Startup idea: Time-Machine Version History for Obsidian
An Obsidian user discovered months of work on one note was silently truncated and reordered by a hotkey or plugin bug, with no standard way to roll back.
Get the PRD prompt, $9.99 Market: $288K in 3 years
r/ObsidianMD · Sep 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026 · 178 upvotes
Just realized I lost months worth of notes
Read the thread · 88 comments
Time-Machine Version History for Obsidian is a startup idea for Obsidian users. An Obsidian user discovered months of work on one note was silently truncated and reordered by a hotkey or plugin bug, with no standard way to roll back. A thread in r/ObsidianMD drew 178 upvotes and 88 comments between Sep 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026. People get by with Obsidian Sync history and obsidian-git plugin, and that still leaves this job open. Hotness is 3.75, Hot. Strong pain. Some willingness to pay. The thread drew 178 upvotes and 88 comments. Gaps in existing tools. A 1-2 week mvp. A first version is weekend-easy, about 2 weeks, priced under $10 a month and charged as a subscription. The pain, the source, the alternatives, the scope notes, and the questions on this page are free to read and free to build from. The agent starter prompt is the paid part. The first slice is on the page. One credit unlocks the rest, to paste into a coding agent, download as Markdown, or send as a private link.
Who has it
Obsidian users.
- Obsidian users
- B2C
- Global
- r/ObsidianMD
What people use now
2 options, and the gap between them.
Obsidian Sync history
obsidian-git plugin
Real gaps in the existing tools.
Time-Machine Version History for Obsidian is built for the part these leave undone.
A way through
A plugin/service with Time Machine-style versioning (git under the hood, no git knowledge needed), simple visual diff and one-click rollback.
MVP scope
The first version, in 2 weeks.
- 00 Goal
The one job
Git-powered snapshots with a visual diff and one-click restore, for users who don't know git.
- 01 Week 1
The core
Version every change, Time Machine style, with git under the hood and no git knowledge needed.
- 02 Week 1
The follow-through
Show a simple visual diff, and roll back in one click.
- 03 Week 2
How it ships
As a plugin inside the tool people already work in. No AI is needed for the first version.
- — Not in v1
Left out on purpose
Replacing Obsidian Sync history. Version one does the one job above and stops there.
How it could charge
The business model, at a glance.
- Model
- Subscription
- Price
- Under $10 a month
- Buyer
- PeopleAn individual or household pays
- Region
- Global
Hotness
Why it scores 3.75.
Strong pain. Some willingness to pay. The thread drew 178 upvotes and 88 comments. Gaps in existing tools. A 1-2 week mvp.
178 upvotes 88 comments r/ObsidianMD Sep 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026 verified Oct 14, 2026 Thread ↗
Weights: pain 25%, willingness to pay 20%, demand 20%, gap 15%, ease 10%, recency 10%. Recency is recomputed every build. The source report’s 1–10 score is not shown.
Market size · estimate
How big this could get
A bottom-up estimate for Time-Machine Version History for Obsidian: real customer counts × a realistic price. Not a forecast.
$28.8M a year
600,000 users · 20% of Obsidian users worldwide (low end of public estimates)
$14.4M a year
300,000 users · the community plugin directory reaches most users
$288K a year
6,000 users · 2% of the reachable segment in three years
What that means
6,000 users at $4/mo = $288K ARR
Medium confidenceHow we estimated this
- Base: 3,000,000 Obsidian users worldwide (low end of public estimates).
- Has the problem: 20% (assume 1 in 5 want version history).
- Revenue per user: $48 per year ($4/mo).
- Reachable: 50% (the community plugin directory reaches most users).
- Three-year capture: 2% of the reachable segment.
TAM = customers with the problem × revenue per customer. SAM = the part an early product can reach. SOM = a conservative three-year share of SAM. Bars use a log scale. Shares marked “assume” are our judgment, not measured.
Source: No official count; public estimates range 3–10M (CEO Steph Ango, 2025)
Take it to a build
Build Time-Machine Version History for Obsidian with an agent, or with us.
Agent starter prompt
$9.99 / 1 credit
A full PRD written for a coding agent: scope, data model, screens, edge cases, and the first week of tasks for this idea.
- Copy it straight into Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex.
- Download it as a .md file you keep.
- Send your bot a private link that refreshes every seven days.
# Agent starter prompt: Time-Machine Version History for Obsidian You are a senior product engineer. Build only the product described in this document. If a detail is missing, choose the smallest option and write it down in the README. Do not invent a second product, a marketplace of marketplaces, or a growth hack. ## Product Name: Time-Machine Version History for Obsidian One line: Git-powered snapshots with a visual diff and one-click restore, for users who don't know git. Shape: Plugin AI stance: No AI needed Region for v1: Global Hotness (context only, not a requirement): 3.75 (hot). Strong pain; some willingness to pay; thread engagement 178▲/88💬 (demand 4/5); gaps in existing tools; a 1-2 week mvp. ## Problem An Obsidian user discovered months of work on one note was silently truncated and reordered by a hotkey or plugin bug, with no standard way to roll back. Who feels it: Obsidian users.
The first slice is above. The rest unlocks for 1 credit and is never in this page’s HTML.
Credits work on both sites. On Business Ideas to Build the same credit unlocks the business plan and growth playbook for Time-Machine Version History for Obsidian.
Or we build it
Your first version, shipped by our team.
A working product in your repo, built from this PRD. You own the code.
$1,000 scoping fee, credited toward the build.
Equity instead of cash is an application, not a checkout →Questions
Is this idea already taken?
People already use Obsidian Sync history, obsidian-git plugin. Those options do not do the job in the solution above. The idea is free to build. Nothing here is an exclusive claim.
How hard is a first version?
Weekend-easy. A tight MVP is about 2 weeks (2 weeks), assuming the regulated or partner-gated parts are stubbed. The paid prompt turns that into tasks.
Who would pay, and how?
The audience is Obsidian users. Charge a subscription, and test a price under $10 a month. Willingness to pay is one input to Hotness, not a promise that someone will buy.
Can I use the evidence?
Yes. Build the product. The thread title is a short excerpt with a link, not a quote we are putting in someone's mouth. Exact post dates and verbatim lines are added only after a manual check. Ideas are suggestions, not medical, legal, or financial advice.
The sister site keeps a business plan and a growth playbook for the same pain. See the growth playbook