Unison

Real-time collaborative sync for Obsidian. Several people connect the same vault through a small self-hosted WebSocket server: edits merge live, text and binary files stay in sync, and every file keeps server-side version history. It runs on Obsidian desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux) and mobile (iOS and Android).

Features

• Desktop and mobile - works on Obsidian for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android, from the same vault and the same server.
• Live collaboration - updates, deletes and renames go to everyone in the room within milliseconds.
• Three-way merge - concurrent typing merges in place, never silently overwrites or duplicates.
• Text and binary - text as UTF-8, everything else (images, PDFs, audio) as base64.
• Presence - participant panel, remote carets and selections (drawn as overlays, the note text is never touched), file-tree badges, typing.
• File history - the server keeps the last N versions per file; restore any of them from the command palette.
• Scope control - whole vault or selected folders, optional text-only mode, exclude patterns.
• Quick connect - share server, room and key as one paste-able code.
• Self-update - installs new versions from GitHub releases.
• Self-hosting - run server/server.js on any machine and point the plugin at it (see docs/server-setup.md).

Install the plugin

BRAT (easiest)

1. Install and enable BRAT.
2. BRAT -> Add beta plugin -> iluha067/Unison.
3. Enable Unison in Settings -> Community plugins.

Manual

1. Copy manifest.json, main.js and styles.css into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/unison/.
2. Enable Unison in Settings -> Community plugins.
3. Open Settings -> Unison and fill in server URL, API key and room.

Run a server

Step-by-step guide from a clean server: docs/server-setup.md.

Minimal start:

cd server
API_KEY="$(head -c32 /dev/urandom | base64)" PORT=3000 DATA_DIR=./data node server.js

Then in the plugin set Server ws://your-host:3000, the same API key, and pick a shared Room name.

Plans

• Free - up to 5 devices per room.
• Pro ($3 / month) - unlimited devices per room.

The only difference is how many devices can join a room. See docs/plans.md.

Documentation

• docs/server-setup.md - deploy the server from scratch
• docs/protocol.md - WebSocket message reference
• docs/plans.md - Free and Pro plans, license keys
• docs/updates.md - how plugin updates work
• SECURITY.md - threat model and hardening
• CHANGELOG.md - version history

Development

# plugin merge-engine tests (loads main.js with an obsidian stub)
npm test

# server tests (node:test + ws)
cd server && npm install && npm test

License

MIT (c) Unison