Tested snapshot

This site was built from the rolling sources below. They name the exact revisions the checks ran against; the minimum supported versions follow in Minimum requirements.

bob-cli 41afa14
bob-mac-capture 556bb67
bob-plugins af1e691

Built 2026-10-24T22:34:13Z (zensical) · bob-docs 0.1.0 · Python 3.12.15 · Zensical 0.0.71 · build.json

Requirements and compatibility¶

Bob runs one Markdown vault through a Rust CLI, Obsidian plugins, and an optional Mac panel. The snapshot above names the exact revisions this site was built from. The floors below are the minimum versions readers need.

Minimum requirements¶

CLI platforms: Linux and macOS. The CLI, clipboard discovery, and browser helpers cover both; Mac-only paths note it where they differ.
Obsidian: 1.8.7 or later. Every bundled Bob plugin manifest sets minAppVersion 1.8.7, so the floor follows the manifests, not this site's builder version. The mounted Obsidian plugins inventory is generated from the manifests, making it the source of truth for this floor and current manifest versions.
Tasks plugin: use a current Tasks release with the Dataview task format and the #task global filter. The native query engine follows Tasks 8.4.0 filter behavior for status.symbol; the parity fixture and goldens run headless without Obsidian. Desktop rendering inside Obsidian still awaits a human pass.
Rust: version 1.95.0 or later from the Rust toolchain. The repository pins 1.95.0 in rust-toolchain.toml, and the package declares rust-version = "1.95".
Mac Capture (optional): macOS 26 with Command Line Tools for Xcode 26+ or Xcode 26+, plus a signed or ad-hoc signed bob on PATH. See Install, Build, README › Signing, and the protocol compatibility table.

Tested snapshot¶

The block above the title renders the rolling snapshot from the site build: per-repository revisions with dirty and branch marks, the build time and builder, tool versions, and build.json. Absent checkouts report an unknown revision rather than a guessed one, and optional tool versions appear only when the builder records them.

Compatibility shims¶

The installed compatibility binaries map to the preferred interface as follows:

Compatibility binary	Preferred command
`bob_notify`	`bob pomodoro notify`
`bob_pomodoro`	`bob pomodoro`
`tmux_bob_pomodoro`	`bob pomodoro tmux`

By default they call the same native Rust implementations as the preferred commands. With BOB_CLI_USE_SCRIPT=1, the notification and Pomodoro commands and their shims delegate to their embedded shell assets. Native-only commands ignore the fallback setting. Extracted assets are cached in a version-and-content-specific subdirectory of $XDG_CACHE_HOME/bob-cli/scripts/. If XDG_CACHE_HOME is unset or empty, the base is $HOME/.cache; if neither variable is available, Bob uses the system temporary directory.

Old top-level spellings remain as hidden aliases. See Migration notes.

Runtime dependencies¶

Native command execution does not require Bash or Perl. Forced shell fallback with BOB_CLI_USE_SCRIPT=1 requires Bash, and the Pomodoro-based fallback scripts also require Perl.

The documented workflows use these external-tool integrations:

obsidian CLI plus a running desktop Obsidian vault with the Dataview plugin only when using bob query --engine obsidian
git for bob vault-sync, Git-backed bob task archive, plugin dirty-file checks, and the default bob plugins repository refresh; remote operations also need the credentials required by the configured remote
notify-send for desktop notifications from bob pomodoro notify; Bob also rings the terminal bell whether or not notify-send is available
platform clipboard tools for bob capture clipboard input: pbpaste on macOS; wl-paste, xclip, or xsel on Linux; or tmux show-buffer in a display-less tmux session (see BOB_CLIPBOARD_CMD in configuration for the exact fallback order)
pandoc and xelatex for bob ref create Markdown targets, plus the LaTeX packages bob ref doctor checks; override pandoc with BOB_PANDOC_COMMAND. Doctor prints the tlmgr install line for any missing packages
uv and a discovered browser are optional for Mermaid fences in Markdown imports; without them, Mermaid prints as source with a visible note
curl for bob ref create PDF URL and arXiv targets; override with BOB_HIGHLIGHTS_CURL
A narration frontend for bob ref create --listen, configured as highlights.listen_command (sase listen render ...). Installing Bob does not install one. The SASE plugin (sase plugin install listen) provides sase listen render {target} -e full -o {audio}; a direct sase-listen render ... setting migrates automatically, and wrappers/shell programs are rejected
uv plus a browser for bob ref create web article targets. uv fetches Python ≥3.10 and the pinned Playwright, Pillow, and nh3 on first run (override the whole spawn with BOB_WEB_CLIP_ADAPTER). Discovery uses Google Chrome at /opt/google/chrome/chrome, /usr/bin/google-chrome, /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable, or the macOS Google Chrome app, then Playwright's bundled Chromium, newest installed revision first. Bundled Chromium launches by its discovered path, so the pinned Playwright's default revision need not be installed (as on apollo after revision 1248 replaced 1234). Current macOS Chrome-for-Testing and legacy Chromium app layouts are supported. Set BOB_CHROME to another executable, including a system Chromium package. On Linux, Xvfb lets it retry bot-protected sites headed; on macOS the retry uses an off-screen window
bash for the embedded shell fallback and for sourcing ~/.ssh-agent-thing; the Pomodoro shell fallback additionally uses perl
uv for bob gkeep: it fetches Python ≥3.10 and the pinned gkeepapi on first run (override the whole spawn with BOB_GKEEP_ADAPTER)
pass for the default bob gkeep token store (token_command and token_store_command in the gkeep: config section)

No old chezmoi script files are required after installation. Cargo installs the Rust binaries, and the binaries carry the script assets they need. Environment variable defaults live in configuration.