vrtmrz/obsidian-livesync

Self-hosted LiveSync is a community-developed synchronisation plug-in available on all Obsidian-compatible platforms. It leverages robust server solutions such as CouchDB or object storage systems (e.g., MinIO, S3, R2, etc.) to ensure reliable data synchronisation.

Summary

Self-hosted LiveSync is an Obsidian plugin that synchronizes vaults across devices using either a self-hosted CouchDB server, S3-compatible object storage, or peer-to-peer WebRTC connections. It supports end-to-end encryption and can sync settings, snippets, themes, and other customizations alongside notes. The project is written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license.

What it is useful for

This plugin targets users who want to keep an Obsidian vault fully under their own control rather than relying on the official Obsidian Sync service. Engineers and developers can run the server backend on their own CouchDB instance (the README mentions a Raspberry Pi as one option), an S3-compatible service such as MinIO, Cloudflare R2, or AWS S3, or skip a data server entirely by using the WebRTC peer-to-peer mode. For P2P, a signalling relay is still required for peer discovery, and at least one device holding the needed data must be online during sync.

It also handles practical sync work: simple conflicts are merged automatically, and detailed state is exposed through status bar icons covering upload/download counts, pending reads, batched reads, retries, hidden file processes, and errors. Sync can be extended to .obsidian configuration, themes, and installed plugins via the documented Customisation Sync and Hidden File Sync features. An experimental WebPeer browser utility is provided for testing peer connectivity without using a real vault.

How engineers can use it

1. Install the plugin from Obsidian's Community Plugins store. The README notes that LiveSync 1.0 requires Obsidian 1.7.2 or later; older Obsidian versions get an older compatible release automatically.
2. Pick a workflow and follow the matching guide in the repository:
   • CouchDB: the "3-minute setup" pairs a YouTube walkthrough with the fly.io setup guide and the Quick Setup doc.
   • Object Storage: provision an S3-compatible service yourself (no maintained MinIO guide is shipped) and follow the Object Storage Setup doc.
   • Peer-to-Peer: skip the data server and follow the Peer-to-Peer Setup doc; the project's public signalling relay works without provisioning, or you can host a compatible one.
3. After the first device syncs, generate a Setup URI from it to onboard additional clients.
4. Enable Hidden File Sync and Customisation Sync only after ordinary note sync is confirmed working.

Documented limitations and caveats:

• Not compatible with official Obsidian Sync; do not run alongside iCloud, Obsidian Sync, or any other sync solution.
• Back up the vault before installing or upgrading.
• The fly.io free tier is no longer available; alternatives listed include IBM Cloudant and Cloudflare R2.
• Avoid closing Obsidian while progress icons are still active, especially after deletes or renames, to prevent corruption.
• If the plugin cannot start, use the documented Recovery and flag files process before touching the remote database.