Obsidian for Documentation

Integrating Obsidian with Static Site Generators

2 min read

For software documentation that needs to be published as a website, Static Site Generators (SSGs) offer a powerful, flexible, and often free solution when combined with Obsidian. This approach leverages Obsidian for content creation and linking, and an SSG for rendering and deployment.

Why SSGs with Obsidian?

  • Free Hosting: Many SSGs can be hosted for free on platforms like GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, etc.

  • Full Control & Customization: You have complete control over the website’s design, layout, and functionality using themes and custom templates.

  • Performance & Security: Static sites are inherently fast and secure, as there’s no dynamic server-side processing.

  • Version Control: Your content (Markdown files) is already in Git, and your website build process can also be version-controlled.

Common Workflow

  1. Content Creation in Obsidian: Write all your documentation in Markdown within your Obsidian vault, utilizing internal links as you normally would.

  2. SSG Configuration: Set up your chosen SSG to point to your Obsidian vault’s documentation subfolder (or the entire vault). The SSG will read your Markdown files.

  3. Build Process: Run the SSG’s build command. It will convert your Markdown files into HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, generating a public or build folder.

  4. Deployment: Upload the contents of the public/build folder to your chosen web host. Automate this with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines for seamless updates.

Popular SSGs for Obsidian Content

There are many excellent SSGs, but some are particularly well-suited for knowledge bases due to their support for Markdown, linking, and extensibility:

  • MkDocs: Python-based, simple to set up, excellent for project documentation. Offers themes like Material for MkDocs which are highly configurable.

  • Jekyll: Ruby-based, widely used for blogs and documentation, integrates well with GitHub Pages.

  • Hugo: Go-based, incredibly fast build times, flexible.

  • Quartz: Specifically designed to turn an Obsidian vault into a public-facing website. See Setting up Obsidian with Quartz for more details.

Considerations

  • Obsidian-specific features: Not all SSGs will automatically render Obsidian’s unique features like block references (^) or complex Dataview queries. You may need specific SSG plugins or pre-processing steps.

  • Image Handling: Ensure your SSG is configured to correctly copy and link images stored in your vault.

  • Link Resolution: SSGs handle internal links differently. Most will convert them to standard HTML links, but it’s good to test.

This integration allows you to maintain the powerful authoring environment of Obsidian while leveraging the robust publishing capabilities of SSGs.

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