: render and metadata issues detected from the local vault.

Clicking a node opens its knowledge file in Obsidian.

If the plugin cannot find a C4A workspace, the panel shows the detected state and the expected layout instead of staying blank.

Workspace Layout

Prefer opening the C4A data root directly. Do not open only the knowledge/ directory.

Recommended layout:

c4a-data-root/
├── .obsidian/
│   └── plugins/
│       └── c4a-render/
├── config.yaml
├── knowledge/
└── raw/

If your C4A data root is the hidden .context/ directory inside a project, Obsidian usually will not show that folder in the file tree. For that reason, opening the project root is not the first-choice layout. If you still need to open the project root, the layout looks like this:

project-root/
├── .obsidian/
│   └── plugins/
│       └── c4a-render/
├── .context/
│   ├── config.yaml
│   ├── knowledge/
│   └── raw/
└── ...

Do not rename an existing project .context/ directory to context only for Obsidian. If you use a non-hidden data-root directory such as context/, run Context commands from inside that directory so it behaves as root layout.

If your OS file picker hides .context/, show hidden files first. On macOS, press Cmd+Shift+. in the file picker. If that is still inconvenient, create a non-hidden symlink such as context -> .context and open the symlink as the vault; avoid renaming or moving the original .context/ directory.

Knowledge Production

To produce C4A knowledge from inside Obsidian, use Context through Claude and bridge that Claude environment into Obsidian with Claudian.

Recommended setup:

1. Install the Claude SDK locally, then complete login or configure an API token.

2. Install the Context CLI from context4ai/context:

   npm i -g @c4a/context-cli
   # or
   bun add -g @c4a/context-cli

3. Install the Context Claude plugin from context4ai/context:

   /plugin marketplace add context4ai/context
   /plugin install context@context
   

4. Install Claudian in Obsidian and configure it to use the same local Claude SDK environment.

5. Open the C4A data root as the Obsidian vault and run Context workflows through Claudian, for example /context:init, /context:capture, /context:align, /context:compile, and /context:query.

This setup keeps knowledge production consistent with normal Claude-based Context usage, while C4A Render provides the Obsidian-side reading and visualization layer.

Release

• Obsidian plugin id: c4a-render
• Required release assets: manifest.json, main.js, styles.css
• Minimum Obsidian version: see manifest.json
• Desktop and mobile: supported by manifest; some richer views depend on Obsidian runtime capability.
• Alpha and beta tags use vX.Y.Z-alpha.N or vX.Y.Z-beta.N.
• GA tags use vX.Y.Z.
• The tag version must match the manifest.json version.

This repository is the Obsidian distribution repository for the plugin. Release assets are generated from the C4A project; the source package is not published to npm.