Gateholm

Gateholm Notes

Set up Notes

Your notes live in the free Obsidian app and sync through your own private server. One plugin, one passphrase, and every device stays in sync — with your notes encrypted on your device before they leave it.

You'll need (about 5 minutes)

  • The free Obsidian app (obsidian.md) on each device you write on
  • Your Notes server address — on your dashboard card (it looks like https://…notes.gateholm.com)
  • Your username and password — both on the dashboard card ("Reveal password")

Everything on "your dashboard card" is at gateholm.com/account.

  1. Install Obsidian and open a vault

    Download Obsidian from obsidian.md, open it, and create a vault (or use one you already have). A vault is just the folder your notes live in.

  2. Install the Self-hosted LiveSync plugin

    Settings → Community plugins → Turn on community plugins → Browse. Search for "Self-hosted LiveSync", install it, and enable it.

  3. Connect it to your server

    In the plugin's setup, enter your server address as the Remote database URI, database name "notes", and the username and password from your dashboard card.

  4. Set your encryption passphrase

    In the plugin's encryption settings, turn on End-to-End encryption and choose a passphrase — and turn on Path obfuscation right below it. Both are required: encryption scrambles your notes' contents on your device before they sync, and path obfuscation scrambles the file NAMES too (a title like "therapy-notes.md" can be as private as what's inside). With both on, our server stores only ciphertext.

  5. Sync and test

    Let the first sync finish, then create a note and confirm it appears on your other device (repeat steps 1–4 there, with the same passphrase).

Store the passphrase in your Vault. We never see it, so nobody — including us — can recover your notes if you lose it.

With the passphrase on, our server only ever stores ciphertext. That is the honest meaning of "we can't read your notes."

Stuck on any step? Send us a ticket — a human answers.