Open a server vault in Obsidian

A vault on a server opens in Obsidian through the Remotely Save plugin over WebDAV. A vault in a local folder is already an Obsidian vault: open the folder.

  1. Get a password: make a key on the vault's page, or ask Claude for one, which calls the obsidian_access tool and shows the password once. Asking again replaces it.
  2. In Remotely Save, choose WebDAV and set:
    • Address: VAULT_PUBLIC_URL/dav/
    • Username: your account's email
    • Password: the key from step 1
    • Depth: "only supports depth='1'"
  3. Leave the base folder as it is: whatever name Remotely Save puts after /dav/, it syncs the vault itself.

The address is the same for every vault: the key decides which vault opens. A new vault's welcome note carries these steps.

Obsidian hides .vault/, so edit the schema with another WebDAV client, such as Finder's Connect to Server or Cyberduck. Other WebDAV clients open VAULT_PUBLIC_URL/dav/vault/. A PUT with If-Match or If-None-Match: * is answered 412 Precondition Failed when the file changed or already exists, so a client that sends them never overwrites a newer version.

A proxy in front of the server must pass /dav/* through; see Behind a reverse proxy.