Tasks:
-create folders in Obsidian for posts and for where the website will be located
-install go(google golang)
-install hugo
-download and install ‘Terminal’ theme for hugo and update hugo config
REF: https://github.com/panr/hugo-theme-terminal
-create ‘images’ subfolder of static folder in hugo website to sync posts images to
-install latest Python
-copy python script and modify for my settings

Posts syncing command:
robocopy “C:\Users\username\iCloudDrive\iCloudmdobsidian\master\posts” “C:\Users\username\iCloudDrive\iCloudmdobsidian\master\MyWebsite\jblog\content\posts” /mir

Hugo Local Server Test Command
hugo server -t terminal

Hugo was not recognizing the line breaks from the Obsidian posts.
Hugo uses a Markdown renderer (e.g., Goldmark by default). To make Hugo recognize single line breaks as valid line breaks, you need to enable the hardWraps option.

Steps:#

  1. Open the hugo.toml file
  2. Add or update the following configuration:
    • For TOML
[markup]
  [markup.goldmark]
    [markup.goldmark.renderer]
      hardWraps = true

Hugo was not recognizing the YAML front matter that I put into the obsidian first post, so I had to add this to the hugo.toml config file:

[frontmatter]
  default = "yaml"

created subfolder ‘images’ in the hugo site under subfolder ‘static’. This is where the script will copy the related images the script finds for each blog post in obsidian

Obsidian install was set to store all post attachments in the master folder which is a mess. So I had to create a new folder, tell Obsidian to use this instead and then move all attachments to that folder:

Steps to Set a Custom Folder for Attachments:#

  1. Create the Folder Manually:

    • Open your file explorer (or use Obsidian’s file explorer) and manually create the folder you want (e.g., all_attachments).

  2. Set the Folder Path:

    • Go back to Obsidian settings (Settings > Files & Links).
    • Click on Choose folder… again.
    • Instead of naming it manually, navigate to the folder you just created (all_attachments), and select it.

I had python installed to the user profile only, so I decided to uninstall python and then I used Uniget to do the install to be available systemwide.
This added python to the system path, but then only python –version would respond, but python3 –version did nothing. I had to add a symlink for python3.exe to python.exe by running this from an elevated CMD prompt (not PowerShell)

mklink "C:\Windows\System32\python3.exe" "C:\Program Files\Python313\python.exe"
symbolic link created for C:\Windows\System32\python3.exe <<===>> C:\Program Files\Python313\python.exe

now python –version works
Displays: Python 3.13.1

Now get the script from NetworkChuck’s blog here: https://blog.networkchuck.com/posts/my-insane-blog-pipeline/

from the root of the hugo site, type: code images.py , and then past the script and modify the 3 paths at the top to the ones I’m using on my site:

import os

import re

import shutil

  

# Paths (using raw strings to handle Windows backslashes correctly)

posts_dir = r"C:\Users\username\iCloudDrive\iCloud~md~obsidian\master\MyWebsite\nameblog\content\posts"

attachments_dir = r"C:\Users\username\iCloudDrive\iCloud~md~obsidian\master\all_attachments"

static_images_dir = r"C:\Users\username\iCloudDrive\iCloud~md~obsidian\master\MyWebsite\nameblog\static\images"

  

# Step 1: Process each markdown file in the posts directory

for filename in os.listdir(posts_dir):

    if filename.endswith(".md"):

        filepath = os.path.join(posts_dir, filename)

        with open(filepath, "r", encoding="utf-8") as file:

            content = file.read()

        # Step 2: Find all image links in the format ![Image Description](/images/Pasted%20image%20...%20.png)

        images = re.findall(r'\[\[([^]]*\.png)\]\]', content)

        # Step 3: Replace image links and ensure URLs are correctly formatted

        for image in images:

            # Prepare the Markdown-compatible link with %20 replacing spaces

            markdown_image = f"![Image Description](/images/{image.replace(' ', '%20')})"

            content = content.replace(f"[[{image}]]", markdown_image)

            # Step 4: Copy the image to the Hugo static/images directory if it exists

            image_source = os.path.join(attachments_dir, image)

            if os.path.exists(image_source):

                shutil.copy(image_source, static_images_dir)

  

        # Step 5: Write the updated content back to the markdown file

        with open(filepath, "w", encoding="utf-8") as file:

            file.write(content)

  

print("Markdown files processed and images copied successfully.")

the just run the script from the root of the hugo site:
❯ python3 .\images.py
Markdown files processed and images copied successfully.

