# Maple: an Obsidian theme built around Style Settings

> Maple is a community Obsidian theme for desktop and mobile that ships twenty-two alternate checkbox states, embedded Maple Mono, and a large set of preferences driven by the Style Settings plugin. It suits people who want to tune an editor rather than accept it, and it depends on a second plugin to be worth the trouble.

**subframe7536/obsidian-theme-maple** — A sleek and modern Obsidian theme for desktop and mobile.

- Repository: https://github.com/subframe7536/obsidian-theme-maple
- Stars: 868 · Forks: 24
- Language: SCSS
- License: MIT
- Published: 2026-10-20 · Updated: 2026-10-20 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/subframe7536-obsidian-theme-maple

## Twenty-two checkbox states turn a task list into a status vocabulary

The feature that sets Maple apart is the Alternate Checkbox syntax, and it is not a styling trick. It replaces the usual three states of an Obsidian task with a larger set defined by a single character between the brackets:

| Syntax  | Description |
| ------- | ----------- |
| `- [ ]` | To-do       |
| `- [/]` | Incomplete  |
| `- [x]` | Done        |
| `- [-]` | Canceled    |
| `- [>]` | Forwarded   |
| `- [<]` | Scheduling  |
| `- [?]` | Question    |
| `- [!]` | Important   |
| `- [*]` | Star        |
| `- ["]` | Quote       |
| `- [l]` | Location    |
| `- [b]` | Bookmark    |
| `- [i]` | Information |
| `- [S]` | Dollar      |
| `- [I]` | Idea        |
| `- [p]` | Pros        |
| `- [c]` | Cons        |
| `- [w]` | Win         |
| `- [u]` | Up          |
| `- [d]` | Down        |
| `- [+]` | Add         |
| `- [B]` | Bug         |
| `- [a]` | Alarm       |
| `- [n]` | Note        |
| `- [R]` | Review      |
| `- [L]` | Love        |

That is twenty-two states, and the important detail is that the character is part of the syntax rather than a rendering convention. A line written as `- [>]` is a different thing in the file from a line written as `- [x]`, which is what makes the set usable for filtering and for queries rather than only for looking different on screen.

The theme calls this first-class support, which is the right way to describe it. The characters are designed so that the state survives round trips through the file, and the rest of the theme is built to make each state visually distinguishable rather than merely coloured.

Everything else in the theme, the components, the animations, the icons, is conventional Obsidian theme work. The checkbox vocabulary is the part you either need or do not.

## Style Settings is not optional, it is the interface

Maple's customisation is delivered through the Style Settings community plugin, and the README treats that as a recommended step rather than an optional extra. Installing it goes through Settings, then Options, then Community plugins, where you enable the community plugins option, click Browse, search for Style Settings, install it and enable it. Once it is running, Maple's style options appear under Settings, in the Community plugins section, in the Style Settings entry.

The colour override path has a specific order that is easy to get wrong. You open Style Settings, go into the Maple Basic section named Colors, set Color Scheme to Custom, then open the Light Mode or Dark Mode section. For background colours you turn on the Modify Background Colors switch and then change the Primary, Secondary, Block and TopBar colours. For highlight colours, in the same Maple Basic and Colors section, you set Highlight Colors to Custom and then change the Active and Inactive colours.

One of these options is flagged as unfinished. The Only change highlight color switch is described as experimental, it restores all background colours to the default theme, and the README says it is not fully tested and invites bug reports for it.

That dependency cuts both ways. It gives you a real preferences panel instead of a stylesheet you have to edit by hand, and it means the theme depends on another plugin staying compatible with your Obsidian version. Both facts are visible in the README.

## Install from the community store, or unpack it into the vault by hand

The normal install is four steps inside Obsidian. Open Settings and go to Appearance, click Manage to open the Community Themes store, search for Maple in the filter box, then click Install and Enable.

The manual route exists for people who want to work from the source. You download the source code zip for the 1.0 branch, extract the files to <your-vault>/.obsidian/themes/maple/, making sure theme.css and manifest.json end up in that maple folder, and restart Obsidian. The README is explicit that both files need to be in the maple folder, because that is where Obsidian looks for a theme.

The repository layout explains why that matters. The theme is a SCSS project that compiles down to theme.css, with manifest.json at the root describing the theme to Obsidian. A partial copy of the source tree will not render, since theme.css is the built artefact rather than a file you edit.

There is a versioning split to be aware of. The default branch for the current work is 1.0, and the README points to the main branch for the old 0.x version. The release tags follow the same numbering, with v1.5.14 the newest published release on 2026-10-08, preceded by v1.5.13 on 2026-10-06 and v1.5.12 on 2026-10-03.

The README also carries a warning that is unusual in a theme and worth taking seriously: backward compatibility is not guaranteed due to time constraints. A theme that can change the visual contract of your vault is not obliged to keep old markup working.

## Maple Mono ships with the theme, and the build is Bun driven

The theme embeds a monospace font designed by the same author, Maple Mono, so a fresh install does not need a separate font step. That matters more than it sounds for an editor where the editor font is a daily setting, and it removes a class of setup where the theme looks wrong because a font is missing.

