162 pointsby adilmoujahid3 hours ago18 comments
  • ravila4a minute ago
    Nice! I rely on Obsidian a lot for syncing knowledge while working with Claude agents, such as storing research and daily logs to catch up on the prior day’s work. It already works quite well with a custom skill that I build, but this may make the workflow smoother.

    I also built a cli tool to index embeddings in LanceDB and do semantic search. It helps agents create better internal links between notes. https://github.com/ravila4/obsidian-semantic-search

  • corysama2 hours ago
    Also new: Obsidian joins the CLI gang

    https://help.obsidian.md/cli

    I’ve been having a lot of fun recently using AI CLIs with Obsidian. No plugins necessary because it’s just a directory tree of markdown files.

    • manmal2 hours ago
      I've been using iCloud to sync Obsidian, and have consistently run into the problem that iCloud file container access needs full disk permissions that I don't want to give the agent (or Ghostty). Does everybody use Obsidian's paid sync instead or what? Or SyncThing?
      • codybontecou3 minutes ago
        I built a one-time purchase solution that might help you.

        - https://isolated.tech/apps/syncmd

        - https://isolated.tech/apps/syncmd/blog/obsidian-git-ios-setu...

        You can git clone directly to your iOS file system which fixes the Obsidian git plugin issue so you can use the Obsidian git plugin on your computer and mobile devices.

      • kcrwfrd_42 minutes ago
        I just pay for the sync.

        I like that I can have some vaults that sync to both my personal and work laptops and other vaults that only sync to one or the other.

        It’s awfully convenient without any vendor lock in since I can just take my plain markdown files and leave anytime.

      • vergessenmiran hour ago
        Just pay for the sync. I used to juggle with git, rsync, inotify etc and other tools

        Its one of the few subscriptions where it actually feels like money well spent

        • hombre_fatal24 minutes ago
          I was using SyncThing, and it worked, but any time you have an Obsidian vault open on two devices, or shortly after another, you're always thinking about if you're going to have to clean up a bunch of sync conflict files later. And that mental overhead is not worth saving $4/mo.

          The conflicts are never hard: it's like a git merge conflict where you just take the latest of every conflict block.

      • typicalrunt2 hours ago
        I used to use SyncThing, then Dropbox, then iCloud. But then I just caved and paid for Obsidian Sync and it is the best money spent aside from Claude. I don't have to tinker with weird settings anymore or deal with sync issues, it just works.
        • FloatArtifact2 hours ago
          I can't wonder if that's by design to make it hard for a plugin to have it's own sync mechanism. Definitely not proof of this that I know of, but a thought.
          • wietheran hour ago
            Obsidian is plain Markdown and JSON files.

            There can't be a will from the devs to make it hard to sync.

            It's just that unlike git or Dropbox or whatever, that are just generic "syncing" tools, Obsidian Sync has been built to provide the best experience with Obsidian.

            • FloatArtifact17 minutes ago
              I'm talking more about the plugin architecture not about the file format or third-party applications. sync plugins seems to be pretty limited compared to what's offered for a subscription.
        • peterb2 hours ago
          Same
      • giancarlostoro30 minutes ago
        I use both and I prefer their builtin sync, since I also code on Linux.
      • chrisweekly2 hours ago
        Obsidian's paid sync works great for me.
      • pogletan hour ago
        • willis93631 minutes ago
          I use this and a self-hosted couchdb. So far it seems to be good, but I haven't spent more than a few hours with it yet. I do have what appears to be a working setup on ios, macos, and linux. Obsidian's large number of plugins and control surfaces is a bit hazardous.
    • mihaelm2 hours ago
      I love that CLIs are getting a second wind.
    • giancarlostoro31 minutes ago
      Oh snap! Thanks for that, I can really make good use of this!
    • jadboxan hour ago
      It's not super useful yet- you can't really view notes in the CLI but you can can trigger features like search.
      • WNWceAJ9R9Ezc4an hour ago
        Notes are stored in Markdown files. Why do you need Obsidian CLI to view notes when `cat` will do?
        • goodmythical39 minutes ago
          Okay, so my command line fu is not what it perhaps should be, but if I could use obsidian without the bloated app, I'd be even more in love.

          How would I be able to search obsidian links from the command line?

          Like, to travel between notes in the app of course I can just click on connecting links or search, but I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do that in a cli.

          Is there some handy way to search the current folder and subfolders for text in a file with regex? Like some kind of >find term for all of my [[term]] entries in markdown files ?

          • toddmorey36 minutes ago
            What is obsidian beyond a pile of markdown files without the app?
      • kepanoan hour ago
        You can view notes with Obsidian CLI. See the "read" commands. But also you can do that with your built-in command line tools.

        https://help.obsidian.md/cli

    • 2 hours ago
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  • kepanoan hour ago
    Oh! I worked on this project. If anyone has questions, I'll do my best to answer them!
    • 8cvor6j844qw_d6an hour ago
      Are there plans to support scoped token permissions (specific folders or even specific notes)? I'd love to try setting up something that automatically updates a specific Obsidian note on a state change or cronjob, but I'd want to avoid giving access to the rest of the vault.

      also, thanks for the great product, bought the vip catalyst as a show of support.

