Setting up Nodra takes a few minutes: you create an account on the web, add the Nodra plugin to Obsidian on your computer, and connect your vault. From then on the vault syncs in the background, and you can open it from any browser.
What you need: Obsidian desktop 1.11.4 or later on Windows, macOS or Linux, and a current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari for the web app. The plugin runs only in Obsidian on desktop for now; there is no Nodra app for iPhone or Android yet. Nodra is in beta, so keep a backup of any vault you sync with it.
1. Create your account on the web
Go to app.nodranotes.com and create an account with your email and a password. This is your login. The plugin signs in to an existing account; it does not create one.
Every account starts in Managed mode. You can switch to Private mode at any time from the account settings, on every plan. Read step 5 before you put anything sensitive in your vault, because the choice decides who can read your notes.
2. Install the plugin from its GitHub release
The Nodra plugin is not yet listed in Obsidian's Community plugins directory, so you cannot find it by searching inside Obsidian. You install it by hand from its latest release on GitHub, which takes a minute:
- Open the plugin's releases on GitHub and download the three files of the newest one:
main.js,manifest.jsonandstyles.css. - In your vault folder, open the hidden
.obsidianfolder, thenplugins(create it if it is missing), and create a folder namednodrainside it. - Copy the three files into
.obsidian/plugins/nodra/. - In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins. If community plugins are turned off, turn them on. Select the reload button next to Installed plugins, then turn on Nodra.
The Nodra panel opens by itself in the right sidebar the first time. Later, open it with the Nodra button in the left ribbon or by clicking the Nodra item in the status bar. To update the plugin, replace the three files with those of a newer release and reload it.
3. Sign in from the plugin
In the Nodra panel, sign in with your Nodra email and login password. On a Private account, this is still your login password, not your Encryption Password.
The session is kept in Obsidian's secret storage, outside your vault folder. Signing out stops sync; signing in again resumes it without connecting the vault again.
4. Connect a vault
Select Connect this vault. On a Managed account your login is enough. On a Private account the panel also asks for your Encryption Password and the Account Secret Key from your Setup Kit, used for this one step and never stored. If your account has several Nodra vaults, the panel asks which one this Obsidian vault syncs to.
Sync then runs in the background. The panel shows Synced, Syncing…, Paused, Offline or Needs attention, when it last synced, and buttons to sync now or pause. When something needs you (storage full, signed out, access revoked), it says what happened in plain words and offers the action that fixes it.
To sync the same vault on another computer, install the plugin there too and connect it to the same Nodra vault. Each plugin install counts toward your plan's plugin installs (2 on Free); browsers never do.
5. Choose Managed or Private
| Managed (default) | Private | |
|---|---|---|
| What protects your notes | Encrypted in transit and at rest. Nodra's server keeps an escrow of your keys. | Two secrets only you hold: an Encryption Password and an Account Secret Key. |
| Can Nodra read your notes? | Yes, through the escrow. | No. |
| What you keep | Nothing beyond your login. | The Encryption Password, a Setup Kit with the Secret Key, and a Recovery Kit. |
| If you forget everything | Recover the account through your login email. | Only the Recovery Kit can recover it. Without it, your data is gone. |
Managed is the easy choice: nothing to store, and you can always get back in through your email. The trade-off is that the server can read your notes, and so can anyone who takes over your login. Private mode is end-to-end encrypted and asks you to look after two secrets and a kit. Both modes are on every plan, Free included. How the two modes work explains the details.
6. Open your vault in a browser
Go to app.nodranotes.com on any computer and sign in. The first time you use a browser, select Trust this browser: on a Managed account your login is enough; on a Private account you also type your Encryption Password and Secret Key, once. A browser you have not trusted can see that your account has a vault, but it holds no key and cannot open a note.
The web app is Nodra's own Markdown editor. It has live preview, wikilinks, tags, frontmatter, backlinks and local search, renders tables, images and callouts, and opens Obsidian Canvas files read-only. Your Obsidian plugins and themes do not run there; they stay in Obsidian.
A trusted browser keeps an encrypted copy of your vault so it can work offline. Trust only computers you are allowed to keep your notes on. When you are done with a borrowed computer, remove that browser from your devices (in the web app's settings or the plugin's Manage devices): its sync stops at once, but what it already downloaded stays on it.
What syncs and what doesn't
- Every file of the vault syncs: notes, folders with files in them, images and other attachments.
- Hidden files and the .obsidian folder are not synced. Your Obsidian settings, themes and plugins stay on each computer.
- Empty folders do not sync.
- Each file can be up to 10 MiB on Free and 64 MiB on Pro and Max.
- When the same note is edited in two places, Nodra merges the edits if they don't overlap. If they do, it keeps both: a conflict copy appears next to the note, and your file never gets conflict markers.
- Version history keeps earlier versions for 7 days on Free, 90 days on Pro and 365 days on Max.
Nodra must be the only sync on the vault folder
Nodra must be the only sync on the vault folder. Do not sync the same folder with Nodra and another tool such as Obsidian Sync, iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Syncthing or a Git plugin that commits on its own: Nodra would take the other tool's copies for your edits and create duplicates and conflicts. To use a vault on several computers, install Nodra on each one.
Every time sync starts, the plugin looks for known signs of another tool, locally and without sending anything:
- Obsidian's core Sync plugin turned on in this vault;
- a
.stfolder(Syncthing) or.dropboxmarker in the vault folder; - a
.gitfolder with the Obsidian Git plugin set to commit, push or pull automatically; - the vault folder inside iCloud Drive, a Dropbox folder or a OneDrive folder.
If it finds one, sync does not start and the panel says what it found. Remove it and select Try again, or confirm that the folder is not synced another way. While syncing, if a change from another device is already in the folder before Nodra brings it, sync pauses and the panel shows Another tool seems to be syncing this folder until you turn the other tool off.
What the plugin connects to
The plugin connects only to api.nodranotes.com, which stores and serves your encrypted vault, and to Nodra's sign-in service (Supabase Auth). It sends no telemetry and no analytics. Your Encryption Password and
Account Secret Key are never stored.
Next steps
- How Nodra protects your notes: Managed and Private in detail, recovery, devices and what Nodra does not claim.
- Obsidian in a browser: the other ways to reach a vault from a browser, and when they fit better.