The build is the part that requires attention. The README asks you to ensure Bun is installed, and the development commands are:

```sh
# Install deps
bun i

# Dev and hot reload
bun run dev

# Build product
bun run build

# Release
bun run release
```

The scripts in package.json describe what each one does. The dev script compiles src/dev.scss with node compile.ts, the build script runs the same compiler with the --build flag, and the release script runs bumpp with -x and the build command chained, so the version bump only happens if the build succeeds. There is also a test script that compiles src/snippets/test.scss with the --test flag, and a qa script that runs oxlint with the fix option followed by oxfmt.

The package manager is pinned to pnpm@12.6.0 in the packageManager field, and the dev dependencies are a short list: sass for the stylesheets, two iconify packages for icons, typescript, oxlint, oxfmt and bumpp. The toolchain is deliberately small, with no bundler in sight, because the output is a stylesheet rather than a JavaScript application.

Assets live in resource/, with fonts and svg files loaded automatically at compile time, and the Style Settings configuration is generated by a script rather than written by hand, with compile.ts and the src/style-settings directory doing that work.

## Mobile support is stated but described as unfinished

The theme says it is optimized for Obsidian on mobile devices, and the README includes a mobile screenshot. The claim is followed by a caveat that is easy to miss because it sits in the same paragraph: everything just getting started, and more work is planned.

There is no mobile-specific configuration path documented, no list of what differs on a phone, and no separate build command for a mobile variant. The install instructions are the desktop ones, and the Style Settings options are shared. So mobile support here means the CSS is written to work at small screen sizes and to follow the system appearance, not that there is a documented mobile workflow.

The desktop side is where the detail sits. The README lists the animated and styled surfaces: tab switches, hovers, modals, card layout, colourful tables and headings, tree list and scrollbars. There is also a set of new icons designed for the theme, and the icons come from iconify-json packages at build time rather than being hand-drawn one at a time.

The theme is credited as inspired by several other Obsidian themes: Minimal, Blue Topaz, Border, Cupertino, Baseline and Velocity. Reading that list tells you where to look if Maple is not the shape you want, since those are the alternatives in the same space.

## Where Maple is the wrong tool

The first wrong case is a vault you never customise. If you open Obsidian and read, the theme is decoration. The Style Settings surface, the colour overrides and the alternate checkboxes all pay off only if you actually change something, and the community plugin dependency makes that a slightly heavier commitment than picking a colour scheme in the appearance menu.

The second is a workflow that assumes stable rendering. Backward compatibility is not guaranteed, by the project's own statement. If you depend on a specific look for screenshots, a course you teach, or a shared team standard, you need to pin a version and expect to re-check it when you upgrade.

The third is a strict preference for minimal themes. Maple describes itself as sleek and modern and describes an aesthetic in the same breath, with components and animations. If what you want from Obsidian is the plainest possible interface, the amount of visual treatment here is itself a reason to look elsewhere, and the credits list names the lighter alternatives.

On maintenance, the pace is steady. The repository is not archived, the last push was on 2026-10-08, and three releases shipped inside six days in October 2026. The licence is MIT, so the theme can be forked, adjusted and redistributed without copyleft obligations, which matters for anyone who wants to maintain a private variant for their own vault.

## Conclusion

Maple suits an Obsidian user who wants the editor itself to be adjustable, since the Style Settings surface covers the colour scheme, layout, app background and highlight colours, and it suits anyone who wants the alternate checkbox states for a task vocabulary. It does not suit a vault you never touch, because the payoff depends on installing and configuring a second community plugin, and the README states plainly that backward compatibility is not guaranteed because of time constraints. Before you settle on it, note that the current line lives on the 1.0 branch while the older 0.x version sits on main, and decide which you are installing before you look for differences.

## FAQ

### How do I install the Maple Obsidian theme?

In Obsidian open Settings, go to Appearance, click Manage to open the Community Themes store, search for Maple and click Install and Enable. To install by hand, download the source zip for the 1.0 branch, extract it to <your-vault>/.obsidian/themes/maple/ with theme.css and manifest.json inside the maple folder, and restart Obsidian.

### What is the Alternate Checkbox syntax in Maple?

It expands the usual task states into twenty-two, each defined by a character between the brackets, such as - [x] for Done, - [>] for Forwarded, - [?] for Question, - [!] for Important and - [L] for Love. The character is part of the syntax, so the state survives in the file rather than only on screen.

### Do I need the Style Settings plugin to customise Maple?

Yes, the recommended customisation path runs through Style Settings. Install and enable it from Community plugins, then Maple's options appear under Settings, in the Community plugins section, in the Style Settings entry, including the Maple Basic and Colors section for the colour scheme and overrides.

### How do I build the Maple theme from source?

Install Bun, then run bun i to install dependencies, bun run dev for hot reload, bun run build for the production build and bun run release for a version bump and build. The scripts compile SCSS through compile.ts, and fonts and icons are loaded from resource/ and iconify-json packages at compile time.

## Sources

- [Issues](https://github.com/subframe7536/obsidian-theme-maple/issues)
- [License: MIT](https://github.com/subframe7536/obsidian-theme-maple/blob/1.0/LICENSE)
- [README](https://github.com/subframe7536/obsidian-theme-maple/blob/1.0/README.md)
- [Releases](https://github.com/subframe7536/obsidian-theme-maple/releases)
- [subframe7536/obsidian-theme-maple on GitHub](https://github.com/subframe7536/obsidian-theme-maple)

---

Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/subframe7536-obsidian-theme-maple