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ZettelFlow is an Obsidian plugin. You need Obsidian 1.14.4 or newer, on desktop or mobile.

Installing ZettelFlow: Settings → Community plugins → Browse, search ZettelFlow, Install and Enable

1 · Install

  1. In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins and turn community plugins on if you have not yet.
  2. Click Browse, search for ZettelFlow, then Install and Enable.
  3. A ZettelFlow button appears in the ribbon. Click it and a menu opens: Think, Create note, Community and the rest. Everything below starts there.

2 · Pick one way in

There are four ways in. None of them needs the others, and you can switch between them at any time.

Nothing to draw: ZettelFlow makes a small flow for you.

  1. Ribbon menu → Create note.
  2. While no canvas creates notes, the wizard opens on a welcome screen. Press Create the example flow.
  3. It writes _ZettelFlow/examples/My first flow.canvas with one step, gives it the Creates notes role and opens it.
  4. Ribbon menu → Create note again: the wizard asks for a name and creates the note in _ZettelFlow/examples/notes.

Then open a step of the example (select it → Edit step) to see what it is made of.

Zettelkasten, PARA, GTD, research, writing, decisions… complete flows you can try before anything is written to your vault.

  1. Ribbon menu → Community.
  2. In the Systems room, click a card: its drawing opens in place, with its level and steps.
  3. Try it: walk the flow on the drawing without creating anything, then Install.

→ Install a ready-made system

Your first flow, from an empty canvas to a note: give the canvas its role, create the first step, say what it asks, create a note

  1. Give the canvas its role. Create a canvas (for example flows/Daily note.canvas), right-click it in the file explorer → Use this canvas to create notes, and press Give it the role. Until a canvas has a role it is just a canvas: ZettelFlow adds nothing to it.
  2. Create the first step. Open the canvas: it says This canvas has no steps yet. Press Create the first step and pick Note — file with frontmatter (recommended). The first step starts the flow on its own.
  3. Say what it asks. Select the step → Edit step. Under What does this step ask?, press Add an action and pick Ask for text. Write its Question, and choose Where it writes: Properties, Body or Context only.
  4. Create a note. Ribbon menu → Create note: the wizard asks your question and creates the note.

To add more steps, press Create a step (the ZettelFlow icon in the canvas's bottom bar) and draw an arrow from one step to the next.

The new-note wizard: one progress header, the step, the live preview and a footer that never moves

→ Create a note: the wizard · Configure a step · Your flows and their roles · Actions

No canvas and no setup: it works in an empty vault.

  1. Ribbon menu → Cultivate — start a thinking session.
  2. At the end of the stage strip, press From a question of mine… and choose a note, or capture one.
  3. State your question, look at the notes it gathers, write a response or a gap, and Save progress.

Then open This note from the ribbon menu: the note you are reading gets a companion in the right sidebar with its state, what argues with it, what it is missing and the one next step.

→ Cultivate an idea · This note

3 · Words that changed

If you followed an older guide or video, these are the same things under their current names.

Older name What you see now
root / root toggle Starts the flow (in When does it appear?)
optional toggle Can be skipped
children header Explains the options
ribbon canvas / new notes canvas the Creates notes role (Settings → Your flows, or right-click the canvas)
zone (Frontmatter / Body) Where it writes: Properties, Body or Context only
key Property key
static value Always the same answer + Fixed value
Prompt · Calendar · Selector · Checkbox · Number Ask for text · Pick a date · Choose an option · Yes or no · Ask for a number

The step's YAML keeps the old field names (root, optional, zone, key), so a flow you made before still works.

4 · Your settings, at a glance

Open Settings → ZettelFlow. The top of the tab says what is on right now. In a fresh vault, a start card offers the same three ways in, so you never meet an empty page.

A fresh vault: the settings tab says nothing creates notes yet, and offers three ways in

→ Settings, section by section

5 · Where to next

  • Why ZettelFlow — what it is for, and how it sits next to Templater, QuickAdd and Dataview.
  • Showcase — the whole product, one illustration at a time.
  • Everything it does — every capability and where to find it.
  • FAQ — mobile, offline, AI, privacy, undo, big vaults.

Stuck? Ask in GitHub Discussions.