Reusable Content with Note Transclusion
Obsidian has always let you embed one note inside another with ![[Note]]. As of today, Sidian renders these transclusions on your published site — not as links, but as actual inlined content.
What is note transclusion?
In Obsidian, you can write:
![[My Note]]
…and the full content of My Note appears inline wherever you wrote that line. It's different from a regular [[wikilink]] — instead of navigating to another page, the reader sees the content right there.
Sidian now resolves these at render time from your vault, so the published version looks exactly like it does in Obsidian.
Common uses
Shared header and footer — write your navigation or closing note once, embed it in every post. Update in one place, propagates everywhere instantly.
Reusable callouts — keep a Disclaimer.md with a warning block and embed it into any legal or sensitive note.
Modular long-form content — split a long guide into chapters and compose them in a single index note.
Living templates — a Status Update Template.md embedded across your weekly notes keeps the structure consistent without copy-paste.
Syntax
Embed an entire note:
![[Note Name]]
Embed just one section (everything under that heading):
![[Note Name#Section Title]]
The usual pipe syntax for display doesn't apply to transclusions — | is still used for image sizing and wikilink labels.
How it works on Sidian
When you visit a published page, Sidian fetches the rendered HTML of any transcluded note from the database and inlines it — no re-parsing needed. This means:
- Instant propagation — update your
_Header.md, sync it once, every page that includes it reflects the change immediately without re-syncing those pages. - Cycle-safe — if Note A transclude Note B and Note B transclude Note A, Sidian breaks the loop rather than hanging.
- Nested transclusions — supported up to three levels deep.
Keeping utility notes out of your nav
Your _Header.md and _Footer.md are real vault notes, so by default they'll appear in your site's navigation. Add unlisted: true to their frontmatter to hide them from the nav and index while still letting them be transcluded:
---
title: _Footer
unlisted: true
---
They remain accessible by direct URL — just invisible from the nav and search.
Live example
The header and footer of this very post are embedded notes. Here's what _Footer.md looks like in the vault:
---
title: _Footer
unlisted: true
---
---
*Built with [Sidian](https://sidian.app) — publish your Obsidian vault as a private website.*
[Get started free →](https://sidian.app/login)
And at the bottom of this post:
![[_Footer]]
That's all it takes.