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Ginkgo Backup

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Description

Time machine for your Obsidian vault — auto backup, version diff, one-click restore. - This plugin has not been manually reviewed by Obsidian staff.

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Latest Version

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Changelog

See all version on GitHub

README file from

Github

Ginkgo Backup for Obsidian

A time machine for your Obsidian vault — instant push, version diff, and one-click restore, powered by the Ginkgo Backup desktop engine.

License Obsidian Platform

Overview

Ever rewritten a paragraph and wished you could get the original back? Or merged a note by mistake and lost half your work?

Ginkgo Backup captures every save into a versioned timeline, so any previous state is one click away — diff it, preview it, restore it, all without leaving Obsidian.

Version diff between any two snapshots

Why Ginkgo Backup?

  • No Git knowledge required — No commits, branches, or push/pull. Just save, and it's backed up.
  • No cloud subscription — The backup engine runs locally on your machine. Your data never leaves your control.
  • Diff any two versions — Pick any two points in history and see exactly what changed, line by line.
  • Visual calendar timeline — Jump to any day with a date picker, not a scroll through commit logs.
  • Instant push on save — Every save is captured within seconds, not on a schedule.

Quick Start

  1. Install Ginkgo Backup — Download from ginkgobackup.com, launch it, and copy the API token from Settings → API.

  2. Enable the plugin — In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins, install this plugin, and enable it.

  3. Follow the setup guide — On first launch the plugin shows a 4-step welcome modal. Paste your API token and click Test connection.

    Setup guide

  4. Configure the backup source — Run the command Ginkgo: Configure source and pick the repository for this vault. Done — your notes are now versioned.

Tip: set a Vault identifier (e.g. your machine name) in settings when the same vault is synced across multiple devices. This keeps per-device hash caches isolated.

Features

  • Instant Push on Save — Every save is captured within seconds. Identical content is skipped, so only real changes are stored.

  • Scheduled Full Backup — Optionally back up the entire vault (including images and attachments) on a timer.

  • Visual Timeline — A sidebar calendar lets you jump to any day and browse that day's snapshots with file counts, sizes, and change badges (+added, ~modified).

  • Version History & Diff — Right-click any file to see its full history. Pick any two versions and see exactly what changed, line by line.

  • One-Click Restore — Preview a version before restoring. Your current content is saved automatically first, so an accidental restore never destroys unsaved work.

    Restore preview

  • Connection Auto-Recovery — Network drops are retried automatically; pending pushes flush the moment the link comes back. The status bar shows live connection state at a glance.

    Status bar menu

  • Secure by Default — HTTPS is enforced for non-local hosts; the API token travels in a request header, never in the URL.

  • Bilingual UI — English and 简体中文, with automatic locale detection.

Timeline & History

Timeline view — Open via the ribbon icon (hard-drive) or the Ginkgo: Open timeline command. A calendar lets you pick any date; the list below shows that day's snapshots with a summary header (snapshot count, total new bytes, last backup time). Click any snapshot card to drill into its file list.

Timeline calendar view

File history modal — Right-click any file in the file explorer or editor and choose Ginkgo → File history. Browse every version, diff any two (LCS line-level, with context-only mode for large files), or diff a version against the current content. Hit Restore to preview and confirm.

Requirements

  • Obsidian 1.0+ (desktop)
  • Ginkgo Backup desktop app (macOS / Windows / Linux) — the backup engine that powers this plugin

Settings

Settings

Connection

Setting Default Description
API host 127.0.0.1 Ginkgo Backup server address (IP, domain, or full URL)
API port 9275 Server port (1–65535)
API token — Authentication token from Ginkgo Backup Settings → API
Vault identifier — Unique name for this vault on this device (recommended for multi-device setups)
Source ID 0 Auto-detected; can be set manually if needed

Backup Strategy

Setting Default Description
Push on save on Instantly push text files to staging on save
Push debounce delay 30000 ms Wait time before pushing after a save (5000–120000 ms)
Scheduled full backup off Run a full vault backup on a timer
Full backup interval 60 min Interval between scheduled full backups (5–1440 min)

Filters & Display

Setting Default Description
Watch extensions md, canvas, base, json, css File types monitored for instant push
Exclude paths .obsidian, .trash, .DS_Store Path prefixes excluded from backup (one per line)
Large file threshold 5 MB Files above this size are skipped by instant push
Show status bar on Show the live backup status bar item
Status refresh interval 60 s How often to poll the server for status (10–300 s)

Interface

Setting Default Description
Language auto auto follows navigator.language; force zh-CN or en

Security

  • HTTPS enforced off-host — When the API host is a public domain or IP (not localhost / 127.0.0.1 / RFC 1918 private ranges), HTTPS is used automatically. Loopback and private-LAN hosts may still use HTTP. Explicit http(s):// prefixes in the host field are always honored.
  • Token in header — The API token is sent via the X-Ginkgo-Token request header, never as a URL query parameter, so it cannot leak through server logs or referrers.
  • Content hashing — File de-duplication uses the Web Crypto API (crypto.subtle.digest("SHA-256")); no file content is hashed by hand-rolled code.
  • No telemetry — The plugin makes no outbound requests except to your configured Ginkgo Backup server.

Internationalization

The UI ships with English and 简体中文. Set Language to auto (default) to follow your browser/OS locale, or pin it explicitly. Missing keys fall back to English, then to the key itself.

Manual Installation

If the plugin is not yet available in the community browser, or you want to test a pre-release build:

  1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest GitHub Release.
  2. In your vault, navigate to .obsidian/plugins/ (create the plugins folder if it doesn't exist).
  3. Create a subfolder named ginkgo-backup.
  4. Copy the three downloaded files into .obsidian/plugins/ginkgo-backup/.
  5. In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins, click the reload icon, then enable Ginkgo Backup.

Disclosures

  • Network use — This plugin communicates with the Ginkgo Backup desktop app running on your machine (default 127.0.0.1:9275). No data is sent to remote servers.
  • Free vs paid — The Ginkgo Backup desktop app is free for local backups, restore, encryption, and mesh networking. Cloud backup and Notion backup require a paid license. The Obsidian plugin works fully with the free version.

FAQ

Does this work on mobile? The plugin runs on desktop only — full backups require the desktop engine to scan your vault directory. If you sync your vault across devices (iCloud, Dropbox, Syncthing, etc.), mobile edits are automatically backed up once they sync to a desktop running Ginkgo Backup.

Why do I need a separate desktop app? The plugin is a lightweight frontend; the actual backup engine (snapshot storage, deduplication, scheduling) runs as a standalone app. This keeps your vault history independent of Obsidian's lifecycle — your backups survive even if Obsidian is closed or the plugin is uninstalled.

Can I diff binary files like images? No — instant push covers text files (md, canvas, base, json, css). Binary attachments are captured by full backups and can be restored, but not diffed line-by-line.

How far back can I go? The timeline loads up to 500 recent snapshots for calendar browsing. Older snapshots remain accessible through the Ginkgo Backup app directly.

Links

License

MIT

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