Pubsidian - FREE and ELEGANT obsidian-publish alternative

@bryan00 Yes definitely :full_moon_with_face: Just remove data.js script from the index.html. But, in that case, you have to code the navigation list manually :sweat_smile:

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@Amlan: great stuff, well done, your output looks very professional too, nothing to be ashamed of, something to be proud of. :+1:

The netlify link in your OP is dead.

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@Vagabond: full text search means it search in the contents of the notes too, instead of just the note titles.

@Klaas Thank you so much for your kind words. I’ve updated the netlify link as well as the instructions to convert obsidian notes. Feel free to inform me if you have any query/ suggestion. :smiley:

WOW… Looks Sooo Professional :heart:. All the best for upcoming developments :smiley:

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It feels to me it’s better to just use static site generator like Zola or Hugo. You can host static websites for free on github/gitlab/cloudflare pages or netlifly/neocities.

The difficult/costly part is actually adding the search and graph view.

I visited the demo site, provided by the author. Looks cool, note-search and graph view are also working fine. If it had a full text search, then I guess it could be a serious competitor of obsidian-publish.

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Well, the usual search solution for static website are either rather costly and/or a lot of work. But just for reference for other people, some of them that are often mentioned: Algolia (expensive), typesense, meilisearch, lunr.js.

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So far I have put a simple note-search, where you can search the name of your note inside pubsidian. Since, I’ve decided to keep pubsidian FREE and LESS DEPENDANT on other libraries, I’m currently working on my own full-text search algorithm, optimized for pubsidian. Implementing AI-powered site-search like Algolia seems a bit too heavy for a site like pubsidian and may act on the overall responsiveness of the site. Being a solo developer with zero budget, this will take time; but I promise, once completed, it will open create a new dimension for pubsidian. :smile:

can you add support for latex parsing inside obsidian notes.

I’m on OSX 90% of the time so unless I run that .exe from my windows box which I use every few days (work vs personal machine) so I can’t use this yet but I really really like that you’ve chosen to use netlify vs jekyll/hugo/etc. Netlify is awesome, great company and just awsome to use. I wish more of these publish plugins used it, I may contrib to this if I get time to get it linux/osx friendly. Not sure what’s in that executable I kind of expected this to just be a python script but I’ll check it out more later.

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@mikej that would be good, I am only on OSX.

Hi, Sorry for replying late.

LaTeX parsing was previously supported inside the note, but currently it’s deactivated due to a potential vulnerability. Hope it will be fixed soon.

Meanwhile, if you want to temporarily parse LaTeX inside pubsidian, you can do so by adding…

<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">MathJax.Hub.Config({tex2jax: {inlineMath: [['$','$'], ['\\(','\\)']]}});</script>
<script src='https://cdn.mathjax.org/mathjax/latest/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML'></script>

inside the index.html file before hosting it to netlify.

Hope this helps. :blush:

@mikej @Klaas

You can find the source code of the PubsidianConverter1.0alpha.exe here.

Since I am completely a Windows guy and sadly don’t have any Macintosh to test on, I was unable to create an optimised executable version of the converter for Mac.

However, you can manually install python 3.5+ and run the script to convert your markdown notes, suitable for pubsidian.

Please note, since I’m using eel for creating GUI, you require web directory along with the python script inside the obsidian notes folder, to work without any error.

Meanwhile, if you want to contribute by packing the app suitable for Mac OS, please feel free to fork the repository and by creating a pull request.

Thank you. :blush:

@Amlan thanks for your help. I do not possess the right skills so am hoping @mikej can put something together.

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I want to help with this, where can I learn all about building a website with .md files? Also I think it should implement P2P, using torrent web protocol for decentralization and collaborative team work

Can you please elaborate your idea of implementing p2p in obsidian… Sounds confusing yet interesting to me.

Sure, this is an outline of the ideas I’m having regarding that:


  • We can achieve a decentralized and agnostic network with .md documents, for example by implementing Yjs so that the user is able to select certain documents that he wants to share with that network.

    • In a P2P network, shared .md and non-md (i.e., attachments) files are fragmented just like torrents or other P2P services (see PeerTube) to be located on multiple servers and then, the original document is rebuilt when you want to access those documents. All users who share documents on that network act as servers providing a tiny amount of bandwidth and store for a small number of those file fragments to achieve good availability of all documents. Documents shared in this way can be taken by any user and can be found in wiki-like repositories for anyone to view there (so if an user doesn’t want to download anything, you can just view the notes there).

    • This allows us to turn our Second Brains (or parts thereof) basically into a web3 experience, something like ‘Second Brains distributed in collaborative clouds’

    • If Yjs is used then this would allow working collaboratively on all those documents, in real time (see this video). Some documents may have read-only permissions so they cannot be modified (CryptPad facilitates this if their open-source tech is implemented as a tool in that environment). The creator user of a certain document is thus able to define the permissions and access rights (e.g., only-read permissions, edit permissions, etc). Then, the user could define if a note it is completely public, if permissions are required to access that specific note, if access requires a registration (for example via email), a payment, etc. All of these systems put that decision in the hands of the user.


  • In addition to Yjs, on the other hand, a blockchain or multiple of them can be implemented on top of all this infrastructure, for example ChainPad’s one, in such a way that documents are arranged into the blocks.

    • A blockchain like ChainPad allows all versions of each document to be immutable by guaranteeing access to all of them for any user, it also guarantees that it is impossible to delete or hack any of those versions, etc. In this way, it allows you to use Blockchain Explorers and see all those documents there that no one, ever, ever, will be able to delete. Of course, I repeat, it can be up to the user to decide if he wants or not to place a specific note in the blockchain.

    • Other blockchains like Sia, STORJ or FIL also allow you to build these types of collaborative work and distributed storage communities, so that all users become a “cloud,” and all those repositories can then be used to build online communities of collaborative editing, reading, and building Second Brains. Thus, you could have your website with your Second Brain (read-only access) functioning as a simple profile on a larger community site where you can view other users’ Second Brains, and with dedicated spaces for collaborative editing of .md documents.


The best thing about all these technologies is that… they already exist, they are open source, and they are there waiting to be implemented. Basically nothing needs to be created, just put the pieces together.



If you build your own website on such an ecosystem then your site would no longer be a mere blog, but would be something like a “Second Brain profile” immersed in a decentralized network of Second Brains that also have high collaboration features, real-time editing, even commercial uses for users who want to charge a subscription for access to certain vaults (which can basically function as galleries, courses or EdTech). Are you starting to imagine the Network Graphics and Data Visualization experience in those environments? These are just a few of the countless uses such a decentralized environment could have.


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Hi,

I was an OT guy, wasn’t aware of CRDT that much. That’s why I was a bit skeptical at a first glance. After watching this video and a bit chit chat with my friend, I am pretty much convinced. Although I think using DCS for attachment will be tricky and quite cumbersome to implement.

However, since I’m not the developer of obsidian and also, it is not open-sourced, I have shortlisted a few Github repositories which might be helpful for such a venture:

  1. Foam : Closest open-source alternative to obsidian
  2. ipfs-log
  3. automerge
  4. MUTE: Multi-User Text Editor

Nevertheless, your idea is really interesting and potential, especially for this ongoing situation. :slight_smile:

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@Amlan : That’s a very nice idea, I was looking for something like this. Hopefully it’s still ON.

I tried PubsidianConverter1.0alpha.exe in my Obsidian folder which contains several folders and 1 file START HERE.md, but it doesn’t go through my folder structure, only generated START HERE.html. Should all files be in root directory?