# Self-hosted LiveSync plugin for Obsidian Self-hosted LiveSync, by vrtmrz, is a community alternative to [[Obsidian Sync]] where you own the server. It synchronizes vaults in real time through a CouchDB database (or S3-compatible object storage such as R2 or MinIO) that you host yourself, with optional end-to-end encryption so the server never sees plaintext notes. Synchronization is block-level: notes are split into chunks, and only changed chunks travel over the wire. Combined with CouchDB's replication model this gives near-instant propagation between devices, conflict detection with a merge dialog, and efficient handling of large vaults. Desktop and mobile are both supported, and the plugin can also sync hidden files, including plugin configurations, keeping every device's setup identical. Because the backend is an ordinary database, the sync layer becomes automatable infrastructure: headless variants and companion tools can read and write the same CouchDB, letting scripts or server-side jobs inject notes into the vault without any Obsidian instance running. For self-hosters this puts note availability, backup, and privacy fully under their control — the trade-off being that you operate the server yourself. An alternative approach for file-level sync is [[Syncthing]]. ## References - Download: https://obsidian.md/plugins?id=obsidian-livesync - Source code: https://github.com/vrtmrz/obsidian-livesync