The Netyeti's Journal

Joining to Obsidian LiveSync

3 min read

This guide walks you through connecting your local Obsidian vault to our shared Live Sync server. Before joining the Obsidian workspace, make sure to install Obsidian on your client machine if you haven’t already. An SME with administrative access to the CouchDB will also need to Create a CouchDB User Account prior to remote connection.

Step 1: Create a Vault

  1. Open Obsidian
  2. Select “Create new vault”
  3. Enter a vault name (e.g. piclub)

The vault name is case-sensitive, so type it exactly as provided.

  1. Choose a location to store it locally (e.g. /home/user/Documents).
  2. Click Create to finish

Step 2: Install Live Sync Plugin

  1. Click the ⚙️ Settings icon (bottom-left corner)
  2. Under Options > Community plugins:
    • Enable “Turn on community plugins”
    • Click Browse → search for “Self-hosted LiveSync”
    • Click Install and then Enable
  3. When prompted:
    • Select “No, I do not have a device set up.”
    • Then choose “Set it up all manually.”
  4. After installation, exit the marketplace
  5. You’ll now see “Self-hosted LiveSync” listed under Community Plugins in Settings
  6. Click on Self-hosted LiveSync
  7. In the top row of icons, select the 🛰️ “Remote Configuration” tab

Step 3: Connect to the Database

  1. Under Remote Configuration, fill in the following fields:
Server URI: https://sync.yeticraft.net
Username: [CouchDB Username]
Password: [CouchDB Password]
Database Name: [CouchDB Database Name]
  1. Enable:
    • ✅ “Use Request API to avoid ‘inevitable’ CORS problem.”
  2. Click Test and confirm that the connection is successful
  3. Click Apply Settings
  4. Next, select Fetch Settings to pull initial configuration data from the server
  5. You’ll be prompted several times — respond as follows:
    • Use Remote Configuration: Use configured settings
    • Confirmation Popups: Yes
    • Fetch option: Fetch everything from remote > Yes, fetch and apply remote settings
    • Enable extra features: Yes
    • Enable customization sync: Yes, Enable it
    • Enter a device name: (e.g. laptop-main or desktop-home)
    • Hidden file sync: Select Fetch
    • Database size notification: Select 2GB (Standard)

Step 4: Finishing Touches

  1. Go back to Self-hosted LiveSync Settings
  2. Click the 🔄 “Sync Settings” tab (circling arrows icon)
  3. Under Synchronization Method, set Sync Mode to LiveSync
  4. Exit out of Settings
  5. In the vault, locate the Start Here note
    • Scroll to the section labeled “Settings Sync.”
    • Click the link to the sync_settings file (it will redirect you there)
  6. Once in the sync_settings file:
    • Press Ctrl + P → Search for “parse”
    • Select “Self-hosted LiveSync: Parse setting file”
    • A popup will appear in the top-right corner — click the “HERE” link
    • Select “Apply settings and restart Obsidian.”
  7. After restart, your vault should automatically sync:

You'll notice new banners, icons, and plugins have appeared!

  • To verify the sync:
    • Go to *Settings → Community Plugins → Self-hosted LiveSync.
    • Click the 🔄 “Sync Settings” icon again.
    • Scroll down to “Sync Settings via Markdown.”
    • Confirm that the Filename field shows: _assets/sync_settings.md

Graph View