Lettersmith Obsidian Scaffold

Transform any Obsidian vault (or any folder of markdown files, really) into a backlink-powered static website using Lettersmith.

Getting started

Option 1: Start from scratch

To start from a fresh folder of notes...

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Follow the directions in the Lettersmith readme to install Lettersmith.
3. Edit the notes with Obsidian or your favorite text editor.
4. Optional: Edit site_title in build.py to your site's title.
5. Run python3 build.py from the repository directory to build the site.

Option 2: Add to an existing Obsidian vault

1. Clone or download this repository
2. Copy build.py, templates/ and static/ into your vault folder
3. Optionally copy index.md as a placeholder home page if you don't have one already.
4. Follow the directions in the Lettersmith readme to install Lettersmith if you haven't installed it already.
5. Optional: Edit site_title in build.py to your site's title.
6. Run python3 build.py from the vault directory to build the site.

Viewing the site

The site is generated into public/. Lettersmith doesn't include a local web server for previewing the site, so you'll need to serve the site separately to see it.

Deploying

For start-to-finish instructions for deploying the site to Netlify, see Buster's helpful instructions here.

Features

Backlinks

Lettersmith will process backlinks with double square bracket notation: [[link]] just like Obsidian.

Drafts

Place an underscore in front of the file name to mark a note as a draft. It won't be included in the generated site.

Home page

Create an index.md file in the root of the Obsidian vault to serve as a home page. It will be given a separate template that displays the site title.

Minimal site design

The included templates are very minimal and unstyled so you can modify them to your liking.

Missing features...

Currently the Lettersmith/Obsidian conversion doesn't support...

• Tags
• ... and most likely other Obsidian features