dtkav

Obsidian Sync is a really solid (and complementary) product.

The Git plugin is great for single-device backup IMO, but not great for device sync or collaboration.

I've been working on making Obsidian "work for work" with a real-time collaboration plugin called Relay [0]. We use CRDTs for conflict resolution between users/clients and it also happens to remove a ton of headaches for device-to-device sync as well.

Our collaboration server can be run on-premise and we also just open sourced a Git Sync connector so you can do google-docs style collab via Obsidian+Relay but still have the merged documents end up in git (and plug into (Markdown + git)-centric publishing workflows like Mintlify and Quartz.

The whole Obsidian ecosystem feels really electric right now.

[0] https://relay.md

> “But what about collaboration?” - I use work tools for work. This is for my life.

I'm working on local-first collaboration for Obsidian (https://relay.md), and there's something so nice about editors and then collaboration as layers of "progressive enhancement" over files on my own machine.

I want me-centric software that treats life and work as just folders on my device. IMO git/github is a model experience for this kind of thing.

It's great to have text files that I can use vim, rg, fzf, etc on my laptop, then switch to use the best writing tool (Obsidian IMO) on any of my devices, and then sync the content and collaborate in-real time with my team.

Connexion is also worth a look IMO. It uses spec-first development (a major benefit in larger orgs and for public APIs), and can plug into different server frameworks.

(I used to be a maintainer, but it has been years since I worked on it).

Of all of tech subscriptions that I pay for, kagi is a close second after claude in terms of the QoL improvement per dollar.

I'm partial to Obsidian's stock aesthetics, but if you prefer the notion look there are plugins like make.md and hundreds of themes.

Obsidian distributes their software for free, and makes money on a core plugin called Obsidian Sync (note that it is not open source). Obsidian Sync relies on their cloud to offer e2ee file sync.

Obsidian also has a rich plugin ecosystem with lots of open source plugins that are available and serve the same purpose (and you can use gdrive, dropbox, etc too).

It makes sense to me that they released a proprietary privacy and security focused plugin (that is their core business) and they don't want other plugins to be able to arbitrarily change the server that their plugin is pointed at.

Suppose they have a government customer who is using Obsidian Sync and the sync URL can be changed easily via configuration changes -- now the customer believes they are using Obsidian Sync, but actually their data is going somewhere else.

I don't think you would be surprised to find that e.g. a dropbox daemon has protections to make sure it is pointing at dropbox.com. Why would you expect Obsidian to be different?

(disclaimer: I work on a different plugin that adds file sync and collaboration features to Obsidian)

Zed's collaboration tech is amazing, but coding just seems to be less collaborative than e.g. meeting notes.

It's pretty awesome that they were able to use the crdt for agent collab. I've been thinking about something similar for my project.

This is awesome! I've been working on something similar but focused on Obsidian called Relay [0].

I'm super inspired by this. We use yjs with a hub (y-sweet) and spoke topology but I've been meaning to check out Iroh and make the hub into a "super peer".

[0] https://relay.md

Obsidian's local first editing experience makes a huge difference to creativity and flow.

I've been working on making Obsidian real-time collaborative with the Relay [0] plugin. In combination with a few other plugins (and the core Bases plugin) you can build a pretty great Notion alternative.

I'm bullish on companies using Obsidian for knowledge management and AI driven workflows. It's pretty reasonable to build custom plugins for a specific vertical.

[0] https://relay.md

Yeah, we use yjs and a fork of y-sweet [0]. We have a custom-built control plane that allows us to support many different types of relay server configurations (including self hosting, multi-tenant, per-relay, per-document) and optimize for cost.

Your project looks cool -- especially sub-document support -- thanks for sharing

[0] https://github.com/no-instructions/y-sweet

I use Obsidian Web Clipper [0] with the Relay Obsidian plugin [1] (I'm the author) for syncing.

Web clipper converts websites to markdown and puts them into your Obsidian vault, and then Relay can sync subfolders in your vault to make sure you have a copy on all of your devices (even between a work and personal vault for example).

Relay is also collaborative, so I frequently clip things, clean them up a bit, and move them into shared folders (like docs pages).

I like the feeling of local-first combined with a malleable UX. Especially for the pocket use-case, offline-capable is a must for me so I can catch up on reading when I'm flying or otherwise off-grid.

[0] https://obsidian.md/clipper

[1] https://relay.md

If you like Obsidian and want it to be multiplayer you might be interested in Relay [0] (shameless plug).

