README file from
GithubVaultGuard Sync for Obsidian
This is the flat release mirror of the plugin for Obsidian's community directory. Canonical source (plugin + server, for self-hosters and auditors): https://github.com/peter70700/vaultguard-obsidian/tree/main/packages/plugin
VaultGuard Sync is the Obsidian plugin for permission-aware encrypted sync, part of the VaultGuard product family. This public plugin repository contains only the Obsidian client.
- Try Pro free for 14 days (no card): https://admin.vaultguard.cloud/#/signup
- Learn more / managed hosting: https://vaultguard.cloud
- Compare editions: https://vaultguard.cloud/#/compare
Editions
VaultGuard Community Edition is the open-source, self-hosted stack (your AWS,
edition=community codebase, Pro-only features gated off). Pro and Enterprise
are the managed VaultGuard Cloud running the Pro Edition codebase — they add
the operational layer most teams want once they scale past a few users,
without paywalling any of the security primitives.
| Community Edition | Pro | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Your own AWS | Our AWS (managed) | Dedicated infra |
| Price | Free, self-hosted | €12 / user / month | Custom |
| Edition (code) | community |
pro |
pro |
| License | Sustainable Use License | Cloud ToS | Commercial contract |
| User cap | Unlimited (you provision) | Up to 100 | Unlimited |
| Storage | Limited by your AWS | 100 GB included | Unlimited |
| Trial | Clone + deploy | 14 days, no card | Sales call |
Security plane
Identical in every tier — security primitives are never paywalled.
| Capability | CE | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| End-to-end encryption (AES-256-GCM + AWS KMS) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Per-file permissions with role inheritance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Re-encryption on user offboarding | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Time-bound key leases (4h default, configurable) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-vault support per organization | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Plugin allowlist enforcement | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cognito auth (password + BYO IdP via Cognito) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Local at-rest encryption via OS keychain | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| TLS 1.2+ in transit (TLS 1.3 when negotiated) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Admin & operations
Where Pro starts to earn its keep.
| Capability | CE | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-Obsidian admin (users / permissions / settings / recovery) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hosted web admin panel (admin.vaultguard.cloud) | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Share links + share-bridge for internal teammates | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Basic audit log (GET /vaults/{vaultId}/audit/logs) |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced audit — dashboards, alerts, CSV export, per-user / per-file reports | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audit retention | 30 days (configurable) | 1 year | Custom |
| Stripe-backed billing | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Transactional email (invites, password reset) | Your SES | Managed | Managed |
| Org signup | Single-tenant lockdown | Multi-tenant | Custom |
| Managed AWS infrastructure | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic security updates + patches | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Daily backups | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Uptime SLA | None | 99.9% | 99.99% |
| Support | Community (GitHub) | Email, 24h SLA | Priority, 4h SLA |
Enterprise-only
| Capability | CE | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAML / OIDC SSO integration | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| SOC 2 / HIPAA attestations | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Dedicated infrastructure | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom data residency | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom key rotation & retention policies | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Responsibility split
What you do vs. what we do.
| Responsibility | CE | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deploy the backend | You (terraform apply) |
Us | Us (or you, with license) |
| Patch Lambda runtimes / dependencies | You | Us | Us |
| Rotate KMS keys | You | Us | Us / custom |
| Run backups | You | Us | Us |
| Monitor uptime / page on-call | You | Us | Us |
| Pay AWS bill | You | — | Custom |
| Compliance evidence | You | — | Us |
What CE actually delivers
- Working AWS Cognito + API Gateway + Lambda + DynamoDB + S3 + KMS + SES stack via Terraform
- Plugin connects with no code changes — capability discovery hides Pro-only UI surfaces
- Single-tenant by default — public signup refuses after the first org exists
- Unlimited users, unlimited vaults, every security guarantee
- Cost: AWS resources only. Idle deployment ~$5–15/month on low traffic.
What CE doesn't deliver (and why Pro is worth paying for)
- No web admin panel — managing 50 users from inside Obsidian is painful for non-technical leads
- No share links — every external collaboration needs the recipient to be a full vault member
- No audit dashboards, alerts, or CSV exports for compliance teams
- No SLA, no managed backups, no patch pipeline — AWS deprecations are your problem
- No SSO, no compliance attestations — Enterprise is the only path for regulated environments
The one-sentence pitch
Community Edition is the trust signal and the escape hatch. Pro is what you pay for once the team grows past two non-technical admins, needs to share with outsiders, or has a compliance team asking for audit evidence. Enterprise adds SSO, dedicated infra, and compliance attestations on top of Pro.
Want managed hosting? Start a 14-day Pro trial — no card required. Or contact Enterprise sales for SSO and compliance.
Self-Hosting (Community Edition)
VaultGuard Community Edition is a monorepo: this packages/plugin/ is the
Obsidian client, and packages/server/ is the AWS backend (Cognito, API
Gateway, Lambda, DynamoDB, S3, KMS, SES) deployable with Terraform on your own
AWS account. Single-tenant by default; Pro-only features (web admin, share
links, Stripe billing, landing page) are excluded.
The end-to-end deploy walkthrough lives at docs/SELF-HOSTING.md.
Hosted Mode
Hosted organizations can use the same plugin. Enter your organization slug or redeem an invite link from your administrator, and the plugin will resolve the connection settings automatically.
Install From a Release
-
Open the latest release and download these three files:
main.js manifest.json styles.css -
Place them into your vault at:
<Vault>/.obsidian/plugins/vaultguard-sync/ -
Restart Obsidian.
-
Enable VaultGuard Sync under Settings > Community plugins.
Build From Source
npm install
npm run -w vaultguard build
The build produces packages/plugin/main.js alongside the existing
packages/plugin/manifest.json and packages/plugin/styles.css. To install
the built plugin directly into a local vault:
npm run -w vaultguard install:plugin -- "/absolute/path/to/YourVault"
Self-Hosted Configuration
Open Settings > VaultGuard Sync > Connection, enable manual configuration, then enter:
- API endpoint
- Organization ID
- Cognito User Pool ID
- Cognito Client ID
See docs/SELF-HOSTING.md for the end-to-end
Community Edition deploy walkthrough, and
packages/plugin/docs/openapi.yaml for
the OpenAPI 3.1 schema describing the backend HTTP contract a self-hosted
server must implement.
Network Use
VaultGuard Sync connects to the API endpoint configured in plugin settings and
to the configured AWS Cognito User Pool endpoint for authentication. The plugin
uses Obsidian's requestUrl API for all HTTP calls.
Account, Data, and Privacy
VaultGuard Sync requires an account on the configured backend. In hosted mode, that account is provided by the hosted VaultGuard organization. In self-hosted mode, the account is provided by your own compatible backend and Cognito User Pool.
The plugin sends vault-relative file paths, file metadata, encrypted file contents, permission checks, audit events, and authentication tokens to the configured backend as part of sync and access control. It does not include client-side telemetry, ads, or analytics. Billing and subscription management are handled outside the public plugin.
VaultGuard Sync stores plugin settings, vault binding data, and auth session data in Obsidian's plugin data store and browser storage so it can restore your session. The local at-rest encryption key is wrapped on device; the recovery code is shown only to you and is never sent to the backend.
Development
npm run -w vaultguard dev # esbuild watch
npm run -w vaultguard test # vitest
License
Sustainable Use License — see LICENSE