      • kepanoan hour ago
        Thanks for your support! Sync is end-to-end encrypted so the server doesn't know about specific paths in your vault. You would have to set those permissions at the filesystem level, or with the tool you're using.
    • surgical_fire43 minutes ago
      No question. Just wanted to drop by and say Obsidian is actually pretty cool. An absolute joy to use, and I only wish I learned about it earlier than I did.
    • Mountain_Skiesan hour ago
      No questions, just thanks for helping with a great product.
  • rubslopes17 minutes ago
    Ha! Just yesterday I set up a git repo to sync my Obsidian vault with my Ubuntu VPS for LLM use. Part of me wishes this had come out one day sooner, though honestly, I've grown to like the git workflow. The deal-breaker is mobile: it just doesn't play nicely there, so I'll keep using native sync for that.
  • RyanShook9 minutes ago
    What’s the best way to sync Obsidian without upgrading to their paid tier?
    • ILearnAsIGoa few seconds ago
      For my work notes, which are not allowed to be stored outside company resources, I have set up a git repo and use a plugin that auto commits.

      It does not work well for sharing to a mobile env but works great for desktop.

    • setopt5 minutes ago
      If you’re on Apple devices only, then iCloud sync is free and works on all devices.

      I no longer use Obsidian, so not sure what’s the best option for e.g. Linux <-> iOS sync except their service.

    • xRyen3 minutes ago
      I'm quite fond of the obsidian-gut plugin and syncing to a private Forgejo instance.
  • eric-p7an hour ago
    I wish I could use Obsidian to edit single markdown files.

    If my project has a readme.md I don't want to create an obsidian vault with its configuration files in my project, just to open it.

    • kepano42 minutes ago
      Yeah we'll add that at some point.

      It's a bit trickier than it seems because a lot of Obsidian configuration and app functionality is vault-specific. E.g. what theme should be used? What plugins should be available? Does autocomplete for [[links]] or properties do anything? Etc.

      • random3a few seconds ago
        maybe you're overthinking it a little. You could make it of a default setup like the one you use for the sandbox, or some curated fast-loading one
      • toddmorey33 minutes ago
        VSCode opens single files outside of projects. What do they do? Personally I wouldn’t mind if it just defaulted to the settings of the last-used vault.
        • ezfe2 minutes ago
          If you don't have a window open, then VSCode opens with no active workspace. There are no workspace settings at all, and there is no file tree. But since VSCode has user level settings, these are what is used, including theming/etc.

          If you have a window open, the file is opened to the workspace for that window. You can see this in action because the "Trust" dialog specifically says that you're trying to open untrusted files into a trusted workspace.

  • kelvinjps102 hours ago
    It would be good since I don't use obsidian on my desktop but I do on my phone, so that way I can use it for syncing and then open the documents on Neovim on my desktop
  • madmod2 hours ago
    For some reason obsidian sync consitently empties random recently opened notes for me. I think it might be some kind of race condition between icloud sync and obsidian sync. File gets touched before obsidian gets to it so the empty note is seen as a new file. That theory doesn't quite hold up though because the same thing happens to me using the android client. Has anyone here had this problem?
    • _neilan hour ago
      I had this happen a bunch when I was using iCloud sync on multiple devices. I think it was mostly solved by setting the directory to “keep downloaded” (right click on it in finder and it’s the second option).

      That said, I’ve switched one vault to git and have had no issues there.

  • dispersed2 hours ago
    This is great, but as convenient as Obsidian Sync is, it'll never replace plain Git (for me) until it has unlimited version history:

    > The retention period for your version history depends on your Obsidian Sync plan. On the Standard plan, notes are retained for 1 month, while on the Plus plan, they are kept for 12 months. After this period, older versions of your notes are deleted.

    • jon-wood2 hours ago
      You can use this to sync changes in (near) realtime and then either commit them to git, or use some other mechanism to increase retention.
      • willis93619 minutes ago
        Then you have two solutions to maintain when one would suffice.
    • qwertox2 hours ago
      It also won't replace Postgres, because that is also a different thing.
      • dispersed2 hours ago
        What do you mean? Version history is explicitly a feature of Obsidian Sync: https://help.obsidian.md/Obsidian+Sync/Version+history
        • qwertoxan hour ago
          Yes, but just because it has version history doesn't mean it is closer to git than to Postgres. You can also do versioning in Postgres. You can even search more easily in the history.
          • happytoexplainan hour ago
            I assume they meant "it will never replace Git for syncing Obsidian".
  • deniskim2 hours ago
    Nice to see an official headless option. If anyone is looking to do headless syncing specifically to their own Synology NAS, I created an open-source alternative for that here: https://pypi.org/project/obsidian-synology-sync/
    • mtucker5022 hours ago
      I know this is headless but is there any other reason I should use this over the official Synology drive app?
      • kepano37 minutes ago
        The official Sync is focused on providing a more integrated experience in the Obsidian app, e.g.:

        - Built-in version history

        - Cross-platform support, especially on mobile

        - Fine-grained control (e.g. different theme/plugins/settings per device)

        - Sharing your vaults with other users

      • tigereyeTO2 hours ago
        Synology Drive is a file and folder syncing system.

