Contribution Graph: The Easiest Way to Track Habits in Obsidian

A new Obsidian plugin called Contribution Graph turns habit tracking into a simple, code-free heat map—using the same visual language as GitHub’s contribution calendar—so checkmarks, numbers, and even task completions can be tracked over time without building custom scripts. After installing the plugin (and its dependency, Data View), users can add a heat map via a visual editor, assign a hotkey, and configure the exact source files, date field, and property to visualize.

The setup starts with installing Contribution Graph from the community plugins list, enabling it, and installing Data View if it isn’t already present. Once enabled, users can open the heat map editor through a hotkey (the transcript uses Control + H) or the command palette. From there, the core configuration determines what the calendar represents: a title, a graph type (Git-style, Month Track, or Calendar), and a date range. The default range is the latest 180 days, with options like 365 days for a full year, or “latest whole month” / “latest whole year” style presets.

Next comes the data wiring. Users choose a Source—commonly a Daily Notes folder such as a journal path—then select the date field that drives which day each entry lands on. By default, the plugin uses file creation time, but it can also use date attribution from daily note properties or file name formats (via autodetect). The Count field selects which property to read from each note. For checkbox-style habits, the Count field points to a single property (for example, an “exercise” checkbox). In preview, completed days appear as filled cells, while unchecked days remain blank.

The visual output is highly customizable. Users can switch themes, adjust whether the graph fills the screen, and control cell sizing by setting minimum width and minimum height—allowing square cells or rectangular blocks. Style settings also include shadow and background color options, plus cell style rules that map value ranges to different colors. For checkbox habits, only two states exist (true/false), so only two colors typically appear.

For numeric habits, Contribution Graph becomes a progress dashboard. Instead of a checkbox property, daily notes store values like minutes read or pages written. The heat map then uses color thresholds to represent ranges (e.g., 1–10 minutes, 10–20, 20–30, and so on). The transcript demonstrates using a limited palette when a property only has two values, then expanding to multiple color bands for richer numeric tracking. Users can also pull color palettes from external palette sites to tune the look.

Beyond habits, the same mechanism tracks other activity types: file creation counts (how many notes were created per day), and task completion in Obsidian. For tasks, users add a heat map configured for tasks as the source, then filter by status (completed) and optionally by tags or page scope. The result is a unified, calendar-style view of consistency—whether the metric is a checkbox, a number, note creation frequency, or completed tasks—without writing code.