Vault CMS: Use Obsidian To Write Astro Blog Posts
What is Vault CMS?
Vault CMS is an open-source headless content management system that turns Obsidian into a publishing platform for Astro.
There’s no database and no hosted backend, only files. Your Obsidian vault is your Astro content folder, so you write in Obsidian, push with Git, and your host rebuilds your site. It works with almost any Astro theme, too.
Why I Built It
I didn’t set out to build a CMS. Once my site was on Astro, I realized my content was just Markdown files on my PC, so I tried opening the folder in Obsidian. And it worked.
Using Git, Astro, and Obsidian together felt amazing, but it took some tinkering. A one-off fix to tag formatting turned into one plugin to automate post creation, then another plugin to solve another problem, then another, and another. I started in August of 2025, and about six months later there was a full CMS sitting in front of me. I told that whole story in Don’t Start From Scratch.
The thing I care about most: what you see in Obsidian should match what your readers see. I can link between posts and pages using Obsidian’s native features, and graph view, backlinks, and properties all work the way you’d expect. I don’t have to fix relative links or rewrite Obsidian’s Markdown so Astro can read it. It just works.
The Proof
You’re looking at it. This post is a note in my vault, and so is nearly everything else on this site. Here’s what it looks like on my end, if you’re curious.
And here’s the Home.base view, a dashboard of all your content right inside Obsidian.
It’s not just me, either:
- Astro lists it in its own CMS guides.
- The GitHub repo has 390 stars as of November 2026.
- My Obsidian plugins, many of which power Vault CMS, have passed 130,000 downloads combined.
It’s free and open source under the MIT license, and your content stays plain Markdown in your own repo.
Get Started
It’s as simple as running pnpm create vaultcms in the root of your Astro project, then opening your install directory as an Obsidian vault. The wizard walks you through the rest. The installation guide has the full details, and if you’d rather have an AI agent do it for you, there’s an MCP server for that.
This video goes over exactly how to get started and set it up initially.
If you want the whole thing, here’s the masterclass: a full walkthrough covering four themes, three hosts, and every skill level.
Need a theme? I make a few built for this. And if you build something with Vault CMS, send it my way or come hang out in the Discord. I’d love to see it.
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Linked from My Astro Themes, How to Create an AI Native Company in 2026, Focus, Cool Minimal Astro Blog Themes, and Now.