The Inspector
The Inspector
Section titled “The Inspector”The Inspector is the right-sidebar counterpart to the Library — three tabs covering everything about your project’s progress and the file you’re currently writing.
Opening the Inspector
Section titled “Opening the Inspector”The Inspector opens automatically as part of the Writing Workspace. To reopen just this panel if you’ve closed it without leaving the workspace, run Lighthouse: Toggle inspector from the Command Palette.
Three icon tabs sit at the top: Overview, Stats, and Outline. Lighthouse remembers which tab you last had open across sessions.
Overview Tab
Section titled “Overview Tab”A goal ring, project stats, and your writing history at a glance.
Goal Ring & Project Stats
Section titled “Goal Ring & Project Stats”If you’ve set a word count goal you’ll see:
- Goal ring — animated circular progress indicator showing percentage complete
- Words written / goal total — exact numbers with “X to go” or “Goal reached!”
- Files — number of markdown files in the project
- Started — the date the project was created
If no goal is set, the total word count is shown as a simple stat card instead.
Writing Activity Heatmap
Section titled “Writing Activity Heatmap”A 13-week (91-day) GitHub-style activity calendar showing daily writing output. Each cell is a circle that grows in size with intensity:
| Level | Words (no daily target set) | Appearance |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | No writing | Small muted dot |
| 1 | 1–249 | Small accent circle |
| 2 | 250–499 | Medium circle |
| 3 | 500–999 | Large circle |
| 4 | 1,000+ | Full circle |
When you set a daily goal or have a deadline, the levels scale relative to your target instead of absolute word counts.
Hover any cell to see the date and exact word count in a tooltip. Month labels appear along the top and day labels (M/W/F/S) along the left.
Streak Stats
Section titled “Streak Stats”Below the heatmap legend:
- Day streak — current consecutive-day writing chain (in amber)
- Personal best — longest streak you’ve achieved, shown alongside the current one
Rest days you’ve marked in the Stats tab count toward the streak.
Stats Tab
Section titled “Stats Tab”Real-time word counts, goal progress, deadline pacing, and your writing streak — all in one glance.
File & Group Stats
Section titled “File & Group Stats”When you have an active markdown file open:
- Current File — word count of the active document, with an optional per-file goal progress bar
- Current Folder — total words in the group containing the active file
Project Stats
Section titled “Project Stats”- Project Total — complete word count for the project (Extras excluded)
- Goal progress bar — visual percentage bar (turns red if you exceed an at-most limit)
Session & Daily Tracking
Section titled “Session & Daily Tracking”- Today — words written since midnight (persists across Obsidian restarts)
- Session — words written since you opened Obsidian
Deadline Pacing
Section titled “Deadline Pacing”Shown when your project has both a word count goal and a deadline:
- Words/day needed — required daily output to hit your goal by the deadline; recalculates automatically as you write ahead or fall behind
- Days left — calendar days remaining until the deadline, inclusive of today
- 7-day average — rolling average of your actual output over the past 7 writing days, colour-coded green (on pace) or orange (behind pace)
Read & Speak Time
Section titled “Read & Speak Time”Shown when the project has words:
- Estimated reading time at 250 wpm
- Estimated speaking time at 130 wpm
Writing Streak
Section titled “Writing Streak”Shown once you have writing history:
- N-day streak — consecutive days with any writing recorded
- Personal best — longest streak you’ve ever had (shown as a sublabel when it exceeds the current run)
- Mark rest day / Unmark rest day — appears when today has no writing yet. Marking a rest day keeps your streak alive without requiring words.
Outline Tab
Section titled “Outline Tab”A simple heading outline of the active file — click any heading to jump the editor’s cursor there. Shows “No headings in this file” for files without any, and stays empty when no markdown file is active.
Features
Section titled “Features”Real-Time Updates
Section titled “Real-Time Updates”The Stats tab updates automatically as you type, with a 200 ms debounce to avoid flickering during fast typing.
Persistent Daily Count
Section titled “Persistent Daily Count”Today’s word count persists across Obsidian sessions and resets automatically at midnight, using local time (not UTC).
Adaptive Pacing
Section titled “Adaptive Pacing”The required daily target is not static. If you write 500 extra words today, tomorrow’s target decreases proportionally. Miss a day and the remaining deficit is spread evenly across the days left before your deadline — no impossible catch-up numbers.
Smart Session Tracking
Section titled “Smart Session Tracking”If you delete a large block of text, the session baseline slides down so subsequent typing is still counted forward. The counter never goes below zero.