# But that was a chat I've just been having with you within my Obsidian codex client. This conversa... ## Retrieval Notes - Session id: `019d153d-4fc9-7e52-b350-35fbf393931c` - Source: `Codex raw session` - Last activity: `2026-03-22T11:14:15.266Z` - Model: `gpt-5.4` - CWD: `/Users/nickyoung` ## My Notes <!-- Add your notes here. This section is preserved across syncs. --> ## Conversation ### User But that was a chat I've just been having with you within my Obsidian codex client. This conversation me and you are having now is just in the normal codex client, so you're outside of Obsidian. Have a look at the conversation and you'll see we're almost finished but it also makes sense for me to continue this conversation with you because you're outside Obsidian. Can you do the last things I want please?CHAT: @2026-03-22 Yesterday me and you spent ages sorting out my left sidebar and my right sidebar and removing lots of icons that I don't use and putting the one app I do use on the right and the few apps I do use on the left, and you swore blind that these changes were gonna stick after a restart and reboot, and you've been proved a fucking liar. So find the conversation, find what's been done, there may be multiple conversations. Sort this out, no more fucking lying please. I’m tracing the earlier sessions first so I can see exactly what was changed and what promise was made. I’m using session-deep to recover the prior conversations and obsidian-cli to inspect the relevant vault/config state without guessing. 📖Read SKILL.md /Users/nickyoung/.codex/skills/session-deep/SKILL.md Status: completed 📖Read SKILL.md /Users/nickyoung/.codex/skills/obsidian-cli/SKILL.md Status: completed 📖Read SKILL.md /Users/nickyoung/.codex/skills/recall/SKILL.md Status: completed I’ve got the retrieval workflow. Next I’m pulling the exact sessions from yesterday and then I’ll compare that against the current Obsidian sidebar/plugin state so I can see where persistence broke. 📖Read SKILL.md /Users/nickyoung/.codex/skills/file-management/SKILL.md Status: completed 💻Run a="/Applic"; a="${a}ations/Obsidian.app/Contents/MacOS/Obsidian"; "$a" help Status: completed I’ve confirmed the CLI gives me access to plugins, workspaces, tabs, and raw app state. Now I’m enumerating yesterday’s sessions and reading the full ones that mention sidebars, icons, or plugin placement. 💻Run h="$HOME"; python3 "$h/.local/bin/recall-day.py" list yesterday --all-projects --min-msgs 2 Status: pending 💻Run a="/Applic"; a="${a}ations/Obsidian.app/Contents/MacOS/Obsidian"; "$a" workspace ids Status: failed 💻Run a="/Applic"; a="${a}ations/Obsidian.app/Contents/MacOS/Obsidian"; "$a" plugins:enabled format=json Status: failed The Obsidian CLI is unstable for a couple of the state-inspection commands in this app instance, so I’m not trusting it for those particular reads. I’m continuing with the session transcript recovery first, then I’ll inspect the persisted layout state by reading the vault’s actual config files. 💻Run a="/Applic"; a="${a}ations/Obsidian.app/Contents/MacOS/Obsidian"; "$a" daily:read Status: failed 💻Run h="$HOME"; python3 "$h/.local/bin/recall-day.py" list yesterday --all-projects --min-msgs 2 Status: in_progress 💻Run qmd search "sidebar icons obsidian right left" -n 10 -c conversations Status: completed 💻Run qmd search "left sidebar right sidebar icons plugin" -n 10 -c conversations Status: completed 💻Run qmd get "qmd://conversations/2026-03-17-codex-019cfdfc.md" --full Status: failed 💻Run qmd get "qmd://conversations/2026-03-17-72914e6c.md" --full Status: failed The transcript index can search, but qmd get is broken in this environment because its SQLite store won’t open. I’ve got the exact conversation file names though, so I’m reading the exported transcripts directly from the vault and then checking the saved workspace files that should have preserved the layout. 📖Read 2026-03-17-codex-019cfdfc.md Conversations/2026-03-17-codex-019cfdfc.md Status: completed 📖Read workspace.json .obsidian/workspace.json Status: completed 📖Read 2026-03-17-72914e6c.md Conversations/2026-03-17-72914e6c.md Status: completed 📖Read workspaces.json .obsidian/workspaces.json Status: completed 📖Read workspace.json .obsidian/workspace.json Status: completed 📖Read workspace.json .obsidian/workspace.json Status: completed 📖Read sidebar-style.css .obsidian/snippets/sidebar-style.css Status: completed 📖Read appearance.json .obsidian/appearance.json Status: completed 📖Read sidebar-style.css .obsidian/snippets/sidebar-style.css Status: completed I’ve got the key mismatch now: the March 17 transcript explicitly says Bookmarks and Recent Files were moved right, but the current live workspace.json does not match that promise. I’m checking whether a later session or workspace overwrite put them back on the left, because that determines whether this is a bad patch or a later revert. 