quartz/content/20-29 HOBBYS/22 SELF HOSTING/22.11 DIGITAL GARDEN/Selfhosted Live Sync.md

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publish	permalink	title	created	modified	tags	cssclasses
true	/sh/garden/livesync	Self-hosted LiveSync	2026-02-05T09:58:59.620-07:00	2026-02-05T12:21:13.920-07:00	self_hosting obsidian sync

Self-hosted LiveSync is a community plugin for 20-29 HOBBYS/22 SELF HOSTING/22.11 DIGITAL GARDEN/Obsidian that enables real-time synchronization across devices using CouchDB or object storage.

Features

• Real-time sync — Changes sync immediately
• Conflict resolution — Automatic merging of simple conflicts
• End-to-end encryption — Data encrypted before leaving device
• Self-hosted — Your data on your server
• Multi-platform — Works on all Obsidian platforms (desktop, mobile)

Architecture

Device A (Obsidian) ←→ CouchDB Server ←→ Device B (Obsidian)

All devices sync to a central CouchDB instance. Changes propagate in real-time.

Server Setup (CouchDB)

Docker (Recommended)

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3"
services:
  couchdb:
    image: couchdb:latest
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "5984:5984"
    environment:
      - COUCHDB_USER=admin
      - COUCHDB_PASSWORD=your-secure-password
    volumes:
      - ./couchdb-data:/opt/couchdb/data

docker-compose up -d

Configure CouchDB

Access Fauxton UI at http://server:5984/_utils

1. Create a database for your vault (e.g., obsidian-vault)
2. Configure CORS if accessing from different domains

CORS Setup

In Fauxton → Configuration → CORS:

• Enable CORS
• Set origins to app://obsidian.md and your domain

Or via curl:

curl -X PUT http://admin:password@localhost:5984/_node/_local/_config/httpd/enable_cors -d '"true"'
curl -X PUT http://admin:password@localhost:5984/_node/_local/_config/cors/origins -d '"app://obsidian.md"'
curl -X PUT http://admin:password@localhost:5984/_node/_local/_config/cors/credentials -d '"true"'
curl -X PUT http://admin:password@localhost:5984/_node/_local/_config/cors/methods -d '"GET, PUT, POST, HEAD, DELETE"'
curl -X PUT http://admin:password@localhost:5984/_node/_local/_config/cors/headers -d '"accept, authorization, content-type, origin, referer"'

Plugin Setup

1. Install Self-hosted LiveSync from Obsidian Community Plugins
2. Open plugin settings
3. Configure connection:
   • URI: https://couchdb.example.com
   • Username: your CouchDB user
   • Password: your CouchDB password
   • Database: obsidian-vault
4. Set up encryption passphrase (all devices must use same passphrase)
5. Test connection
6. Enable sync

Sync Modes

Mode	Description
LiveSync	Real-time sync (uses more bandwidth)
Periodic	Sync at intervals
On file save	Sync when files change

Customization Sync

Sync settings, themes, plugins across devices:

Settings → Customization Sync → Enable

Select what to sync:

• Settings files
• Snippets
• Themes
• Plugins (careful with this)

Encryption

Always enable end-to-end encryption:

1. Settings → Encryption → Enable
2. Set passphrase (same on all devices)
3. All data is encrypted before upload

Troubleshooting

Sync not working

# Check CouchDB is running
curl http://localhost:5984

# Check database exists
curl http://admin:password@localhost:5984/obsidian-vault

Conflicts

Plugin shows conflict indicator. Open note to resolve:

• View both versions
• Choose or merge manually
• Conflicts auto-resolve if possible

Rebuild database

If sync gets corrupted:

1. Disable sync on all devices
2. Delete database in CouchDB
3. Re-create database
4. Rebuild from primary device
5. Re-enable on other devices

Alternatives to CouchDB

LiveSync also supports:

• MinIO (S3-compatible)
• Cloudflare R2
• AWS S3
• WebRTC (peer-to-peer, experimental)

Resources

• GitHub: https://github.com/vrtmrz/obsidian-livesync
• Docs: https://github.com/vrtmrz/obsidian-livesync/blob/main/docs/