Obsidian + Syncthing
Obsidian is more than a notes app once it becomes part of your daily work.
A vault can contain Markdown notes, PDFs, images, templates, project plans, research, plugin settings and unfinished ideas. Losing access to that context — or waiting for the right device to come online — is frustrating when the vault has become your second brain.
Syncding is for Obsidian users who like Syncthing’s open, device-based sync model but do not want to run their own always-on server. It provides a managed Syncthing hub with server-side ZFS snapshots to help recover from accidental deletes, broken syncs and unwanted changes.
Why Obsidian users choose Syncthing#
Obsidian stores notes as local Markdown files. That makes it a natural fit for Syncthing.
You keep control of your files. You can sync more than the note text. And you can include the surrounding context that often matters just as much as the Markdown itself.
Typical vault folders include:
- Markdown notes and daily notes;
- attachments, images and PDFs;
- templates and snippets;
- project folders next to your notes;
- exported files and research material;
- plugin configuration and vault settings.
For many power users, that file-based approach is exactly the point.
The hard part is the always-on peer#
Syncthing works best when your devices can find each other and at least one peer is reliably online.
That is not always how real life works. Your laptop is closed. Your desktop is at home. Your phone only syncs briefly. A tablet is offline for days. If you run your own server, you also own the maintenance: updates, storage, uptime and recovery planning.
Syncding turns that always-on peer into managed infrastructure.
You still connect devices and folders using Syncthing concepts. Syncding simply gives your vault a stable hub that stays online when your devices do not.
Why snapshots are useful for vaults#
Sync is not the same as backup.
If a note is deleted, a plugin rewrites files unexpectedly, or a folder move goes wrong, sync can replicate that change quickly. That is useful for intentional edits and painful for mistakes.
Syncding adds server-side ZFS snapshots so you have point-in-time recovery options for common vault problems:
- an accidental delete of notes or attachments;
- a plugin or script changing many files;
- a broken rename or folder move;
- a corrupted attachment folder;
- a sync conflict or unwanted mass change that needs inspection.
Snapshots should not be your only backup strategy for critical knowledge. But they are a practical recovery layer around a managed Syncthing hub.
When Syncding is a good fit for Obsidian#
Syncding is a good fit if you already use Syncthing, or if you want to use it because you prefer local files and device-based sync.
It is especially relevant for:
- Obsidian power users with multiple devices;
- Markdown users who want to sync more than notes;
- developers who keep project context next to their vault;
- freelancers separating personal, client and research vaults;
- small teams sharing knowledge folders through Syncthing.
It is probably not the right fit if you want the simplest native Obsidian-only sync service, real-time collaborative editing, or a setup where nobody has to understand Syncthing folders and devices.
A simple way to start#
Start with one vault or one vault-adjacent folder.
Connect it to a managed Syncding instance, add your devices, and let the hub stay online for you. If the workflow feels natural, expand to attachments, project folders or separate vaults.
The goal is not to make Obsidian more complicated. It is to keep the file-based workflow you already like, while removing the server maintenance around it.