💻Run qmd search "Bookmarks Recent Files moved right workspace.json" -n 20 -c conversations Status: completed 💻Run qmd search "recent files bookmarks left right sidebar" -n 20 -c conversations Status: completed 💻Run qmd search "workspace.json left sidebar right sidebar" -n 20 -c conversations Status: completed @2026-03-22 "I’ve got the key mismatch now: the March 17 transcript explicitly says Bookmarks and Recent Files were moved right, but the current live workspace.json does not match that promise. I’m checking whether a later session or workspace overwrite put them back on the left, because that determines whether this is a bad patch or a later revert." no, this is old information. You need to look for more recent information. Please start the task(s) again completely from scratch, keeping this in mind. I’m restarting from scratch and treating “yesterday” as Saturday, March 21, 2026, not the older March 17 work. I’m searching the March 21 and March 22 conversation exports first, then I’ll compare those instructions against the current persisted Obsidian layout state. 📖Read workspace.json .obsidian/workspace.json Status: completed 🔍List /Users/nickyoung/My Obsidian Vault/2026-03-21-*.md 2026-03-21-*.md Status: completed 🔍Search sidebar|Bookmarks|Recent Files|bookmarks|recent files|left sidebar|right sidebar|icons|workspace|ribbon in 2026-03-21-*.md Status: completed I’ve identified the March 21 sessions that actually touch the problem. Now I’m reading the full transcripts for the two relevant ones, because there were at least two separate attempts that day and I need the later one, not the first one that failed. 📖Read 2026-03-21-64d4434d.md Conversations/2026-03-21-64d4434d.md Status: completed 📖Read 2026-03-21-1625ad68.md Conversations/2026-03-21-1625ad68.md Status: completed 📖Read 2026-03-22-58389732.md Conversations/2026-03-22-58389732.md Status: completed 📖Read 2026-03-22-ddede403.md Conversations/2026-03-22-ddede403.md Status: completed 🔍Search sidebar|Bookmarks|Recent Files|bookmarks|recent files|right sidebar|left sidebar|tags|outline|notes review queue|spaced repetition|shouldn't reappear|restart in 2026-03-22-*.md Status: completed The March 22 conversations are unrelated. The useful trail is March 21, and within that the later session explicitly claims it removed Tags, Outline, and Notes Review Queue from the right sidebar and “saved the workspace.” I’m checking the current saved layout against that exact claim now. 📖Read workspace.json .obsidian/workspace.json Status: completed 📖Read workspace.json .obsidian/workspace.json Status: completed 🔍Search "type": "tag"|"type": "outline"|"type": "review-queue-list-view"|"type": "recent-files"|"type": "bookmarks"|"type": "file-explorer"|"type": "search"|"title": "Longform"|"title": "Notebook Navigator" in workspace.json Status: completed I’ve got the persisted state. It is not a restart issue in the abstract; the saved layout file itself is wrong right now. The current workspace.json still contains Files and Search on the left, and Tags, Outline, and Notes Review Queue on the right, so the earlier “saved workspace” claim was false on disk. 🔍List /Users/nickyoung/My Obsidian Vault/.obsidian .obsidian Status: completed 🔍Search file-explorer|global-search|outline|tag|bookmarks|recent-files|spaced|review|workspaces|tasknotes in .obsidian Status: completed I’ve narrowed the actual fix. The left sidebar problem is two layers: workspace.json is wrong, and the core plugins for Files and Search are still enabled, which is why those two keep respawning after restarts. The right sidebar problem is that the saved layout still includes Tags, Outline, and Notes Review Queue instead of just the TaskNotes view you were setting up. 📋 Plan ⏳ Patch Obsidian config so left sidebar keeps only Longform, Notebook Navigator, Recent Files, and Bookmarks, and right sidebar keeps only TaskNotes. ⭕ Disable the core plugins that were explicitly identified on March 21 as the source of Files/Search respawning. ⭕ Verify the saved config no longer contains the unwanted panes and summarize the exact cause. 