Nixsync

Export and import vault settings and plugins as Nix.

What it does

Export dumps your Obsidian config to a single .nix file:

# obsidian.nix
{
  config = {
    app = { ... };
    appearance = { ... };
    hotkeys = { ... };
  };

  plugins = {
    dataview = {
      manifest = { ... };
      settings = { ... };
    };
  };
}

Import reads that file back and writes config + plugin settings to .obsidian/.

Usage

Open command palette:

• Export settings as Nix file - writes obsidian.nix to vault root
• Import settings from Nix file - pick a .nix file, applies settings (reload Obsidian after)

Settings

NixOS integration

Enable Generate NixOS integration files to also export obsidian-activate.sh.

The script takes the exported .nix file, evaluates it with nix eval --json, and writes config + plugin files to ~/.obsidian/. Requires nix and jq.

bash obsidian-activate.sh /path/to/obsidian.nix

Note: restores settings and plugin data only. Plugin JS files are not included - Obsidian still needs to download plugins itself.

home-manager

home.file.".obsidian-config/export.nix".source = ./dotfiles/obsidian.nix;

home.activation.obsidian-restore = lib.hm.dag.entryAfter ["writeBoundary"] ''
  ${pkgs.bash}/bin/bash ${./dotfiles/obsidian-activate.sh} \
    $HOME/.obsidian-config/export.nix
'';

configuration.nix

system.activationScripts.obsidian-restore = {
  text = ''
    ${pkgs.bash}/bin/bash /etc/obsidian-activate.sh /etc/obsidian.nix
  '';
};

environment.etc."obsidian.nix".source = ./dotfiles/obsidian.nix;
environment.etc."obsidian-activate.sh".source = ./dotfiles/obsidian-activate.sh;

Limitations

The import parser handles literal Nix values only: strings, numbers, booleans, null, arrays, and attribute sets. If you hand-edit the exported .nix file and add Nix-specific syntax — string interpolation (${...}), function calls, let/in expressions, or import — the import command will fail or silently corrupt those values. Keep the file as plain data; use the activation script for evaluated Nix. Feel free to fix this, I do not know when I will get around to this.

Sync workflow

# Machine A - after updating settings
# Command palette → Export settings as Nix file
git add obsidian.nix && git commit -m "chore: update obsidian settings"
git push

# Machine B
git pull
bash obsidian-activate.sh obsidian.nix
# restart Obsidian