sprswa / obsidian-git

Backup your Obsidian.md vault with git

Obsidian Git

Simple plugin that allows you to backup your Obsidian.md vault to a remote git repository (e.g. private repo on GitHub). This plugin assumes you have existing git repository initialized locally and credentials are setup.

On advantages of backing up your vault with git I suggest reading this amazing article by @tallguyjenks. You can find a "how-to" on git repository setup there as well, this plugin does not expose an interface to initialize git repository (yet).

Synergises well with GitJournal mobile markdown note taking app.

How to use

Requirements

• initialized git repository
• credentials are set up
• remote repository
• upstream/tracking branch (run git push. Git should prompt you a command)
• at least one pushed commit

How to create a local repo and push it to GitHub

Features

• Automatic vault backup every X minutes
• Pull changes from remote repository on Obsidian startup
• Assign hotkeys for pulling/pushing changes to a remote repository

Note: it is recommended to exclude obsidian workspace cache files from the repository (or even whole .obsidian directory) due to potential noise in the git history.

If you'd like to do that, scroll to the bottom for a short guide.

Compatibility

Custom plugins are only available for Obsidian v0.9.7+.

Installation

From within Obsidian

If you have Obsidian 0.9.8+, you can install this plugin from "Settings > Third Party Plugins > Obsidian Git".

Manual installation

Download zip archive from GitHub releases page. Extract the archive into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins.

Alternatively, using bash:

OBSIDIAN_VAULT_DIR=/path/to/your/obsidian/vault
mkdir -p $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_DIR/.obsidian/plugins
unzip ~/Downloads/obsidian-git_v1.1.0.zip -d $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_DIR/.obsidian/plugins

SSH Authentication

This is a typical example of a trade-off between security and convenience. [...] The most appropriate solution depends on the usage scenario and desired level of security.

If you want to use SSH and have a passphrase for your ssh-key, you have to add it to the ssh-agent so that Obsidian can access it. Read more at this summary to start ssh-agent on system startup.

Windows installation

Make sure you have 3rd-party software access enabled.

Linux installation

Some users reported issues with Obsidian installed via Snap, because Obsidian runs in a kind of sandbox and can't access git.

Installation via Flatpak or AppImage works.

Tips

Excluding Obsidian cache files from repository

To exclude cache files from the repository, create .gitignore file in the root of your vault and add the following lines:

# to exclude Obsidian workspace settings (including plugin and hotkey configurations)
.obsidian/  
# OR only to exclude workspace cache
.obsidian/workspace 

# Add below lines to exclude OS settings and caches
.trash/
.DS_Store

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If you have any kind of feedback or questions, feel free to reach out via GitHub issues or @evrwhr on Obsidian Discord server.

If you like what I do, you could consider buying me a coffee. It is unnecessary, but appreciated :) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evrwhr