📖Read core-plugins.json .obsidian/core-plugins.json Status: completed 📖Read core-plugins-migration.json .obsidian/core-plugins-migration.json Status: completed I’m editing the saved config now. The concrete changes are: strip Files and Search out of the saved left sidebar, replace the saved right sidebar with the TaskNotes task list only, and flip the relevant core-plugin flags so Obsidian stops recreating the panes you said you don’t use. ✏️Edit /Users/nickyoung/My Obsidian Vault/.obsidian/core-plugins.json, /Users/nickyoung/My Obsidian Vault/.obsidian/workspace.json, /Users/nickyoung/My Obsidian Vault/.obsidian/core-plugins-migration.json .obsidian/core-plugins.json .obsidian/workspace.json .obsidian/core-plugins-migration.json Status: completed @@ -1,12 +1,12 @@ { "file-explorer": true, "global-search": true, "file-explorer": false, "global-search": false, "switcher": true, "graph": true, "backlink": false, "canvas": true, "outgoing-link": true, "tag-pane": true, "tag-pane": false, "footnotes": false, "properties": false, "page-preview": false, @@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ "markdown-importer": false, "zk-prefixer": false, "random-note": false, "outline": true, "outline": false, "word-count": true, "slides": true, "audio-recorder": false, @@ -30,4 +30,4 @@ "sync": true, "bases": true, "webviewer": false } No newline at end of file } @@ -286,54 +286,6 @@ "icon": "lucide-bookmark", "title": "Bookmarks" } }, { "id": "04d171a5015f8f4e", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "file-explorer", "state": { "sortOrder": "alphabetical", "autoReveal": false }, "icon": "lucide-folder-closed", "title": "Files" } }, { "id": "5fac49a92e45152d", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "search", "state": { "query": "", "matchingCase": false, "explainSearch": false, "collapseAll": false, "extraContext": false, "sortOrder": "alphabetical" }, "icon": "lucide-search", "title": "Search" } } ], "currentTab": 1 @@ -359,173 +311,21 @@ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" }, { "title": "2026-03-21", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Daily Notes/2026-03-21.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"2026-03-21\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":8,\"ch\":14},\"to\":{\"line\":8,\"ch\":14}},\"scroll\":0.863013698630137}" }, { "title": "tasks-default", "icon": "tasknotes-simple", "state": "{\"type\":\"bases\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"TaskNotes/Views/tasks-default.base\",\"viewName\":\"All Tasks\"},\"icon\":\"tasknotes-simple\",\"title\":\"tasks-default\"}", "eState": "{\"views\":{\"All Tasks\":{\"scrollTop\":0,\"collapsedGroups\":[],\"collapsedSubGroups\":[]}}}" }, { "title": "The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Writing/substack/The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":25,\"ch\":211},\"to\":{\"line\":25,\"ch\":211}},\"scroll\":23.128}" }, { "title": "2026-03-21", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Daily Notes/2026-03-21.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"2026-03-21\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":21,\"ch\":11},\"to\":{\"line\":21,\"ch\":11}},\"scroll\":7.713333333333333}" }, { "title": "The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Writing/substack/The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":11,\"ch\":141},\"to\":{\"line\":11,\"ch\":141}},\"scroll\":0}" }, { "title": "2026-03-21", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Daily Notes/2026-03-21.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"2026-03-21\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":21,\"ch\":11},\"to\":{\"line\":21,\"ch\":11}},\"scroll\":7.713333333333333}" }, { "title": "The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Writing/substack/The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":11,\"ch\":141},\"to\":{\"line\":11,\"ch\":141}},\"scroll\":0}" }, { "title": "2026-03-21", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Daily Notes/2026-03-21.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"2026-03-21\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":10,\"ch\":0},\"to\":{\"line\":11,\"ch\":0}},\"scroll\":7.233333333333333}" }, { "title": "The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Writing/substack/The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":11,\"ch\":64},\"to\":{\"line\":11,\"ch\":64}},\"scroll\":0}" }, { "title": "2026-03-21", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Daily Notes/2026-03-21.