Getting Started

Charted Roots transforms structured genealogical data in your Markdown notes into beautifully laid-out family trees on the Obsidian Canvas.

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Table of Contents

• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Basic Workflow
• First Steps
• Next Steps

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Prerequisites

• Obsidian v1.7.2 or later
• Charted Roots plugin installed and enabled

Installation

From Community Plugins (Recommended)

1. Open Obsidian Settings → Community plugins
2. Click "Browse" and search for "Charted Roots"
3. Click "Install" then "Enable"

Using BRAT (Beta Testing)

1. Install the BRAT plugin
2. Add beta plugin: banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots
3. Enable Charted Roots in Community plugins

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release from GitHub Releases
2. Extract main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/canvas-roots/ folder
3. Reload Obsidian and enable the plugin

Basic Workflow

1. Enter your family data - Create person notes with relationship frontmatter, or import from GEDCOM
2. Generate tree - Use the Control Center to select a root person and generate the tree
3. View and interact - Explore the tree on the canvas, click nodes to open person notes
4. Regenerate after edits - When you update relationships, regenerate to refresh the layout

First Steps

1. Create Your First Person Note

Create a new note for a person in your family tree:

---
cr_id: john-smith-001
cr_type: person
name: John Smith
born: 1920-05-15
died: 1995-08-20
---

# John Smith

Your research notes about John go here.

2. Add Family Relationships

Create notes for related family members and link them:

---
cr_id: mary-smith-001
cr_type: person
name: Mary Smith
born: 1922-03-10
died: 2001-11-30
spouse: "[John Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/John-Smith)"
spouse_id: john-smith-001
children: ["[Bob Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Bob-Smith)", "[Alice Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Alice-Smith)"]
---

3. Open the Control Center

• Use the command palette: "Charted Roots: Open Control Center"
• Or click the tree icon in the ribbon

4. Generate Your Tree

1. Select a folder containing your person notes
2. Choose a root person (typically the oldest ancestor)
3. Click "Generate Tree"
4. A new canvas file will be created with your family tree

Next Steps

For Genealogists

• Data Entry - Learn about all the frontmatter fields for person notes
• Bases Integration - Use spreadsheet-like tables for bulk data entry
• Canvas Trees - Explore generation options and layout settings
• Import & Export - Import existing family data from GEDCOM files

For Worldbuilders

If you're building fictional worlds (fantasy, sci-fi, alternate history), Charted Roots has dedicated features for you:

• Universe Notes - Create universe notes to organize your fictional worlds with metadata, linked calendars, and maps
• Fictional Date Systems - Define custom calendars with eras (Third Age, After Conquest, etc.)
• Organization Notes - Track noble houses, guilds, military units, and other hierarchies
• Geographic Features - Create custom image maps for your fictional geography

Quick Start for Worldbuilders:

1. Open the Control Center → Universes tab
2. Click Create universe to launch the guided wizard
3. The wizard walks you through creating:
   • A universe note with metadata (name, author, genre)
   • An optional custom calendar for fictional dates
   • An optional custom map for your world
   • An optional validation schema