        Obsidian is a note and wiki syncing system.

        You should use an obsidian syncing system if you want to sync notes and wikis. You should use a file syncing system if you want to sync files.

        • fwnan hour ago
          This reply does not address parents question at all.

          A key feature of Obsidian is that it stores your notes in an open folder structure on your file system.

          A very valid question is whether there are benefits to using a special note sync application rather than a standard file system sync application, and if so, what those benefits are.

  • theptip3 hours ago
    Why would you use this over plain git in a CI pipeline? Presumably you need your knowledge graph versioned?
    • TheDong2 hours ago
      iOS makes it painful to use third-party sync protocols and servers, like syncthing can't run in the background, a git sync service can't run in the background, only iCloud gets to run in the background.... and whatever sync protocol the app itself has blessed so it can run immediately on opening the app.

      As such, on iOS the native sync is the only one that works cleanly and seamlessly, and so you're incentivized to pay for it.

      There was a little while, when dropbox was big, where it seemed like the future of computing would be "your data is in the cloud, and every app you use can share that data, and those two things are independent integrated through some common filesystem layer".

      And then it ended up that no, your data's in a cloud-per-service, where your emails live in googles cloud, your documents in microsoft 365's cloud, your images in "adobe creative cloud"'s cloud, your photos in Apple's cloud, your passwords in 1Password's cloud, and your knowledgebase in Obsidian's cloud.

      The dream of the filesystem API being able to expand to clouds, of being able to choose dropbox or google or apple as the owner of your data, and other applications seamlessly integrating with any of them, it died with apple making it impossible to offer any sort of generic filesystem API or even background sync.

      And so, that's why you'd use obsidian sync over git, because you're cursed with using a phone.

      Unless you're saying "why not pay for obsidian sync, but then sync it into a git repo in CI and commit there to see the diffs", not "why not use git as the underlying sync protocol", in which case ignore everything I wrote, you totally could do that.

      • theptipan hour ago
        Gotcha, thanks. I just use git but don’t sync to my iPhone, this helps give context on the value prop there.
    • boomskats2 hours ago
      If you have automation that dumps things int your vault, that you built with their new CLI (which lets you create/tag docs etc. without running the full electron app), I guess this lets you sync those changes and propagate them to all of your obsidian sync clients also without having to open aforementioned full electron app.
    • wiether2 hours ago
      To enjoy the native ease of use and security of Obsidian Sync as a human user on your devices; while being able to automate things on a server.
    • jatari2 hours ago
      Does the knowledge graph have a function other than to show off how big your vault is?
      • kid64an hour ago
        Only in 2nd-brain mythology, which holds that you'll discover connections between your notes that you didn't realize was there. I think it started as eye candy to confuse prospective users considering Roam Notes. They later did something similar with their "Canvas" feature. So, these are features you get with their lack of coherent vision, rather than basic usability and a safe plugin ecosystem, neither of which Obsidian plans to deliver..
    • articsputnik3 hours ago
      Quoting[1] kepano (CEO of Obsidian) - Why you might use Obsidian Sync headless:

      - Automate remote backups

      - Automate publishing a website

      - Give agentic tools access to a vault without access to your full computer

      - Sync a shared team vault to a server that feeds other tools

      - Run scheduled automations e.g. aggregate daily notes into weekly summaries, auto-tag, etc

      ...all while having the speed, privacy, customizability, end-to-end encryption of Obsidian Sync.

      [1]: https://x.com/kepano/status/2027485552451432936

    • breakyerself3 hours ago
      I just use Dropbox with dropsync on my phone. I never use the knowledge graph anyway
  • adilmoujahid2 hours ago
    I love this as I can now sync the research I do using an OpenClaw running on an EC2 instance. My setup here: https://x.com/AdilMouja/status/2025266443613319546
  • TheGRSan hour ago
    Interesting...I've been thinking for a while that doing instructions and logs through my obsidian notes would be really helpful and a great way to do more agentic work. I've paid for obsidian sync as a way to support their team for the last 3 years, but color me impressed that there are some more tangible benefits to it!
  • desireco422 hours ago
    This is huge. I built SidianSidekicks and it is based on git because we don't want to lose your notes and thoughts, but convenience of Obsidan Sync are something that makes everything easy. I get this is in beta, and we will stick to git, but love what they are doing and looking forward to it.

    Essentially Sync while you can emulate it on desktop, for mobile it is not good experience without Sync. And we want to have and record our thoughts with us all the time.

  • sciencesamaan hour ago
    what does this mean ? can i self host stuff ?
  • abnry2 hours ago
    Fantastic! Now I don't need to run it in a headless xorg session.
  • pdntspa2 hours ago
    Now make Dropbox sync work with iPhone
  • bdhcuidbebe2 hours ago
    [dead]