POSSE Publisher — Obsidian Plugin

Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere.

POSSE Publisher brings the IndieWeb POSSE philosophy to Obsidian. Write once in your vault, publish to your canonical site first, then syndicate copies to platforms like Dev.to, Mastodon, Bluesky, Medium, Reddit, Threads, LinkedIn, and Ecency — with every syndicated copy linking back to your original.

Your content. Your domain. Your canonical URL.

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Quick start

1. Open Settings > POSSE Publisher.
2. Enter your canonical base URL for your site.
3. Click Add destination and configure one supported destination.
4. Open a note and add simple frontmatter:

---
title: My first post
status: draft
---

5. Run POSSE publish from the command palette or use the ribbon icon.

Start with Custom API, Dev.to, Mastodon, or Bluesky for the fastest setup.

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What is POSSE?

POSSE is a publishing strategy from the IndieWeb community:

1. Publish the original on your own site (blog, portfolio, etc.)
2. Syndicate copies to silos (Dev.to, Mastodon, Bluesky, etc.)
3. Every copy links back to the canonical original you own

This means your domain holds the canonical version, search engines index your site, and you keep full ownership — while still reaching audiences on the platforms they use.

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Installation

From Community Plugins (Recommended)

1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse
2. Search for "POSSE Publisher"
3. Click Install, then Enable

Manual Install

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create a folder at <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/posse-publisher/
3. Copy the downloaded files into that folder
4. Restart Obsidian and enable the plugin under Settings → Community Plugins

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/TheOfficialDM/posse-publisher.git
cd posse-publisher
npm install
npm run build

Copy main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into your vault's plugins folder.

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Setup

1. Open Settings > POSSE Publisher.
2. Enter your canonical base URL. This is your site's root URL.
3. Click Add destination and start with one supported platform.
4. Paste the API key or token for that destination.
5. Open a note, then run POSSE publish.

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Destinations

Add as many destinations as you need. Each destination has a type that controls how content is formatted and delivered.

Type	Platform	Auth	Status
custom-api	Your own site's /api/publish endpoint	API key (x-publish-key header)	Live
devto	Dev.to	API key	Live
mastodon	Mastodon (any instance)	Access token	Live
bluesky	Bluesky (bsky.app)	App password	Live
medium	Medium	Integration token	Coming soon
reddit	Reddit	OAuth2 (client ID + secret + refresh token)	Coming soon
threads	Threads	Meta access token	Coming soon
linkedin	LinkedIn	OAuth2 bearer token	Coming soon
ecency	Ecency (Hive blockchain)	Hive posting key	Coming soon

Note: Start with Custom API, Dev.to, Mastodon, or Bluesky. The other destinations can stay unconfigured until support is live.

• 1 destination — commands publish directly
• 2+ destinations — a picker modal lets you choose the target
• POSSE to All command — syndicate to every destination at once

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Commands

Command	Behaviour
POSSE Publish	Publish using frontmatter status or the default from settings
POSSE Publish as Draft	Forces status: draft
POSSE Publish Live	Forces status: published
POSSE to All	Syndicates to every configured destination
POSSE Insert Frontmatter Template	Inserts a YAML template with all supported fields

A ribbon icon is also available for one-click publishing.

---

Frontmatter

Use this minimum frontmatter to get started:

---
title: My post title
status: draft
---

Add more fields only when you need them.

Full example:

---
title: My Post Title
slug: my-post-title
excerpt: A short summary
type: blog
status: draft
tags: [javascript, web]
pillar: Technology
coverImage: https://example.com/image.jpg
featured: false
metaTitle: SEO Title Override
metaDescription: SEO description for search results
ogImage: https://example.com/og.jpg
videoUrl: https://youtube.com/watch?v=example
canonicalUrl: https://yoursite.com/blog/my-post-title
syndication:
  - url: https://dev.to/you/my-post-title
    name: Dev.to
  - url: https://mastodon.social/@you/status/123
    name: Mastodon
---

Field	Required	Default
title	No	File name
slug	No	Auto-generated from title
status	No	Plugin default setting
type	No	blog
excerpt	No	Empty
tags	No	[]
pillar	No	Empty
coverImage	No	Empty
featured	No	false
metaTitle	No	Empty
metaDescription	No	Empty
ogImage	No	Empty
videoUrl	No	Empty
canonicalUrl	No	Auto-generated from canonical base URL + slug; set explicitly in frontmatter to override
syndication	Auto-set	Written back (and kept current) after each successful publish

Syndication Tracking

After a successful publish, POSSE Publisher writes the syndicated URL back into your note's frontmatter:

syndication:
  - url: https://dev.to/you/my-post
    name: Dev.to

This creates a permanent record of where your content has been syndicated — right in the note itself.

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Obsidian Syntax Handling

By default, the plugin pre-processes content before publishing:

• [[wiki-links]] → converted to plain text
• [[target|alias]] → converted to the alias text
• ![[embeds]] → removed
• %%comments%% → removed
• ```dataview / ```dataviewjs blocks → removed

Toggle off in settings if your destination handles Obsidian markdown natively.

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Custom API Contract

For custom-api destinations, your /api/publish endpoint should:

• Accept POST requests with a JSON body
• Authenticate via the x-publish-key header
• Receive a canonicalUrl field pointing to the original post on your site
• Return 2xx on success, with optional { "upserted": true } in the response body
• Return 4xx/5xx on failure, with optional { "error": "message" } in the response body

Generate a secure API key with:

-join ((1..32) | ForEach-Object { '{0:x2}' -f (Get-Random -Max 256) })

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Upsert Behaviour

Publishing a note with the same slug as an existing entry will update that entry instead of creating a duplicate (for custom API destinations).

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Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
"Open a markdown file first"	Make sure you have a .md file active in the editor
Publish fails with 401/403	Check your API key in settings matches the server's PUBLISH_API_KEY
Content appears empty	Ensure you have content below the YAML frontmatter fence
Wiki-links appear in published content	Enable "Strip Obsidian Syntax" in settings
Connection test fails	Verify the destination URL is correct and the server is running
Dev.to returns 422	Check that title frontmatter is set — Dev.to requires a title
Mastodon post not appearing	Verify your access token has write:statuses scope

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Security

API keys and access tokens are stored in Obsidian's plugin data directory and are never logged or exposed in the UI (password fields with autocomplete disabled). Always use https:// endpoints.

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IndieWeb

This plugin implements the POSSE pattern from the IndieWeb community.

Learn more: indieweb.org · indieweb.org/POSSE

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License

MIT — Devin Marshall

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Support

POSSE Publisher is free and open source. If it saves you time, a small contribution helps support continued development.

☕ Buy Me a Coffee	buymeacoffee.com/theofficaldm
❤ GitHub Sponsors	github.com/sponsors/TheOfficialDM
🔗 All options	devinmarshall.info/fund