RustShare Vault Sync

Disclaimer: Obsidian is a trademark of Dynalist Inc. RustShare is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Obsidian.

Sync your local Obsidian vault to RustShare — a self-hosted vault synchronization backend that supports local Markdown-based vaults.

Features

• Manual sync — Full vault scan with SHA-256 change detection
• Incremental sync — Automatic upload/download on file create, modify, delete, rename
• Conflict resolution — Never silently overwrite; creates conflict copies
• Offline queue — Changes queued while offline, synced when connection restored
• Tombstone support — Deleted files properly tracked, preventing resurrection
• Content-addressed storage — Deduplicated by SHA-256, preserving byte-for-byte fidelity
• Status bar — Real-time sync status (disconnected, syncing, synced, conflict, error, offline)

Requirements

• Obsidian v0.15.0 or later (desktop only)
• A RustShare instance with Vault Sync API enabled (/api/vault-sync/v1)

Installation (Manual)

This plugin is not yet available in the Obsidian Community Plugins marketplace.

1. Build the plugin (or download a pre-built release):

   npm install
   npm run build
   

2. Create the plugin directory in your Obsidian vault:

   mkdir -p /path/to/your/vault/.obsidian/plugins/rustshare-vault-sync
   

3. Copy the plugin files:

   cp main.js manifest.json styles.css \
      /path/to/your/vault/.obsidian/plugins/rustshare-vault-sync/
   

4. Enable the plugin in Obsidian:

   • Settings → Community Plugins → Turn on Community Plugins
   • Find "RustShare Vault Sync" and enable it

Configuration

Open Settings → RustShare Vault Sync:

Usage

Connect to RustShare

Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) and run:

RustShare Vault Sync: Connect or create vault

The plugin will:

1. Request a device pairing code from RustShare
2. Show you a pairing code and a URL to approve it
3. Poll for your approval (checks every 3 seconds)
4. Once approved, register this device and create or connect to a vault

No manual token entry is required.

Manual Sync

Open the command palette and run:

RustShare Vault Sync: Sync vault to RustShare

This performs a full bidirectional sync:

1. Scans all local files and computes SHA-256 hashes
2. Fetches the server manifest
3. Uploads local-only or changed files
4. Downloads remote-only or changed files
5. Creates conflict copies when both sides changed
6. Updates local sync state

Incremental Sync

The plugin automatically listens for file changes in your vault and queues incremental sync operations. Changes are debounced (default 1500ms) and batched for efficiency.

Conflict Files

When a file is changed both locally and on the server, the plugin:

1. Creates a conflict copy of your local version: <filename> (RustShare conflicted copy <device> <timestamp>)<ext>
2. Downloads the server version to the original path
3. Updates sync state to match the server

Ignored Paths

The following paths are ignored by default:

.obsidian/workspace.json
.obsidian/workspace-mobile.json
.obsidian/plugins/*/data.json
.trash/
.git/
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db
*.tmp
*.swp

Troubleshooting

"Failed to register device"

• Check that your RustShare URL is correct and reachable
• Ensure you approved the pairing code on the RustShare website
• Check the Obsidian console (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + I) for detailed errors

Sync seems slow on large vaults

The initial full sync scans and hashes every file. For vaults with thousands of files or large attachments, this may take a minute. Subsequent incremental syncs are much faster.

Conflict copies keep appearing

This was a bug in versions before the 2026-06-03 fixes. Update to the latest plugin version.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run tests
npx vitest run

# Build for production
npm run build

# Watch mode for development
node esbuild.config.mjs

Architecture

src/
  main.ts           # Plugin entry point, event listeners, commands
  api.ts            # RustShare API client
  sync.ts           # Full and incremental sync engine
  sync-queue.ts     # Debounced operation queue with retry
  state.ts          # Sync state persistence and migration
  settings.ts       # Plugin settings and validation
  sync-log.ts       # In-memory sync event logging
  utils.ts          # SHA-256, path filtering, conflict naming
  ui/
    settings-tab.ts # Settings UI panel
    status-bar.ts   # Status bar component

License

See the main RustShare repository LICENSE file.