# Obsidian Sync
Official note synchronization service of [[Obsidian]].
It's a paid service. Currently (end 2024) costs $4 per month.
Obsidian Sync works in the background and continuously synchronizes your notes across all connected devices.
- It uses end-to-end encryption. Data is encrypted using AES-256 before being synchronized
- Files are versioned. You can easily compare versions and go back in time if needed
- You can work offline, and synchronization will occur once you come back online
## Headless CLI
[[Steph Ango]] (Obsidian CEO) published [obsidian-headless](https://www.npmjs.com/package/obsidian-headless), an npm package that runs Obsidian Sync without a GUI. It connects to your vault on disk and syncs it just like the desktop app would — with the same speed, privacy, customizability, and end-to-end encryption.
Install and run:
```bash
# Run directly without installing
npx obsidian-headless /path/to/vault
# Or install globally
npm install --global obsidian-headless
obsidian-headless /path/to/vault
```
### Sync modes
- **Bidirectional** (default) — pushes and pulls changes in both directions
- **Pull-only** (`--pull-only`) — only downloads from remote, ignores local changes
- **Mirror-remote** (`--mirror-remote`) — only downloads from remote, reverts any local changes
### Use cases
- Automate remote backups
- Automate publishing a website
- Give agentic tools access to a vault without access to your full computer
- Sync a shared team vault to a server that feeds other tools
- Run scheduled automations (e.g. aggregate daily notes into weekly summaries, auto-tag, etc.)
## Security
Obsidian Sync has been independently audited by [Cure53](https://cure53.de/) (October 2024) and [Trail of Bits](https://www.trailofbits.com/) (December 2025). Both audits covered the API, server, and cryptography. All findings were addressed via remediations validated by the auditors, and a small number of accepted trade-offs (e.g. deterministic file-hash encryption for deduplication, server-readable path-to-content mapping for routing) are now documented on the [Sync security page](https://obsidian.md/help/sync/security).
The audits also validated the August 2025 encryption upgrade shipped with Obsidian 1.9.11.
## References
- Official Website: https://obsidian.md/sync
- obsidian-headless npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/obsidian-headless
- Obsidian Security page: https://obsidian.md/security
- Cure53 Obsidian Sync audit (2024) — [summary](https://obsidian.md/files/security/2024-Obsidian-Cure53-Sync-Audit-Summary.pdf) and [full report](https://obsidian.md/files/security/2024-Obsidian-Cure53-Sync-Audit-Full.pdf)
- Trail of Bits Obsidian Sync audit (2025) — [full report](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/trailofbits/publications/refs/heads/master/reviews/2025.12-obsidiansync-securityreview.pdf)
- Announcement blog post: https://obsidian.md/blog/cure53-tob-sync-audits/