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"2026-03-21\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":10,\"ch\":0},\"to\":{\"line\":11,\"ch\":0}},\"scroll\":7.233333333333333}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "markdown", "type": "bases", "state": { "file": "Daily Notes/2026-03-22.md", "mode": "source", "source": false, "backlinks": false "file": "TaskNotes/Views/tasks-default.base", "viewName": "All Tasks" }, "icon": "lucide-file", "title": "2026-03-22" "icon": "tasknotes-simple", "title": "tasks-default" } }, { "id": "abecd1657009f9c3", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "outgoing-link", "state": { "file": "Daily Notes/2026-03-21.md", "linksCollapsed": false, "unlinkedCollapsed": true }, "icon": "links-going-out", "title": "Outgoing links from 2026-03-21" } }, { "id": "c8acc391d51dd40b", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "tag", "state": { "sortOrder": "frequency", "useHierarchy": true, "showSearch": false, "searchQuery": "" }, "icon": "lucide-tags", "title": "Tags" } }, { "id": "f800566e696a5bfa", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "outline", "state": { "file": "Daily Notes/2026-03-21.md", "followCursor": false, "showSearch": false, "searchQuery": "" }, "icon": "lucide-list", "title": "Outline of 2026-03-21" } }, { "id": "7659eaace924ea96", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "review-queue-list-view", "state": {}, "icon": "SpacedRepIcon", "title": "Notes Review Queue" } } ], "currentTab": 4 "currentTab": 0 } ], "direction": "horizontal", @@ -624,4 +424,4 @@ "archive everything 17 Sep 2025/Untitled.canvas", "Understanding, Beauty, LLMs (substack).canvas" ] } No newline at end of file } @@ -1,12 +1,12 @@ { "file-explorer": true, "global-search": true, "file-explorer": false, "global-search": false, "switcher": true, "graph": true, "backlink": true, "canvas": true, "outgoing-link": true, "tag-pane": true, "tag-pane": false, "properties": false, "page-preview": false, "daily-notes": true, @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ "markdown-importer": false, "zk-prefixer": false, "random-note": false, "outline": true, "outline": false, "word-count": true, "slides": false, "audio-recorder": false, @@ -27,4 +27,4 @@ "file-recovery": true, "publish": false, "sync": true } No newline at end of file } ✓ Selected: Yes I found one more persistence layer that could silently undo the fix: workspaces.json still has an old named workspace snapshot (Canvas) with the stale sidebar layout. I’m aligning that snapshot too so the Workspaces plugin can’t rehydrate the old panes behind our backs. ✏️Edit /Users/nickyoung/My Obsidian Vault/.obsidian/workspaces.json .obsidian/workspaces.json Status: completed @@ -146,44 +146,6 @@ "icon": "lucide-bookmark", "title": "Bookmarks" } }, { "id": "2808b0e256abb427", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "VIEW_TYPE_LONGFORM_EXPLORER", "state": {}, "icon": "longform", "title": "Longform" } }, { "id": "e2db6767da39979e", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "recent-files", "state": {}, "icon": "clock", "title": "Recent Files" } } ], "currentTab": 3 @@ -202,7 +164,7 @@ "type": "tabs", "children": [ { "id": "f50da27721d90797", "id": "2e3b0376a913843c", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, @@ -214,10 +176,13 @@ ] }, "state": { "type": "quiet-outline", "state": {}, "icon": "lines-of-text", "title": "Quiet Outline" "type": "bases", "state": { "file": "TaskNotes/Views/tasks-default.base", "viewName": "All Tasks" }, "icon": "tasknotes-simple", "title": "tasks-default" } } ], ✓ Selected: Yes 📖Read workspace.json .obsidian/workspace.json Status: completed 📖Read core-plugins.json .obsidian/core-plugins.json Status: completed 📖Read core-plugins-migration.json .obsidian/core-plugins-migration.json Status: completed 📖Read workspaces.json .obsidian/workspaces.json Status: completed The core-plugin flags are corrected, but the first pass on the workspace snapshots did not fully land because those JSON blocks had drifted more than the patch context expected. I’m replacing the exact left/right layout blocks directly now rather than doing partial surgery. ✏️Edit /Users/nickyoung/My Obsidian Vault/.obsidian/workspaces.json, /Users/nickyoung/My Obsidian Vault/.obsidian/workspace.json .obsidian/workspaces.json .obsidian/workspace.json Status: completed @@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ "type": "tabs", "children": [ { "id": "9681c5b1897eb8ab", "id": "2808b0e256abb427", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, @@ -93,17 +93,14 @@ ] }, "state": { "type": "file-explorer", "state": { "sortOrder": "byModifiedTime", "autoReveal": false }, "icon": "lucide-folder-closed", "title": "Files" "type": "VIEW_TYPE_LONGFORM_EXPLORER", "state": {}, "icon": "longform", "title": "Longform" } }, { "id": "a142982c698c7b9d", "id": "015c510919594fbf", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, @@ -115,20 +112,32 @@ ] }, "state": { "type": "search", "state": { "query": "tag:own-paper", "matchingCase": true, "explainSearch": false, "collapseAll": false, "extraContext": false, "sortOrder": "byModifiedTime" }, "icon": "lucide-search", "title": "Search" "type": "notebook-navigator", "state": {}, "icon": "notebook-navigator", "title": "Notebook Navigator" } }, { "id": "e2db6767da39979e", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "recent-files", "state": {}, "icon": "clock", "title": "Recent Files" } }, { "id": "b524effc0364da7d", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { @@ -148,7 +157,7 @@ } } ], "currentTab": 3 "currentTab": 1 } ], "direction": "horizontal", @@ -286,54 +286,6 @@ "icon": "lucide-bookmark", "title": "Bookmarks" } }, { "id": "04d171a5015f8f4e", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "file-explorer", "state": { "sortOrder": "alphabetical", "autoReveal": false }, "icon": "lucide-folder-closed", "title": "Files" } }, { "id": "5fac49a92e45152d", "type": "leaf", "pane-relief:history-v1": { "pos": 0, "stack": [ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" } ] }, "state": { "type": "search", "state": { "query": "", "matchingCase": false, "explainSearch": false, "collapseAll": false, "extraContext": false, "sortOrder": "alphabetical" }, "icon": "lucide-search", "title": "Search" } } ], "currentTab": 1 @@ -360,173 +312,21 @@ { "state": "{}", "eState": "{}" }, { "title": "2026-03-21", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Daily Notes/2026-03-21.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"2026-03-21\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":8,\"ch\":14},\"to\":{\"line\":8,\"ch\":14}},\"scroll\":0.863013698630137}" }, { "title": "tasks-default", "icon": "tasknotes-simple", "state": "{\"type\":\"bases\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"TaskNotes/Views/tasks-default.base\",\"viewName\":\"All Tasks\"},\"icon\":\"tasknotes-simple\",\"title\":\"tasks-default\"}", "eState": "{\"views\":{\"All Tasks\":{\"scrollTop\":0,\"collapsedGroups\":[],\"collapsedSubGroups\":[]}}}" }, { "title": "The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Writing/substack/The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"The Substance -LLMs as stuff, not tools\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\"line\":25,\"ch\":211},\"to\":{\"line\":25,\"ch\":211}},\"scroll\":23.128}" }, { "title": "2026-03-21", "icon": "lucide-file", "state": "{\"type\":\"markdown\",\"state\":{\"file\":\"Daily Notes/2026-03-21.md\",\"mode\":\"source\",\"source\":false,\"backlinks\":false},\"icon\":\"lucide-file\",\"title\":\"2026-03-21\"}", "eState": "{\"cursor\":{\"from\":{\" *[Export truncated this turn at 30,000 characters.]* ### Assistant I’m picking this up from the March 21 and March 22 trail, and because we’re outside Obsidian now I can finally do the one thing that wasn’t safe in the in-app client: close Obsidian, patch the saved workspace cleanly, and reopen it without losing context. I’m using `session-deep`, `obsidian-cli`, and `file-management` only as needed to verify the exact state before I touch anything. ### Assistant I’ve loaded the relevant rules and the two daily notes, and because we’re outside the app now I can treat this as a normal config-repair job instead of trying to keep a dying in-app session alive. Next I’m reading the March 21 transcripts and the current `.obsidian` state together so we can patch the actual persistence path, not another decoy. ### Assistant The current disk state explains the loop: `core-plugins*.json` are already disabling Files/Search/Tags/Outline, and `workspaces.json` is clean, but `workspace.json` still contains `outline` and `review-queue-list-view` in the active right sidebar. I’m drilling into that exact block now and then I’ll patch only the persistence layers that are still dirty. ### Assistant I’ve got the exact failure mode now. The active file on disk, [workspace.json](/Users/nickyoung/My%20Obsidian%20Vault/.obsidian/workspace.json), still has four right-sidebar leaves in it: a markdown pane, `outgoing-link`, `tag`, `outline`, and `review-queue-list-view`, with the active leaf set to the review queue. I’m replacing that whole right-sidebar block with a single `TaskNotes` leaf and updating the active pane pointer so Obsidian stops reopening the wrong thing. ### Assistant The active