Work around Obsidian vault merge conflicts in team repos

Problem

When a team shares an Obsidian vault via git, merge conflicts arise constantly. Obsidian updates .obsidian/workspace.json on every UI interaction (pane positions, open files). Multiple people editing notes with wikilinks causes path-based conflicts. The .obsidian/plugins/ directory generates conflicts when plugin settings change independently.

Solution

Add a comprehensive .gitignore to exclude volatile files:

# .gitignore for shared Obsidian vaults
.obsidian/workspace.json
.obsidian/workspace-mobile.json
.obsidian/cache
.trash/
.DS_Store

Use a .gitattributes file to handle remaining conflicts gracefully:

# Treat JSON config as union merge (keep both sides)
.obsidian/*.json merge=union
# Treat markdown as standard merge
*.md merge=default

Set up automatic pull-before-edit with the Obsidian Git plugin:

// .obsidian/plugins/obsidian-git/data.json
{
  "autoSaveInterval": 5,
  "autoPullInterval": 5,
  "autoPullOnBoot": true,
  "disablePush": false,
  "pullBeforePush": true,
  "commitMessage": "vault: {{date}}",
  "autoCommitMessage": "vault: auto {{date}}"
}

Adopt a note-naming convention that reduces conflicts:

notes/
  alice/         # Each person has a personal directory
    2026-02-08-standup.md
  bob/
    2026-02-08-standup.md
  shared/        # Shared notes edited by one person at a time
    architecture-decisions.md
    team-handbook.md

Why It Works

The main source of conflicts is workspace.json, which changes every time someone opens a pane or switches files. Ignoring it eliminates 80% of conflicts. The merge=union strategy for remaining JSON files keeps changes from both sides. Frequent auto-pulls reduce the window for concurrent edits, and personal directories eliminate multi-editor conflicts on daily notes.

Context

Tool: Obsidian with Obsidian Git plugin
Requirement: Shared git repository (GitHub, GitLab, etc.)
Team size: Works best for 2-10 people; larger teams should consider Confluence or Notion