Possibly the Most Beginner-Friendly Obsidian Image Hosting Tutorial

Source: X post by @alin_zone
Original language: Chinese
This is an English translation adapted for readability.

Why You Need This

How big is your Obsidian vault now?

You may have noticed your notes themselves are not that large — images are the real space hog:

• Screenshots
• Pasted reference images
• Random visuals scattered everywhere

Result:

• Sync gets slower and slower
• New devices take forever to sync
• Images fail to load on mobile from time to time

The fix is simple: set up an image hosting workflow for Obsidian.

When you paste an image:

1. It uploads to cloud storage automatically
2. Your note keeps only a URL
3. Local vault size drops significantly
4. Sync becomes much faster

The setup is just 3 steps:

1. Create Tencent Cloud COS bucket (~5 minutes)
2. Install PicList and connect COS (~3 minutes)
3. Install Obsidian plugin for auto-upload (~1 minute)

Tencent Cloud currently offers new users a free storage package (50GB for 180 days), which is usually enough for personal use.

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Step 1 — Register Tencent Cloud and Create a COS Bucket

Don’t panic when you see “Tencent Cloud.” You do not need server knowledge or coding. It’s basically account registration + clicking through a few forms.

COS (Object Storage) is just cloud storage for files. You upload images and get public links.

1.1 Register and Activate

• Register account: https://cloud.tencent.com/register?s_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloud.tencent.com%2F
• Complete identity verification: https://console.cloud.tencent.com/developer
• Enable COS: https://console.cloud.tencent.com/cos5

When enabling COS for the first time, you may see extra prompts — just proceed.

1.2 Create a Bucket

When creating bucket, fill these key fields:

1. Region: choose nearest city (e.g., Beijing, Shanghai)
2. Bucket name: any name (system appends numeric suffix)
3. Access permission: Public Read, Private Write

⚠️ Important: do not set it to Public Read/Write. That would allow anyone to upload files to your bucket.

After creation, save these two values from bucket overview:

• Bucket name (e.g., obsidian-alin-cos-1257870691)
• Region (e.g., ap-beijing)

1.3 Create API Keys

Go to key management and create an access key. You’ll get:

• SecretId (like username)
• SecretKey (like password)

⚠️ SecretKey is usually shown once. Save/export it immediately.

At this point, Tencent Cloud side is done. You should now have:

• Bucket name
• Region
• SecretId
• SecretKey

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Step 2 — Install PicList and Connect Tencent COS

PicList is the uploader that sends your images to COS.

GitHub: https://github.com/Kuingsmile/PicList

macOS install (optional):

brew install piclist --cask

Open PicList, go to Image Hosting / Tencent COS, and create a config.

Fill only these fields (leave others empty):

1. Config name: any (e.g., obsidian)
2. SecretId
3. SecretKey
4. Bucket (full bucket name)
5. AppId (numeric suffix at end of bucket name)
6. Region (ap-xxx, e.g., ap-beijing)

Then click Set as default image host.

2.1 Test Upload

Go to PicList upload page and drag in any image. If successful, you’ll get a URL like:

https://your-bucket.cos.ap-beijing.myqcloud.com/xxx.png

Open it in browser. If reachable/downloadable, configuration is good.

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Step 3 — Install Obsidian Plugin for Auto Upload

In Obsidian:

• Settings → Community plugins → Browse
• Search: Image auto upload
• Install and enable it

Now keep PicList running in background.

When you paste image in Obsidian:

• Before: local file embeds
• After: cloud URL embeds

That means new images no longer bloat your vault.

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Final Result

Done. The full workflow is:

1. COS bucket + keys
2. PicList connected to COS
3. Obsidian plugin auto-upload enabled

From now on, image pasting = cloud upload. Your notes stay lightweight and sync-friendly.

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Practical Tips

• PicList must stay running for auto-upload to work
• New buckets may trigger direct file download in browser; that’s normal and doesn’t affect embedding
• Existing old local images are not migrated automatically — only newly pasted images are auto-uploaded

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Related Posts from the Original Author

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• Obsidian + Claudian quick start: https://x.com/alin_zone/status/2020818787134845234?s=20
• OrbitOS knowledge management workflow: https://x.com/alin_zone/status/2021186943787335953?s=20
• AI image generation skill setup: https://x.com/alin_zone/status/2026950910207996359?s=20
• Desktop web clipper to Obsidian: https://x.com/alin_zone/status/2027692558944768444?s=20
• Mobile one-click clipping: https://x.com/alin_zone/status/2028392609581015268?s=20