workspace file is patched now. I’m verifying the saved state once more and then I’m going to do the part that was impossible in the in-app client: quit and reopen Obsidian so it actually loads this corrected `workspace.json` instead of keeping the stale in-memory layout. ### Assistant The saved files are now clean; the only thing left is the app process itself. Obsidian ignored the first quit signal and is still running, so I’m giving it a moment to exit cleanly and then I’ll reopen only once after it’s actually down. ### Assistant Obsidian has now fully exited and been reopened from outside the app, which is the first clean restart in this chain where the in-memory layout couldn’t overwrite the fix mid-flight. I’m doing one last sanity check on the saved state after relaunch so I can tell you whether anything immediately rewrote the right sidebar back to the old junk. ### Assistant The restart exposed the real persistence path instead of hiding it: Obsidian immediately re-injected two panes on launch even after a clean `workspace.json`. The right sidebar is now being repopulated by features that are still enabled: `outgoing-link` from a core plugin, and `review-queue-list-view` from the spaced-repetition plugin. I’m tracing those two specifically so I can stop the reinjection rather than just editing the snapshot again. ### Assistant I’ve proved the source now. After relaunch, [workspace.json](/Users/nickyoung/My%20Obsidian%20Vault/.obsidian/workspace.json) was rewritten with `outgoing-link` and `review-queue-list-view`, and it even switched the active pane to the review queue. That means another patch alone won’t hold. I’m checking whether the cleanest fix is plugin settings or just disabling the two features that are repopulating the sidebar, because that’s the only way to make “TaskNotes only” actually stick. ### Assistant I’ve found the exact settings-level cause for the review queue: [data.json](/Users/nickyoung/My%20Obsidian%20Vault/.obsidian/plugins/obsidian-spaced-repetition/data.json) has `"enableNoteReviewPaneOnStartup": true`. That setting is explicitly telling the plugin to reopen the pane every launch. I’m turning that off, disabling Obsidian’s `outgoing-link` core pane in the core-plugin config, and then re-cleaning [workspace.json](/Users/nickyoung/My%20Obsidian%20Vault/.obsidian/workspace.json) so the next launch has no instruction left to resurrect anything except TaskNotes. ### Assistant The next restart should be the real one: I’ve removed both startup sources, not just their symptoms. I’m restarting Obsidian once more from outside the app and then checking whether `workspace.json` stays clean after launch. ### Assistant Obsidian is back up. I’m checking the saved workspace immediately after launch, because if those panes were still going to self-resurrect, this is exactly when they’d do it. ### Assistant I found the relevant March 21 session and traced the real cause instead of looping on the snapshot. The key exchange was: > “Found them — they're right sidebar tabs: Tags, Outline, and Notes Review Queue (spaced repetition). Let me detach all three and then make it stick via CSS.” That “make it stick” part was false because two separate startup paths were still active. I fixed the actual persistence layers in [workspace.json](/Users/nickyoung/My%20Obsidian%20Vault/.obsidian/workspace.json), [core-plugins.json](/Users/nickyoung/My%20Obsidian%20Vault/.obsidian/core-plugins.json), [core-plugins-migration.json](/Users/nickyoung/My%20Obsidian%20Vault/.obsidian/core-plugins-migration.json), and [obsidian-spaced-repetition/data.json](/Users/nickyoung/My%20Obsidian%20Vault/.obsidian/plugins/obsidian-spaced-repetition/data.json). Specifically: - `outgoing-link` is now disabled, so Obsidian stops re-adding that right pane. - Spaced Repetition’s `enableNoteReviewPaneOnStartup` is now `false`, so it stops reopening Notes Review Queue on launch. - The active right sidebar snapshot now contains only the TaskNotes `tasks-default` view. I then quit and reopened Obsidian from outside the app and re-checked the saved state after launch. After relaunch, the right sidebar block stayed clean: only `TaskNotes/Views/tasks-default.base` remained, and `outgoing-link` / `review-queue-list-view` did not come back. If what you see on screen still doesn’t match that saved state, tell me exactly which pane names are visibly present right now and I’ll chase the live UI layer next. *Adesso la barra destra dovrebbe contenere solo TaskNotes, perché le due cause che la ricreavano all’avvio sono state disattivate.*