Save to Obsidian

Publishing Guide

This document covers the public-facing setup required before submitting the extension to the Chrome Web Store. It complements STORE_LISTING.md and closes the open items in the “Pre-Publish Checklist” there.

Privacy Policy Hosting (GitHub Pages)

The Chrome Web Store dashboard requires a public URL for the privacy policy. This project will publish source on GitHub before store submission, so the simplest and most durable option is GitHub Pages serving the repo’s /docs folder on the default branch.

Why GitHub Pages over the alternatives:

• Raw GitHub URLs (raw.githubusercontent.com/...) render as plain text with no styling, can change shape on a rename, and look unprofessional to store reviewers. Ruled out.
• Personal site / blog introduces a separate moving piece (DNS, CMS, hosting bill) that has to outlive the extension. Ruled out for a single indie project.
• Netlify / Cloudflare Pages would work but adds a second account, a second deploy pipeline, and a second place to update when PRIVACY.md changes. Not worth the overhead when the repo is already on GitHub.
• GitHub Pages is free, version-controlled, served over HTTPS on a stable *.github.io URL, and updates automatically on every push to the default branch. The Markdown file is already in the repo, so there is nothing extra to maintain.

One-Time Setup

1. Push the repo to GitHub as a public repository. Suggested name: save-to-obsidian. Confirm PRIVACY.md (root) and this docs/PUBLISHING.md are committed.

2. Copy PRIVACY.md into docs/ so GitHub Pages can serve it. The root PRIVACY.md stays as the canonical source for the repo README; the docs/privacy.md copy is what the Chrome Web Store points at.

   Copy-Item .\PRIVACY.md .\docs\privacy.md
   

   Re-copy on every edit, or add a tiny pre-commit hook later.

3. Enable Pages. In the GitHub repo:
   • Settings -> Pages
   • Source: Deploy from a branch
   • Branch: main (or master)
   • Folder: /docs
   • Save
4. Wait ~1 minute for the first build. GitHub shows the live URL on the Pages settings page once it deploys.

URL to Register in the Chrome Web Store

Use this URL pattern in the “Privacy policy” field of the Chrome Web Store developer dashboard:

https://<github-username>.github.io/save-to-obsidian/privacy

GitHub Pages serves docs/privacy.md as /privacy (it strips the .md extension and renders the Markdown with the default Jekyll theme). If served at /privacy.md instead on your account, register that URL exactly as it resolves in a private browser window. Confirm it loads before saving the dashboard form.

Optional Polish

• Add a minimal docs/_config.yml with title: Save to Obsidian for a cleaner page header.
• Add docs/index.md pointing at privacy.md and the GitHub repo so the root of the Pages site is not a 404.
• No custom domain is needed for store submission. Skip DNS work unless you already own a domain you want to use.

Updating the Policy Later

1. Edit PRIVACY.md at the repo root (the canonical copy).
2. Copy-Item .\PRIVACY.md .\docs\privacy.md.
3. Commit and push. GitHub Pages redeploys automatically.
4. The Chrome Web Store URL does not change, so no dashboard update is required unless the file path changes.

Cross-Reference: STORE_LISTING.md Pre-Publish Checklist

This file resolves the following items from STORE_LISTING.md:

• “Host PRIVACY.md at a public URL and use that URL in the Chrome Web Store dashboard.” -> follow the steps above; paste the resulting https://<github-username>.github.io/save-to-obsidian/privacy URL into the dashboard’s Privacy policy field.
• “Set Chrome Web Store privacy disclosures to match PRIVACY.md.” -> mirror the “Data Handled” and “Data Not Collected” sections of the hosted privacy policy in the dashboard’s Privacy practices form.
• “Choose and add an open-source license before publishing source publicly.” -> resolved by the LICENSE file at the repo root (MIT).

Items still owned by the user and not covered here:

• “After publication assigns a stable extension ID, set helper ALLOWED_EXTENSION_ORIGIN=chrome-extension://<published-extension-id> in public setup docs.” Update README.md and SECURITY.md once the store assigns the ID.
• “Create final screenshots from the packaged extension, not a development mock.” Take screenshots from the loaded dist build, not the dev workspace.

Submission Order

A clean sequence for the first submission:

1. Run .\scripts\validate.ps1 and .\scripts\package-extension.ps1.
2. Push the public repo (with LICENSE, PRIVACY.md, docs/privacy.md).
3. Enable GitHub Pages and confirm the privacy URL loads.
4. Upload dist\save-to-obsidian-extension.zip to the Chrome Web Store dashboard.
5. Paste the GitHub Pages privacy URL into the dashboard.
6. Fill in permission justifications from STORE_LISTING.md.
7. Upload final screenshots.
8. Submit for review.
9. When the store assigns an extension ID, update ALLOWED_EXTENSION_ORIGIN guidance in README.md and SECURITY.md, then push.

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