Brendan Chen
b8c4e24a31
daily-notes.json is now shared across vaults; vault-specific set is just bookmarks.json. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01ASYabtTgxSxJPjxPmBK9PJ
89 lines
3.9 KiB
Markdown
89 lines
3.9 KiB
Markdown
# Obsidian config — global + per-vault fork model
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Two-tier Obsidian configuration:
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- **Global config** — `ssh://git@gitea.bchen.dev:2222/brendan/obsidian-global-config.git` —
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shared settings (plugins, hotkeys, appearance, theme) used by **every** vault.
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- **Per-vault config** (this repo, e.g. `obsidian-config`) — a *fork* of the global repo:
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the global config **plus** files specific to one vault that must sync with that vault
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but never be published globally.
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Each vault's `.obsidian` is a git submodule pointing at that vault's per-vault repo, which
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has the global repo configured as its `upstream` remote.
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```
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vault/.obsidian ──submodule──► obsidian-config (per-vault, downstream)
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│ remote: upstream
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▼
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obsidian-global-config (shared, upstream)
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```
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## Tiers
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| Tier | Examples | Lives in |
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|---|---|---|
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| **Global** (shared everywhere) | `app.json`, `appearance.json`, `hotkeys.json`, `templates.json`, `daily-notes.json`, `core-plugins.json`, `community-plugins.json`, `types.json`, `themes/**`, plugin code, most plugin `data.json` | global upstream → flows to every vault |
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| **Vault-specific** (synced, never published) | `bookmarks.json` | per-vault repo only — never pushed upstream |
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| **Machine-local** (not synced) | `workspace.json`, `workspaces.json`, `workspace-mobile.json`, `.DS_Store` | gitignored everywhere |
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## Daily workflow
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Run from a vault root (where `.obsidian` is the submodule).
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**Change a vault-specific setting** (a bookmark, the daily-notes folder) — stays in this vault:
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```bash
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git -C .obsidian add -A
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git -C .obsidian commit -m "..."
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git -C .obsidian push
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git add .obsidian && git commit -m "bump config" && git push # record the pointer
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```
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**Pull global changes down** — conflict-free; never touches your vault-specific files:
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```bash
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git -C .obsidian fetch upstream
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git -C .obsidian merge upstream/main
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git -C .obsidian push # save merged result to this vault's repo
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git add .obsidian && git commit -m "pull global config" && git push
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```
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**Change a global setting** — make it in a clone of the **global** repo, push there, then run
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the pull-down above in each vault:
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```bash
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git -C /path/to/obsidian-global-config add -A
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git -C /path/to/obsidian-global-config commit -m "..."
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git -C /path/to/obsidian-global-config push
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```
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> Promoting a *global* change you happened to make **inside a vault** isn't a plain push
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> (your per-vault history has vault-specific commits in the way) — cherry-pick it onto an
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> `upstream`-tracking branch and push that. Editing global settings in the global clone
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> avoids this entirely.
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## Which files are vault-specific
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The current list is just `bookmarks.json`. To make a plugin's settings
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vault-specific, add `plugins/<plugin>/data.json` to the denylist and remove it from the
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global repo. The denylist is enforced by a `pre-receive` hook on the global repo, which
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rejects any push that touches a vault-specific path (so a stray cherry-pick can't publish
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private data). See the project notes for the hook script.
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## Bootstrapping a new vault
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- **Only needs the global config** → point the submodule straight at the global repo:
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```bash
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git submodule add ssh://git@gitea.bchen.dev:2222/brendan/obsidian-global-config.git .obsidian
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```
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- **Needs its own private tracked config** → create an empty gitea repo for it, seed it from
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the global repo, add it as the submodule, and set `upstream` to the global repo. (Ask to
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have this scripted.)
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> Do this **before opening the vault in Obsidian** — Obsidian auto-creates a default
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> `.obsidian/` on first open, which blocks the submodule add. Delete it first if present.
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> On first open the vault starts in **Restricted Mode** — click **Trust author and enable
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> plugins** to load the configured community plugins.
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