Hosting blogs using Jekyll

Introduction

I am maintaining my blogs inside an obsidian vault. I want my Jekyll website to pick up blogs from a particular directory in that vault periodically. I am syncing that vault to github.

Prerequisites

1. Basic Jekyll Setup
2. A repo which contains blog posts

Steps to sync blogs with jekyll

Step 1: Create a Personal Access Token (PAT)

Since the workflow needs to access and write to a private repository, we must create a Personal Access Token. This token will act as a password for our workflow.

1. Go to GitHub Settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens > Tokens (classic).
2. Click Generate new token.
3. Give the token a descriptive name, like “Jekyll-Obsidian-Sync.”
4. Set an expiration date for the token.
5. Under Select scopes, check the box for repo. This gives the token read and write access to our private repositories.
6. Click Generate token and copy the token value immediately.

Step 2: Add the PAT to Obsidian Repository Secrets

We must store the token as a secret in our Obsidian repository to keep it secure.

1. Navigate to the Obsidian repository on GitHub.
2. Click Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions.
3. Click New repository secret.
4. In the “Name” field, type JEKYLL_SYNC_TOKEN.
5. In the “Value” field, paste the token copied in the previous step.
6. Click Add secret.

Step 3: Create the GitHub Actions Workflow File

Now we’ll create a YAML file that defines the sync workflow. This file lives in the .github/workflows/ directory of our Obsidian vault repository.

1. In the local Obsidian vault repository, create a new directory named .github/workflows.
2. Inside this new directory, create a file named sync-to-jekyll.yml.
3. Paste the following code into the sync-to-jekyll.yml file:

name: Sync to Jekyll

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main  # or whatever branch you use for your Obsidian notes

jobs:
  sync:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout Obsidian Vault
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          repository: your-username/your-obsidian-vault # Replace with your repo name
          token: $

      - name: Configure Git
        run: |
          git config --global user.email "your-email@example.com"
          git config --global user.name "your-username"

      - name: Clone Jekyll Repository
        run: |
          git clone --single-branch --branch main https://your-username:$@github.com/your-username/your-jekyll-site.git
          cd your-jekyll-site
          
      - name: Copy Obsidian Notes to Jekyll Posts
        run: |
          mkdir -p your-jekyll-site/_posts
          cp -r your-obsidian-vault/_posts/* your-jekyll-site/_posts/  # Assumes posts are in _posts folder in your vault
          
      - name: Commit and Push Changes
        run: |
          cd your-jekyll-site
          git add .
          git commit -m "Automated sync from Obsidian vault"
          git push

replace your-username, your-obsidian-vault, and your-jekyll-site with actual GitHub username and repository names.