Plugin settings

For people using obsync.

Every row in Settings → Community plugins → Self Hosted Private Sync, what it defaults to, and when it is worth changing. The rows are plugin/src/ui/settings.ts; both ceilings default per platform from plugin/src/policy.ts, this device's Name from defaultDeviceName() in plugin/src/main.ts, and the rest from the row itself. Obsidian indexes every row for its settings search, so typing a row's name in the search box finds it.

Everything here is per device. Nothing in this tab is synced, and no other device can change it for you.

Get started

Setting	Default	What it does	When to change it
Setup guide → Open the guide	—	Opens this project's setup guide in your browser. The address ships with the plugin; the plugin itself sends nothing there.	When you set up a server or add a device

Server

Setting	Default	What it does	When to change it
Server URL	empty	Where this device sends every sync request. A host name alone becomes https://host; give the port when it is not 443 (host:8443). HTTPS only on iOS and Android.	Once at setup, and again if the server moves (recovery.md)
Custom request headers	empty	Sent with every request, so an access-controlled proxy or tunnel in front of your server lets this device through. One Name: value per line; a header pasted from a command line is trimmed to that form, and one that cannot be sent is refused when you leave the box.	Only if your proxy or tunnel requires a header. Leave empty otherwise
Connection → Check	—	Asks the server who it is and reports the account name and device count.	Any time you want one round trip to prove the address, the certificate and the credential together
Connection → Open dashboard	—	Mints a single-use sign-in link and opens the dashboard. The link is resolved against the Server URL above and opened only if it stays on that origin.	—
Update available → Open Community plugins	shown only when the server reports a newer plugin version than this device runs	One sentence naming the plugin and both versions, and a button that opens Obsidian's own Community plugins page, where Check for updates installs. The 15-second notice says the same thing and opens the same page when you tap it. Nothing here installs code: the plugin never fetches its own bundle from the sync server.	—

Sync folders on this device

Setting	Default	What it does	When to change it
Folder selection	Whole vault	Whole vault, or Selected folders only. Its description reads back what this device is syncing NOW, which is the saved selection. Hidden folders (.obsidian, .git) and symlinked folders are excluded either way.	Before the first sync, if the vault also holds code or private files
Selected folders	empty	One relative folder per line. An empty list with Selected folders only syncs nothing, and saving one says so. A folder the vault does not have is asked about before it is saved, with Cancel as the default; a folder typed in another case (notes for Notes) is saved the way the vault spells it, and a notice says so.	With the setting above
Save on this device → Save	—	Keeps the choice at once, stops any upload at its next chunk (the button names it, with Cancel beside it to keep the old selection), then rescans; the stopped upload resumes where it left off. If Obsidian closes first, the next start applies the choice and says so. Set up or recover and Pair this device do this for you when the selection on screen is not yet saved.	After a change on a device that already syncs

You can narrow or widen the selection after pairing. Widening replays retained history for the newly selected folders and publishes their local files; returning to Whole vault does the same. Narrowing keeps removed folders' local files and their history on the server. Save the selection on each device independently; no re-pairing or state reset is needed.

This device

On a device that is not paired yet, this section also shows Setup or recover.

Setting	Default	What it does	When to change it
Pairing → Pair this device	—	Applies an unsaved folder selection, then opens the dialog that takes a pairing code from a device that already syncs. On a device that syncs already it claims nothing and says to leave the server first. Before the first sync it asks when this vault holds notes the server's vault does not.	On every device after the first
Pairing → Pair a new device	—	Mints a code, valid ten minutes, for another device to claim.	When adding a device
Setup or recover → Set up or recover	—	With the server's setup token, creates an empty account or re-enrolls in an existing account using this vault's retained or restored key. Existing accounts must have recovery registered. Applies an unsaved folder selection first.	First device, or recovery after credentials are lost
Name	what the device is and a tag it made itself, e.g. Mac 7KQ4	How this device appears in the dashboard's device list and in another device's conflict copies.	Give each device a name you will recognise months later
Largest file to download	0 (unlimited) on desktop, 512 MiB on mobile	Files above it stay on the server and appear under Show remote-only files, to fetch on demand.	On a phone with room to spare, or one with none. 0 means unlimited. Sizes read as 1 MB, 2 GB (decimal) or 1 MiB, 2 GiB (binary); anything else is refused with a notice when you leave the field
Total to keep on this device	0 (unlimited) on desktop, 50 GiB on mobile	Above this total, new files stay remote-only.	Same
Save to server → Save	—	Sends the name and both ceilings together, so the dashboard shows what this device will actually hold.	After changing any of the three above
Leave this server → Leave	—	Revokes THIS device on the server, then forgets the server address, the edge headers, the sync cursor and every file record. Every note stays in the vault.	Retiring this device, or handing the computer on
Leave this server → Switch server	—	The same, then asks for the new address and opens Pair this device for it.	Moving this vault to a different server

Mobile ceilings exist because Obsidian on a phone reads and writes whole files in memory: a ceiling is what keeps one large attachment from ending the app. Desktop streams files in 8 MiB windows, which is why it has no practical ceiling.

Leaving asks first, and says what it costs. Kept: every note, the vault key (so pairing again is the SAME vault, never a new one), this device's name, its folder selection and both ceilings. Lost: this device's sync identity. It is refused while this device holds changes the server never received — the dialog names them, and either Sync now first (while the server can be reached) or discard them on purpose. When the server cannot remove this device — it does not answer, does not know the device, or refuses — the dialog offers Leave on this device only: this device forgets the server and its credential all the same, and the server lists it until you remove it from another device's Devices list or the dashboard. The last ACTIVE device may leave once account recovery is registered. Keep the setup token and recovery phrase first. An older server or unregistered account still refuses with 409 last_device; local leave keeps that credential active remotely and the dialog explains the upgrade requirement. Pairing again is a first sync for this device: a note identical to the server's current note at the same path stays one note, and one that differs keeps both versions for you to review (conflicts.md).

Devices

Every device that syncs, one row each, with Revoke beside it; Device list → Refresh reads the list again. Revocation destroys that device's wrapped secret on the server and is final — a revoked device is paired again as a new device.

Revoked devices do not sit among them. They are counted on one row, N revoked devices, whose Show lists them and whose Hide puts them away again; with none revoked the row is absent. Each revoked row carries Forget, which asks first and then takes that device off this list for good. It could not sync either way, and nothing about it changes on the server: it is still refused for what it is, and the notes it wrote still carry its name. A server older than 1.1.5 cannot do this and says so (Troubleshooting).

Vault key

Setting	What it does
Recovery phrase → Show	Re-displays the 24 words from this device's own key. Anyone holding them can read this vault. Until this device has confirmed them, the row reads Not confirmed — Show and confirm and the button asks for three of the words
Recovery phrase → Restore or create	Restore adopts an existing vault key from its phrase, and refuses words that open nothing on a server that holds a vault. Create a new vault key starts a NEW vault that existing devices will not read, and asks first on a server that holds one — see recovery.md before pressing it

Commands, not settings

Sync now, Verify all files, Show sync status, Pair a new device, Show recovery phrase, Restore from history, Show remote-only files, Open dashboard, Leave this server and Switch server live in the command palette under Self Hosted Private Sync, and the README describes what each one does.