Configuration

By default, ovm.json config file lives in current home directory and contains configuration for vault core and plugins. ovm config init can be used to create a new config file with default settings.

Specifications

Plugins

Define plugins in your config file with the following structure:

{
  "plugins": [
    {
      "id": "colored-tags",
      "version": "latest"
    },
    {
      "id": "copilot",
      "version": "latest"
    },
    {
      "id": "dataview",
      "version": "latest"
    }
  ]
}

Versioning of plugins follows Semantic Versioning and Obsidian Plugin Guidelines. latest is a valid version specifier that always resolves to the latest compatible version.

Sync

Define synchronization entries using sync to automatically sync core settings, plugin configurations, and custom files across vaults of Obsidian. ovm vault sync and ovm plugins sync in commands can be used to initiate the synchronization process.

{
  "plugins": [
    { "id": "dataview", "version": "latest" },
    { "id": "note-toolbar", "version": "latest" }
  ],
  "sync": {
    "files": [
      {
        "source": "./configs/appearance.json",
        "target": "appearance.json",
        "type": "core",
        "mergeStrategy": "replace"
      },
      {
        "source": "./configs/dataview-settings.json",
        "target": "data.json",
        "type": "plugin",
        "pluginId": "dataview",
        "mergeStrategy": "smart",
        "include": ["enableInlineDataview", "defaultDateFormat"],
        "onlyIfInstalled": true
      },
      {
        "source": "./configs/custom-hotkeys.json",
        "target": "hotkeys.json",
        "type": "custom",
        "vaults": ["Work", "Personal"],
        "backup": true
      }
    ]
  }
}

Options

Entry Properties

• source (required): Path to the source configuration file (relative to config directory or absolute)

• target (required): Target file path (relative to vault's .obsidian directory)

• type (required): Type of configuration - core, plugin, custom, or all

• pluginId (optional): For plugin configs, the plugin ID (required when type is plugin)

• mergeStrategy (optional): How to merge configs - replace, merge, or smart (default: replace)

• vaults (optional): Array of vault names to target (if empty, applies to all selected vaults)

• onlyIfInstalled (optional): For plugin configs, only sync if plugin is installed (default: true)

• include (optional): Array of JSON keys to include when using smart merge strategy

• exclude (optional): Array of JSON keys to exclude when using smart merge strategy

• backup (optional): Create .bak backup if destination exists (default: inherits from command flags)

• overwrite (optional): Overwrite existing files without prompting (default: inherits from command flags)

Merge Strategies

• replace: Completely replace the target file with source content

• merge: Simple shallow merge of JSON objects (source overwrites target keys)

• smart: Deep merge with support for include/exclude filters

Configuration Types

• core: Obsidian core settings (placed directly in .obsidian/)

• plugin: Plugin-specific configurations (placed in .obsidian/plugins/<pluginId>/)

• custom: Custom files (placed according to target path within .obsidian/)

• all: Matches all configuration types (used for filtering)

Default Configuration

{
  "plugins": [],
  "sync": {
    "files": []
  }
}