Shimmering Focus is built around a core philosophy: UI elements that keyboard-centric users don’t need should stay out of the way. Rather than a visual overhaul of colors or fonts, this theme focuses on radical minimalism of the interface itself — hiding buttons, bars, and chrome that are redundant when you navigate by hotkey. Every hidden element can be individually restored at any time via the Style Settings plugin.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/chrisgrieser/shimmering-focus/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Tab Bar
The tab bar is hidden automatically when only a single tab is open. As soon as a second tab is opened, the tab bar reappears. This keeps the editor feeling distraction-free for single-note work while remaining fully functional when you need to switch between multiple open files.You can open new tabs with
Ctrl/Cmd + T and switch between them with the quick switcher — no tab bar required.Sidebar Buttons
The buttons at the top of each sidebar panel (the panel header buttons) are hidden by default and only appear when you hover over the sidebar. This keeps the sidebar looking clean while still providing full access to those controls when needed.Header Bar
Most of the header bar (the title bar shown above each note) is hidden. The breadcrumbs are repositioned to the right side of the editor, rotated vertically, giving you a minimal contextual indicator without consuming horizontal space. Navigation, reading/editing mode switching, and file renaming are all still accessible via the command palette or hotkeys.Hidden Elements Reference
The table below lists every UI element hidden by default, along with the Style Settings toggle that restores it and the keyboard alternative available.| Hidden element | Style Settings toggle | Keyboard alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Tab bar (single tab) | normal-tab-bar — Always show tab bar | Opens automatically with 2+ tabs |
| Sidebar panel header buttons | show-sidebar-header-buttons — Permanently show sidebar header buttons | Hover to reveal |
| New tab button | show-new-tab-button — Re-enable new tab button | Ctrl/Cmd + T |
| Tab list button | show-tab-list-button — Re-enable tab list button | Quick switcher; command palette for stacked tabs |
| Sidebar toggle buttons | show-sidebar-toggle-buttons — Re-enable sidebar toggle buttons | Hotkey or command palette |
| Close buttons | show-close-buttons — Re-enable close buttons | Esc for settings; Ctrl/Cmd + W for tabs/panes |
| Vault switcher & settings button | hide-vault-switcher-and-settings — Hide vault switcher and settings button | Ctrl/Cmd + , for settings |
| Suggester hints | show-suggester-instructions — Re-enable suggester hints | Visible when re-enabled |
The ribbon (the thin icon strip on the far left) is not controlled by this theme. Use Obsidian’s own Appearance → Interface → Show ribbon menu setting to show or hide it.
URL Hiding in Source Mode
In Source Mode, the URLs inside Markdown links are hidden everywhere except on the currently active line. This keeps notes readable even when editing raw Markdown, letting you see link text without the visual noise of long URLs on every line. To permanently show all URLs, enable Show URLs of markdown links (show-urls) in Style Settings.
Suggester Hints
The keyboard hint bar at the bottom of the command palette and quick switcher is hidden by default. These hints explain which keys to use within the suggester, but experienced users rarely need them. Enable Re-enable suggester hints (show-suggester-instructions) in Style Settings to restore them.