specgit guides
Collaborate on Obsidian-flavored Markdown in GitHub — with real review
Obsidian has no built-in multi-user editing, so two people can't type in the same note at the same time. Teams have four practical options. Obsidian Sync shares a remote vault with a small group, but a teammate's edits only appear once they sync. Community relay plugins add live cursors inside the app. A Git-backed vault gives you history and pull request review, if everyone can use Git. specgit takes the Git route and removes the Git part: point it at the GitHub repository behind your vault and teammates edit the same notes in a browser, with live co-editing, comments as pull request threads, and publish as a merge.
Your vault already lives in a Git repository (or could). specgit is the collaboration layer on top: teammates edit the same notes in a visual editor in the browser, comments become pull request threads, and publishing is a merge — while your Obsidian syntax survives untouched.
Sync is not collaboration
Obsidian Sync replicates a vault across your devices, and a shared vault extends that to as many as 20 collaborators who each hold a Sync subscription. The community Git plugin commits your vault to a repo. Both solve replication, not teamwork. There's no way for a teammate to propose a change for review, no comment threads on a paragraph, and no approval before an edit lands. The moment a second person touches the vault, you need review — and review is what Git and GitHub were built for.
Four ways to collaborate on an Obsidian vault
Each of these works for some teams. Which one fits depends on how many of your writers use Obsidian, and whether anyone has to approve a change before the rest of the team reads it.
Obsidian Sync, shared vault
Best for: a small team that already works inside Obsidian and wants the same notes on every device.
Limitation: It replicates files instead of letting people co-edit. Obsidian's own documentation says live editing of the same file isn't supported: you won't see a teammate's cursor, and their changes appear only once they sync. Every collaborator needs their own Sync subscription, and a shared vault tops out at 20 of them.
Community relay plugins
Best for: a couple of Obsidian users who want live cursors in the app and are comfortable running third-party plugins.
Limitation: Everyone has to be an Obsidian user with the plugin installed, and typing together still isn't review. There's no approval step between a change and the version everyone else reads.
A plain Git vault
Best for: writers who are happy with branches and want history, diffs, and pull request review on their notes.
Limitation: Every collaborator needs Git working locally, and merge conflicts are theirs to resolve at the command line. That rules out most of the people you actually want to write with.
specgit on a GitHub-backed vault
Best for: mixed teams where some people live in Obsidian and others just need to open the doc and type.
Limitation: The vault has to be in a GitHub repository. A local-only folder, or one kept in Dropbox, has to move to GitHub first.
The last row is the one this page is about. The mechanics of it, from GitHub App permissions to how a save becomes a commit, are on how specgit works.
Wiki links, callouts, and embeds preserved
specgit's editor understands Obsidian-flavored Markdown: wiki links ([[Page]] and aliases), embeds (![[file]]), callouts of any kind with custom titles and fold markers, ==highlights==, footnotes, LaTeX math rendered with KaTeX, YAML frontmatter, task lists, and Mermaid diagrams rendered inline. Syntax the editor doesn't model is preserved byte-for-byte on save, so files opened later in Obsidian look exactly as you left them.
Comments are pull request threads
Highlight a passage and comment — the discussion is a real GitHub pull request review thread, attributed to each person's own GitHub account. Teammates reply from specgit or from GitHub, and the conversation stays attached to the exact change it's about instead of scattering across chat.
Publish by merge
Drafts are branches; publishing merges them. Branch protection and required reviews work end to end — specgit shows what's blocking a publish, reviewers approve in specgit or on GitHub, and "Publish when approved" merges automatically the moment approval lands. If the base branch moved while you wrote, specgit warns early and offers in-editor conflict resolution.
A publish is a normal pull request, so anything the repo already does on one applies here: CODEOWNERS picks the reviewer, and the Actions you run on pull requests, such as a link checker for broken wiki links, run before the merge. If the vault repo also builds a public site from its base branch, that same merge is what publishes the page. specgit is not the renderer, so the theme, the domain, and reader-facing search stay with whatever generator you already use.
Your vault stays yours
Notes stay plain Markdown files in your GitHub repository — readable by Obsidian and every other tool. Zero Content Retention: we never keep a copy of your documents or comments. GitHub remains the source of truth — the only things that ever touch our servers are temporary: live-collaboration state while you edit together, AI processing you explicitly invoke, and feedback you explicitly choose to share. Product analytics are content-free — never documents, comments, prompts, selections, chat, audio, repo names, or paths. Restricted or unknown regions send nothing before separate opt-in; elsewhere public events are cookieless and unidentified and signed-in events are pseudonymous with opt-out. No ad tech, sale, or retargeting. Access goes through the specgit GitHub App with fine-grained, repo-by-repo permissions; details are on the security and data privacy page.
Give your vault a review workflow
Point specgit at the repo behind your vault. Teammates edit in the browser, you keep writing in Obsidian, and every change goes through real review.
Free to start, no credit card. Zero Content Retention — we never keep a copy.
Frequently asked questions
How do I collaborate on Obsidian notes with a team?
Pick one of four routes. Obsidian Sync shares a remote vault with teammates who each hold a Sync subscription. A community relay plugin adds live cursors inside Obsidian. A Git-backed vault gives you branches and review if everyone can use Git. specgit sits on the GitHub repository behind the vault so teammates edit in a browser, comment in pull request threads, and publish by merging.
Can two people edit the same Obsidian note at once?
Not in Obsidian itself. Obsidian's Sync documentation states that collaborative live editing of the same file isn't supported: you don't see the other person's cursor, and their edits show up after a sync. Community plugins add live editing, and specgit gives the same file live co-editing in the browser on top of your GitHub repository.
Does Obsidian have real-time collaboration?
Obsidian has no native real-time collaboration. Shared vaults through Obsidian Sync are asynchronous file sync, with conflicting edits merged when they arrive. Real-time editing comes from community plugins or from a service like specgit that works on the Git repository behind the vault.
Does specgit replace Obsidian?
No. Keep writing in Obsidian — specgit is the team collaboration layer on the repo that backs your vault. Teammates who don't use Obsidian edit the same notes in specgit's visual editor in the browser, and changes flow both ways through Git.
Will specgit mangle my Obsidian syntax?
No. The editor understands wiki links ([[Page]] and aliases), embeds (![[file]]), callouts of any kind (custom titles, fold markers), ==highlights==, footnotes, LaTeX math, YAML frontmatter, task lists, and Mermaid diagrams. Anything it doesn't model is preserved byte-for-byte on save — your files stay clean in Obsidian.
How is this different from Obsidian Sync or the Git plugin?
Sync replicates a vault across your devices, and a shared vault does the same for up to 20 collaborators, with version history you can restore from. What it has no notion of is review: no comment threads on a paragraph and no approval before an edit reaches everyone. The community Git plugin commits your vault, but every collaborator needs Git set up and conflicts are theirs to resolve. specgit works on the repo itself: teammates edit in the browser, comments are pull request threads, and merge conflicts get an in-editor resolution flow.
Where do my notes live?
No. GitHub remains the source of truth — specgit never keeps a copy of your documents or comments. Live collaboration uses temporary editing state that is deleted after publish or direct commit, or after up to 7 inactive days. User-invoked AI processing and explicitly shared AI feedback are described in the Privacy Policy.
What does it cost?
Free to start: unlimited collaborators on 1 repository with 5 publishes per month, no credit card. Sign in with GitHub through the specgit GitHub App, granting only the repositories you choose.