Publish to Discourse Post Update Guide
This note outlines the minimum required frontmatter fields and key behaviors when using the Publish to Discourse plugin in Obsidian to update existing threads on a Discourse forum.
Use this as a reference to avoid silent failures and ensure proper syncing between your .md
files and published content.
Minimum Required Frontmatter Template
Use this block at the top of your note:
---
title: [REQUIRED]
category: [REQUIRED]
discourse_post_id: [REQUIRED]
discourse_topic_id: [REQUIRED]
discourse_url: [OPTIONAL]
discourse_tags: [] # Must be defined, even if empty
discourse_category_id: [RECOMMENDED]
discourse_category: [REQUIRED]
---
Field Breakdown
Field | Required | Notes |
---|---|---|
title |
![]() |
Sets the Discourse thread title. Required for both new & updated posts. |
category |
![]() |
Must match a valid Discourse category exactly (case-sensitive). |
discourse_post_id |
![]() |
Needed to identify and update the existing post. |
discourse_topic_id |
![]() |
Identifies the correct thread on the forum. |
discourse_url |
![]() |
Optional reference link โ helpful for confirmation or debugging. |
discourse_tags |
![]() |
Must be declared. Use [] if no tags are needed. |
discourse_category_id |
![]() |
Sometimes required depending on forum setup. Default for โUncategorizedโ is 1 . |
discourse_category |
![]() |
Must exactly match a real Discourse category (e.g., Uncategorized ). |
Common Mistakes That Break Publishing
-
Misspelled
category
WritingUncatagorized
instead ofUncategorized
silently breaks publishing. -
Leaving required fields blank
Example of a broken config:.
discourse_tags: discourse_category:
These must be explicitly set:
discourse_tags: [] discourse_category: Uncategorized
-
Missing
discourse_post_id
ordiscourse_topic_id
Without both, the plugin will not know what to update and may fail silently or create a duplicate post. -
Incorrectly assuming headers or callouts affect title
Only thetitle:
key in frontmatter sets the published thread title. Writing# My Title
in the body has no effect.โ
Updating a Post from Obsidian
To publish updates correctly:
-
Make sure your
.md
file includes all required frontmatter fields listed above. -
Save the file.
-
In Obsidian, use the Publish to Discourse โ Update Post command.
-
Check the forum to verify that your title, body, and tags were updated.
If the update fails silently, itโs almost always due to a typo, a missing ID, or an empty required field.