There are also plugins like make.md [1] that are focused more on making the UX feel more like notion.

[0] https://relay.md

[1] https://github.com/make-md/makemd

Yes, it is for shared folder permissions, as well as identity for collaboration.

For our free/individual plan we do use OAuth2 providers (currently only Google is enabled, but considering others), and can support other methods for larger teams (like oidc).

Originally the idea was to keep everything within the Obsidian UI so things like username/password didn't make sense (no password managers in Obsidian).

We initiate the OAuth2 login flow from within Obsidian. I guess we could add an extra click that takes you to our website first and then add support more auth methods from there. I don't really want it to feel like a web app though.

I'd love to hear your take. Which login method do you think is both simple and could be coherently used within Obsidian on all platforms?

Thanks for the kind words

We need a term for a viable business model to pair with local-first tech.

I've been working on Relay [0] (realtime multiplayer for Obsidian) and we're trying to follow tailscale's approach by separating out the compute/document sync from our auth control plane.

This means thats users still subscribe to our service (and help fund development) and do authn/authz through our service, but we can keep their data entirely private (we can't access it).

[0] https://relay.md

If you're interested in real-time collaboration in Obsidian, you might be interested in Relay [0].

(disclaimer: I'm the dev)

[0] https://relay.md

While it is true that CRDTs don't require an authoritative server, the hub and spoke model (which could also be thought of as having a well-known always-online super peer) is more efficient and provides a better user experience. In practice most products that are built with CRDTs today use this model.

Even if you don't want to use Obsidian, the file format of yaml frontmatter (yaml in a --- block) and then markdown below is a solid format.

I've been building real-time collaboration into Obsidian (plugin is called Relay [0]) with the intent of integrating AI via standard collaboration flows.

We haven't released our AI stuff yet, but have done several experiments and it is looking really promising.

I'm also a heavy Zed user. A bunch of the UI (pre-Agent-overhaul) has been inspiring our work.

I've also experimented with voice recordings when on the go, and low friction transcription has felt like one of the killer apps.

One cool thing our plugin supports out of the box is using the voice input on Android for real time text-to-speech on Desktop (just have the note open on both devices).

I've also enjoyed using a script [1] I wrote to summarize bash history each day into my daily note.

It feels like there is a real spark in the Obsidian ecosystem right now. Super fun time to be building!

[0] https://relay.md

[1] https://notes.danielgk.com/Software/obsidian-import

If you need multiplayer sync, I've been working on a plugin that makes Obsidian real-time multiplayer (like google docs) called Relay [0]. A lot of our users use it in combination with SyncThing to keep it entirely free for up to 3 users (we also offer a paid plan with attachment storage and more seats).

[0] https://relay.md

In the AI age having all of your files in markdown and away from AI enabled providers is making more and more sense.

I know of several AI companies who use bespoke tools because otherwise their data would be shared with their competitors (e.g. notion -> openai, gdocs -> google, etc).

It used to be that putting your docs on google "felt" safe because it was unlikely that some random google employee would read you random company docs. Now it seems unlikely to me that they aren't reading every doc with AI.

I'm building a plugin for Obsidian called Relay that makes Obsidian real-time collaborative [0].

It isn't end-to-end encrypted (yet), but you can self host the document collaboration server on a private network (like tailscale).

If you're like me and you need real-time collaboration and privacy but e2ee isn't a strict requirement for your collaborative docs then you might enjoy it.

I also use Obsidian sync for e2ee device sync -- it is a fantastic product.

[0] https://relay.md

Thank you Max for preserving my workflow (and for replying on GH)!

It looks like I was 2 days out of date, and updating fixed it for me.

Thanks a lot for trying it and reporting back. I'll have to see if my version is out of date or something.

edit: yup, they fixed it 2 days ago

Are you sure it is the right thread? On mine it shows the title of the last agent thread even though I'm in a text thread.

Yeah, It was great because you were in control of where and when the edits happened.

So you could manage the context with great care, then go over to the editor and select specific regions and then "pull in" the changes that were discussed.

I guess it was silly that I was always typing "use the new code" in every inline assist message. A hotkey to "pull new code" into a selected region would have been sweet.

I don't really want to "set it and forget it" and then come back to some mega diff that is like 30% wrong. Especially right now where it keeps getting stuck and doing nothing for 30m.

You can add agent threads as context, but right now adding text threads as context doesn't work.

Apparently it is in beta -- https://zed.dev/debugger