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

Setting	Default	Description
Export file name	obsidian.nix	Output file name
Open after export	on	Opens exported file in Obsidian
App config	on	app.json - editor, default view
Appearance	on	appearance.json - theme, font, accent
Core plugins	on	core-plugins.json - enabled built-ins
Graph settings	on	graph.json
Workspace	on	workspace.json - panel layout
Strip ephemeral workspace fields	on	Removes last-open files, active file, panel state (machine-specific)
Hotkeys	on	hotkeys.json
Community plugins	on	Plugin manifests
Plugin settings	on	Plugin data.json - disable if configs contain secrets
Generate NixOS integration files	off	Also exports obsidian-activate.sh

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