Publish an Obsidian vault

Obsidian keeps your notes as plain markdown in a folder. So does tinydot. Point one at the other and publishing stops being a step you do — it is just saving.

Setup#

1. Install the Mac or iPhone app and sign in. Your site appears as a folder: ~/Library/CloudStorage/tinydot/your-site/
2. In Obsidian: Open folder as vault → choose that folder.

That is the whole setup. Write a note, save it, it is on the web.

If your vault already exists somewhere else, move its contents into the tinydot folder and open it there instead. Nothing about the files changes.

What carries over#

• [[wikilinks]] — the same syntax, resolved the same way, and you get backlinks on the published page too
• properties / frontmatter — Obsidian properties are tinydot metadata. title, date and tags are used directly
• attachments — images and files in the vault are published alongside the notes and served from the same folder
• folders — become URL paths. A folder's index.md becomes that folder's page
• embeds — ![[note]] publishes as an inline content block

Keeping a note private#

Add draft: true to its properties and it is hidden from the site, RSS, search and sitemap while you keep writing. See drafts.

What is never published#

Obsidian keeps working files in your vault, and none of them are part of the website:

• .obsidian/ — your config, themes, plugin settings and hotkeys
• .trash/ — notes you deleted

These are not listed and cannot be fetched. Anything starting with a dot is excluded the same way, so a .git or .claude folder in the vault stays private too. See what is not published.

Working with an agent#

The vault is a folder, so a coding agent can read and write it directly — no API and no plugin. Point Claude Code at the folder and ask it to write, edit or reorganise notes; you will see the changes in Obsidian and on the site. The Claude plugin adds this to Claude Code and Claude Cowork.

Why this instead of a publish plugin#

Publishing plugins push a copy of your vault somewhere and keep the two in sync. There is no copy here — the vault is the site, and the site is a folder you own. Nothing to sync, nothing to break, and if you stop using tinydot you still have the folder.

Start free: tinydot.com