Second Brain

A dynamic blogging platform powered by Hugo, GitHub, and Obsidian for seamless content creation and publishing.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• How it works
• Getting Started
• Why Use Second Brain?
• Docs
• Future Plans
• Contributing
• License

Overview

Second Brain is a streamlined blogging platform hosted on GitHub, designed for creating and sharing knowledge effortlessly. It leverages Hugo for static site generation, the Hermit-v2 theme for a polished look, and Obsidian for intuitive content creation. Posts are written in Markdown and managed through Git, enabling a frictionless workflow for writers and developers alike.

How It Works

Second Brain uses a combination of Hugo, GitHub, and custom Git branches to manage and deploy content:

• Hugo: Converts Markdown (.md) files into HTML, powered by the Hermit-v2, eliminating the need for custom HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.
• GitHub Workflow:
  • Master Branch: Contains the entire project, including the Hugo site source and build pipeline.
  • Posts Branch: A clean branch for submitting new Markdown posts. A GitHub Action automatically moves posts to the content/Posts directory in the master branch and clears the posts branch.
  • For-Hosting Branch: Hosts the built static site (public folder from master) for deployment via GitHub Pages.
• Obsidian Integration: The posts branch also includes an .obsidian configuration, enabling a custom publish command. This allows content to be pushed directly from Obsidian. A Templates folder provides pre-defined front matter for consistent, well-formatted posts.

Getting Started

Follow these steps to set up your own Second Brain blog:

Prerequisites

• A GitHub account (sign up here.
• Basic familiarity with Git and Markdown.
• Optional: Obsidian for local note-taking, content creation and predefined configuration, templates and commands.

Setup Instructions

1. Fork the Repository:

   • Navigate to the Second Brain repository.
   • Fork the repository, ensuring all branches are copied (uncheck "Copy the master branch only").
   • Delete contents of posts directory to ensure you my blogs are not on your site.
   • Enable GitHub Actions in the Actions tab of your forked repository.

2. Configure GitHub Pages:

   • Go to Settings > Pages in your repository.
   • Set the branch to For-Hosting and save. Your site will be live at the URL provided (e.g., https://.github.io/Second-Brain/).

3. Edit Configuration:

   • Open the hugo.toml file in the master branch.
   • Update the baseURL to your GitHub Pages URL (e.g., baseURL = "https://.github.io/Second-Brain/").
   • Customize [params.author] (name and about) and [[params.socialLinks]] as desired.
   • Optionally modify copyright, homeSubtitle, footerCopyright, or giturl. more configuretion option here and here and example hugo.toml files here and here and also here.

4. Add a Test Post:

   • Switch to the posts branch.
   • Create a new .md file with the following front matter:

   ---
   title: Your Post Title
   description: Enter a description here
   date: 2025-01-15
   draft: false
   toc: true
   ShowLastmod: true
   ---

   • Commit and push the file. The GitHub Action will move it to the master branch and trigger a site rebuild.

5. Set Up Locally with Obsidian:

   • Clone your forked repository:

   git clone <your-repo-url.git>

   • Open the repository in Obsidian.
   • Retain the existing .obsidian folder, which includes plugins for publishing (e.g., shell commands for Git integration).
   • to publish a post, use Obsidian’s command palette (Ctrl+P), type publish, and run the command.
   • Optionally, create templates in a Templates folder for consistent post formatting:

   ---
   title: {{title}}
   description: Enter a description here
   date: {{date}}
   draft: false
   toc: true
   ShowLastmod: true
   ---

Why Use Second Brain?

Second Brain is designed to:

• Foster Creativity: Focus on generating ideas rather than storing them, exactly what brain is for.
• Share Knowledge: Make your insights accessible to others.
• Track Progress: Reflect on past work and projects. It’s ideal for developers, writers, and anyone looking to maintain a portfolio or blog with minimal setup.

Future Plans

• Portfolio Expansion: Showcase programming projects and technical deep dives.
• Obsidian Integration: Develop a custom Obsidian plugin for seamless post publishing without terminal or web interactions.
• Cross-Platform Support: Extend compatibility beyond Windows to macOS and Linux.
• Simplified Setup: Streamline configuration for non-technical users, reducing setup friction and merge conflicts.
• Content Ideas:
  • Tutorials on home server setups.
  • In-depth guide on Second Brain’s architecture.
  • A roadmap for future projects.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! To suggest improvements or report issues:

• Fork the repository.
• Create a new branch for your changes.
• Submit a pull request to the master branch. leave posts untouched.

License

• Code: The source code, including Hugo configurations, themes, and scripts, is licensed under the MIT License.
• Blog Posts: The content in the content/Posts directory is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.