obsidian-common-errors

# Obsidian Common Errors ## Overview Diagnostic guide for the six most frequent Obsidian plugin development errors, with root causes and copy-paste fixes. ## Prerequisites - Obsidian plugin development environment set up - Access to Developer Console (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+I) - Plugin source code access ## Instructions ### Step 1: "Cannot read properties of null" — Workspace Not Ready Accessing `app.workspace.activeLeaf` or `app.workspace.getActiveViewOfType()` before the layout is initialized returns `null`. ```typescript // BROKEN: accessing workspace immediately in onload async onload() { const view = this.app.workspace.getActiveViewOfType(MarkdownView); // TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'editor') view.editor.replaceSelection('hello'); } // FIXED: wait for layout-ready event async onload() { this.app.workspace.onLayoutReady(() => { const view = this.app.workspace.getActiveViewOfType(MarkdownView); if (view) { view.editor.replaceSelection('hello'); } }); } ``` For commands that need workspace access later (not at load time), guard with a null check: ```typescript this.addCommand({ id: 'my-command', name: 'Do Something', checkCallback: (checking: boolean) => { const view = this.app.workspace.getActiveViewOfType(MarkdownView); if (view) { if (!checking) { // safe to use view.editor here view.editor.replaceSelection('inserted'); } return true; } return false; } }); ``` #...