Script seems to be working, but then running the hugo server on localhost, the image doesn’t display, just the name of the attachment.

Just running this command fixed the issue:
hugo server –ignoreCache -t terminal

Git Setup

## Generate an SSH key (Mac/Linux/Windows)

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "email address"

Output:
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (C:\Users\username/.ssh/id_rsa):
Created directory ‘C:\Users\username/.ssh’.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in C:\Users\username/.ssh/id_rsa
Your public key has been saved in C:\Users\username/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

The go to github.com > settings > ssh and gpg keys section > add new ssh key and paste the output of cat id_rsa.pub into the field and then add it.

Then test authentication

 ssh -T [email protected]
Hi username! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.

Then, change into the root directory of our hugo website, and then create a remote git repo using this command:
❯ git remote add origin [email protected]:githubname/nameblog.git

then just run command: hugo
this takes all the markdown files and converts them to a website (similar to the hugo server -t terminal command was doing)

Now add all the files to git repo and then commit them to local repo, then push them to github

git add .
git commit -m "my first commit for the blog"
git push -u origin master

Now create a git subtree branch called ‘webhost-publish’ that will contain just the ‘public’ folder of the master branch as this is essentially only the actual website files that needs to be synced with whatever webhost I will use.
Then push it to the remote repo(ie origin) on github.com. it will create that same branch (webhost-publish)
After you’ve pushed webhost-publish to the remote repository, you no longer need the local webhost-publish branch, so it is deleted from your local repository.
The webhost-publish branch was created as an intermediate step to extract and push the contents of the public directory to the remote. After you’ve pushed the necessary content to the remote repository, the local branch webhost-publish is no longer needed.

# Step 8: Push the public folder to the webhost-publish branch using subtree split and force push
echo "Deploying to GitHub webhost-publish..."
git subtree split --prefix public -b webhost-publish
git push origin webhost-publish --force
git branch -D webhost-publish

❯ git subtree split –prefix public -b webhost-publish
Created branch ‘webhost-publish’
99e334008887cf7ed12f300155f9d396a53db133

❯ git push origin webhost-publish –force
Enumerating objects: 72, done.
Counting objects: 100% (72/72), done.
Delta compression using up to 12 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (58/58), done.
Writing objects: 100% (72/72), 288.04 KiB | 3.56 MiB/s, done.
Total 72 (delta 20), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
remote: Resolving deltas: 100% (20/20), done.
remote:
remote: Create a pull request for ‘webhost-publish’ on GitHub by visiting:
remote: https://github.com/githubname/nameblog/pull/new/webhost-publish
remote:
To github.com:githubname/nameblog.git

  • [new branch] webhost-publish -> webhost-publish

❯ git branch -D webhost-publish
Deleted branch webhost-publish (was 99e3340).

Webhosting
sign up for a year of Hostinger.com webhosting
add a blank site and attach theconspiracygod.com domain to it
generate an SSH key and then go add it to github > settings > ssh
go to cloudflare dashboard and update the ‘A’ records for the domain and the ‘www’ entry
On Hostinger, choose AutoDeploy and get the webhook address, then click the github link and copy the webhook link into github and save.

