• Link: Digital Garden

This site works by connecting your Obsidian notes to a publishing system called a digital garden. When you write notes in Obsidian, they stay private unless you explicitly mark them for publishing using a special setting (dg-publish: true). Once published, those selected notes are sent to GitHub, which acts as a storage space for your site’s content. From there, Vercel automatically detects changes in the GitHub repository and rebuilds your website so it stays up to date. The result is a live website that displays your chosen notes in a connected, wiki-like format, with features like backlinks, search, and graph views, while everything else in your Obsidian vault remains private and under your control.

Tutorial

Phase 1: The "Engine" (GitHub & Vercel)

We need a place for your notes to live online. We'll use a template that does all the coding for you.

1. GitHub: Go to GitHub and click "Use this template" > "Create a new repository."

• Name it something like my-garden.
• Set it to Public.

3. Vercel (The Host): Go to Vercel and sign up with your GitHub account.

• Click "Add New" > "Project."
• Import the my-garden repository you just made.
• Click Deploy.
• Result: You now have a live URL (e.g., my-garden.vercel.app), but it's currently empty.

Phase 2: The "Bridge" (Obsidian Setup)

Now we tell Obsidian how to talk to GitHub.

1. Install the Plugin: In Obsidian, go to Settings > Community Plugins > Browse. Search for "Digital Garden" and install/enable it.
2. Create a GitHub Token:

• Go to your GitHub Developer Settings.
• Generate a "Fine-grained token."
• Give it Read/Write access to "Contents" for your my-garden repo.
• Copy this token immediately!

4. Configure Plugin: In Obsidian, go to the Digital Garden plugin settings:

• GitHub Username: Your username.
• GitHub Repo: my-garden.
• GitHub Token: Paste the token you just copied.
• Base URL: Your Vercel link (e.g., https://my-garden.vercel.app).

Phase 3: Tending the Garden (Publishing)

Your garden is ready. Now you just need to pick which notes to "plant."

1. Mark a note for publishing

The plugin only publishes notes that have specific "frontmatter" (data at the very top). At the top of your note, type this exactly:

Markdown

dg-publish: true

2. Set your Homepage

One note needs to be your "Home." Add this to that specific note:

Markdown

dg-publish: true

dg-home: true

3. Hit the Publish Button

• Look for the Garden icon on your left sidebar (or press Cmd/Ctrl + P and type "Digital Garden: Publication Center").
• You will see a list of changed notes. Click Publish.
• Wait about 60 seconds, and your site will update!

Pro-Tips for your Experiment

• Links: Use Note Name as usual. The plugin automatically turns these into web links.
• The "Hard Work" is gone: You never have to touch Wix or code again. You just write a note, add dg-publish: true, and click one button.
• Private vs Public: Only notes with that dg-publish tag will ever leave your computer. Everything else stays private.

Last Updated: 29/05/26