Obsidian to Jekyll Blog Workflow

🎯 Quick Start

Write a new post:

  1. Create a new .md file in /Users/braydon/Obsidian/bvault/blog/
  2. Start with Jekyll front matter
  3. Write your content
  4. Sync and publish

Publish posts:

cd /Users/braydon/projects/dbmcco.github.io
./sync-from-obsidian.sh --auto-publish

📝 Writing Posts in Obsidian

File Naming Convention

Use Jekyll’s standard naming: YYYY-MM-DD-post-title.md

Examples:

  • 2025-05-27-my-thoughts-on-ai.md
  • 2025-05-28-building-better-workflows.md

Front Matter Template

Every post must start with Jekyll front matter:

---
layout: post
title: "Your Post Title"
date: 2025-05-27 10:00:00 -0500
categories: technology business
tags: [ai, productivity, workflows]
---

Important: Use dates in the past or present, never future dates.

Draft Posts

Files without front matter won’t be synced:

  • draft-ideas.md ← Won’t be published
  • research-notes.md ← Won’t be published

🔄 Sync Options

./sync-from-obsidian.sh
# Review changes, then:
git add .
git commit -m "Add new blog post"
git push

Auto-Publish (Fast)

./sync-from-obsidian.sh --auto-publish

📊 What Gets Synced

✅ Synced to Blog:

  • .md files with Jekyll front matter
  • Properly dated posts
  • Published content

⏭️ Skipped:

  • Files without front matter (drafts)
  • Non-markdown files
  • Files starting with draft-

🚀 Publishing Timeline

  1. Sync → Copies files to Jekyll _posts/
  2. Commit → Saves changes to Git
  3. Push → Triggers GitHub Pages build
  4. Live → Available at https://dbmcco.github.io (1-2 minutes)

💡 Tips

Productive Writing:

  • Use Obsidian’s linking [[page]] for internal references
  • Leverage tags for organization
  • Keep drafts without front matter until ready

Quick Publishing:

  • Set up an Obsidian hotkey to run the sync script
  • Use consistent naming conventions
  • Date posts accurately to avoid timezone issues

Content Organization:

  • Use categories for broad topics: technology, business, personal
  • Use tags for specific themes: ai, workflows, productivity

🔍 Troubleshooting

Posts not appearing?

  • Check that dates are in the past
  • Verify front matter format
  • Ensure file names match dates

Sync not working?

  • Verify Obsidian vault path: /Users/braydon/Obsidian/bvault/blog/
  • Check file permissions
  • Run sync script with verbose output