Setup script to automate all steps
modified networkchuck’s script with my settings and saved as publish.ps1 in the hugo site root directory

# PowerShell Script for Windows

# Set variables for Obsidian to Hugo copy

$sourcePath = "C:\Users\username\iCloudDrive\iCloud~md~obsidian\master\posts"

$destinationPath = "C:\Users\username\iCloudDrive\iCloud~md~obsidian\master\MyWebsite\nameblog\content\posts"

  

# Set Github repo

$myrepo = "[email protected]:githubname/nameblog.git"

  

# Set error handling

$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"

Set-StrictMode -Version Latest

  

# Change to the script's directory

$ScriptDir = Split-Path -Parent $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Definition

Set-Location $ScriptDir

  

# Check for required commands

$requiredCommands = @('git', 'hugo')

  

# Check for Python command (python or python3)

if (Get-Command 'python' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {

    $pythonCommand = 'python'

} elseif (Get-Command 'python3' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {

    $pythonCommand = 'python3'

} else {

    Write-Error "Python is not installed or not in PATH."

    exit 1

}

  

foreach ($cmd in $requiredCommands) {

    if (-not (Get-Command $cmd -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {

        Write-Error "$cmd is not installed or not in PATH."

        exit 1

    }

}

  

# Step 1: Check if Git is initialized, and initialize if necessary

if (-not (Test-Path ".git")) {

    Write-Host "Initializing Git repository..."

    git init

    git remote add origin $myrepo

} else {

    Write-Host "Git repository already initialized."

    $remotes = git remote

    if (-not ($remotes -contains 'origin')) {

        Write-Host "Adding remote origin..."

        git remote add origin $myrepo

    }

}

  

# Step 2: Sync posts from Obsidian to Hugo content folder using Robocopy

Write-Host "Syncing posts from Obsidian..."

  

if (-not (Test-Path $sourcePath)) {

    Write-Error "Source path does not exist: $sourcePath"

    exit 1

}

  

if (-not (Test-Path $destinationPath)) {

    Write-Error "Destination path does not exist: $destinationPath"

    exit 1

}

  

# Use Robocopy to mirror the directories

$robocopyOptions = @('/MIR', '/Z', '/W:5', '/R:3')

$robocopyResult = robocopy $sourcePath $destinationPath @robocopyOptions

  

if ($LASTEXITCODE -ge 8) {

    Write-Error "Robocopy failed with exit code $LASTEXITCODE"

    exit 1

}

  

# Step 3: Process Markdown files with Python script to handle image links

Write-Host "Processing image links in Markdown files..."

if (-not (Test-Path "images.py")) {

    Write-Error "Python script images.py not found."

    exit 1

}

  

# Execute the Python script

try {

    & $pythonCommand images.py

} catch {

    Write-Error "Failed to process image links."

    exit 1

}

  

# Step 4: Build the Hugo site

Write-Host "Building the Hugo site..."

try {

    hugo

} catch {

    Write-Error "Hugo build failed."

    exit 1

}

  

# Step 5: Add changes to Git

Write-Host "Staging changes for Git..."

$hasChanges = (git status --porcelain) -ne ""

if (-not $hasChanges) {

    Write-Host "No changes to stage."

} else {

    git add .

}

  

# Step 6: Commit changes with a dynamic message

$commitMessage = "New Post on $(Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss')"

$hasStagedChanges = (git diff --cached --name-only) -ne ""

if (-not $hasStagedChanges) {

    Write-Host "No changes to commit."

} else {

    Write-Host "Committing changes..."

    git commit -m "$commitMessage"

}

  

# Step 7: Push all changes to the main branch

Write-Host "Deploying to GitHub Master..."

try {

    git push origin master

} catch {

    Write-Error "Failed to push to Master branch."

    exit 1

}

  

# Step 8: Push the public folder to the webhost-publish branch using subtree split and force push

Write-Host "Deploying to GitHub webhost-publish branch..."

  

# Check if the temporary branch exists and delete it

$branchExists = git branch --list "webhost-publish"

if ($branchExists) {

    git branch -D webhost-publish

}

  

# Perform subtree split

try {

    git subtree split --prefix public -b webhost-publish

} catch {

    Write-Error "Subtree split failed."

    exit 1

}

  

# Push to webhost-publish branch with force

try {

    git push origin webhost-publish --force

} catch {

    Write-Error "Failed to push to webhost-publish branch."

    git branch -D webhost-publish

    exit 1

}

  

# Delete the temporary branch

git branch -D webhost-publish

  

Write-Host "All done! Site synced, processed, committed, built, and deployed."

Everything is now working.
I can create a new obsidian blog post and then all I have to do is run the powershell script ‘publish.ps1’ from the root of the hugo site folder.