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Obsidian Digital Brain: Building the 'Edit-to-Publish' Workflow for chenfu.ai

March 9, 2026 · 3 min · 546 words · Fran Kuo | Translations:

Introduction

In our pursuit of the “All in AI” philosophy, the process of internalizing and producing knowledge shouldn’t be hindered by complex toolchains. By deeply integrating Obsidian with the chenfu.ai project, I have successfully achieved a seamless “edit-to-publish” experience. By incorporating AI-assisted analysis, every note I take now resonates with my historical technical expertise.

Phase 1: Basic Connection and Path Optimization

First, we set up Obsidian as the dedicated editor for the Hugo project, linking local files directly to the Vault.

  1. Open Project: Launch Obsidian and select Open folder as vault.
  2. Path Configuration: Navigate to the local project path /Users/chenfu/Labs/chenfu.ai.
  3. Optimize Directory View:
    • Primary Creation Zone: content/posts/ (Blog posts).
    • Core Pages: content/ (About, Projects, etc.).

Phase 2: Git Integration for Automated Publishing

To achieve a “write-and-publish” workflow, we use the Obsidian Git plugin to connect the editor with GitHub.

  • Install Plugin: Search for and install Obsidian Git (by Vinzent03) in Community plugins.
  • Sync Settings:
    • Manual Trigger (Recommended): Use the shortcut Cmd + P and type Git: Push to send updates to GitHub.
    • Automated Backup: You can set a Vault backup interval (e.g., every 60 minutes) for automatic synchronization.
  • Deployment Flow: Once the push is successful, Cloudflare Pages automatically detects the update and completes the deployment within 3 minutes.

Phase 3: AI Enhancement—Activating the Digital Twin

This is the core of AI-ifying our knowledge system: using Smart Connections to enable notes to “talk” across different time periods.

  • Embedding: The plugin reads all historical articles and notes, building a vector model of your personal knowledge base.
  • Smart Correlation: While writing, a side window automatically suggests: “In your 2018 notes, you mentioned a similar technical logic…”
  • Knowledge Q&A: You can directly ask the AI: “Based on my past records, what are my core values regarding the integration of embedded systems and AI?”

Phase 4: Hugo Writing Templatization

To avoid the hassle of manually writing Frontmatter (YAML), standardized templates are pre-configured in the project:

  • Template Path: doc/templates/ in the project directory.
  • Quick Recall:
    1. Configure the template path in Obsidian settings to point to this folder.
    2. When creating a new post, use Templates: Insert template to call up hugo-post-template.
  • Default Logic: git-settings.json is configured with the Commit message format to ensure a clean Git history.

Phase 5: Social Interaction (Giscus)

To increase engagement, the site integrates a comment system based on GitHub Discussions:

  • Comment Management: All comment data is synchronized with Discussions in the GitHub Repo, allowing for direct management via the GitHub web interface.
  • Feature Highlights: Supports reactions (+1/-1) and a multi-language interface.
  • Checkpoint: Ensure the Discussions feature is enabled in the GitHub Repository’s General settings.

💡 Daily Workflow Summary

  1. Capture Inspiration: Open Obsidian and use the template to quickly create a new article.
  2. AI Assistance: Use Smart Connections to link technical and management insights from over 14 years.
  3. Write and Preview: Write in Markdown (images are stored in static/img/, with reference paths as /img/xxx.png).
  4. One-Click Publish: Cmd + P > Git: Commit-and-sync.
  5. Live Instantly: Wait 3 minutes, and chenfu.ai is automatically updated.

Conclusion

Combining writing tools with publishing channels not only lowers the barrier to sharing but, more importantly, allows me to engage in a “technical dialogue with my past self” via AI plugins. This is not just a blog; it is an extension of my personal digital brainpower.

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