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Self-Hosted Vault Sync

by Valentin Britvich
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Description

Fast, reliable Obsidian vault sync via a self-hosted server — no vendor lock-in

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Latest Version

0.4.0
2 months ago

Changelog

See all version on GitHub

README file from

Github

Self-Hosted Vault Sync

Fast, reliable Obsidian vault sync backed by your own sync server — a lightweight self-hosted alternative to Obsidian Sync / obsidian-livesync, with no vendor lock-in and no vault size limits beyond your own storage.

Pairs with the companion sync server: https://github.com/PeoneEr/self-hosted-vault-sync-server

Features

  • Push on change — file edits are pushed after a short debounce (2s)
  • Pull on startup + poll — vault is refreshed on load and every N seconds
  • Real-time push on desktop — Server-Sent Events notify connected clients the moment another device pushes a change (falls back to polling on mobile, driven by app visibility changes)
  • Delta sync — only changed files are transferred, not the whole vault
  • Conflict-safe writes — a stale write is saved as a .conflict.<timestamp> copy instead of silently overwriting newer content
  • Exclude patterns — glob-based exclusion list (workspace files excluded by default)

Setup

  1. Deploy the sync server somewhere reachable from your devices. Its startup log prints a one-time bootstrap token — copy it.
  2. Install this plugin on your first device and enable it.
  3. Open Settings → Self-Hosted Vault Sync and set:
    • Server URL — e.g. https://sync.example.com
    • Auth token — paste the bootstrap token here (only needed once, for this first device)
    • Sync interval — how often to poll for remote changes (seconds)
    • Exclude patterns — one glob per line for files to keep local-only
  4. Click Start initial sync.
  5. To add another device (e.g. your phone): on this configured device, scroll to Devices → Pair new device, give it a label, click Generate. Scan the QR code with the new device's camera — it opens Obsidian and finishes setup automatically, no typing required. (A "Copy link" fallback is shown next to the QR if scanning isn't convenient.)
  6. Manage paired devices any time from the Devices list — each entry shows when it was last seen and has its own Revoke button.

How conflicts are handled

Every upload carries a base hash of the file it was derived from. If the server's current version no longer matches that base hash, the incoming write is saved alongside the original as <file>.conflict.<timestamp>.<ext> instead of overwriting it — you resolve the conflict manually.

Requirements

  • A running instance of the companion sync server
  • isDesktopOnly: false — works on desktop and mobile, though real-time push (SSE) is desktop-only; mobile relies on polling plus a sync-on-focus trigger

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

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