Obsidian Bases

Obsidian Bases

A .base file is YAML. Load obsidian-mechanics when accessing the user's vault and obsidian-cli only when running an obsidian command. Do not load obsidian-markdown unless also editing a Markdown note.

Minimal schema

filters:
  and:
    - 'status == "active"'
    - 'file.inFolder("Projects")'

formulas:
  days_old: '(now() - file.ctime).days'

properties:
  formula.days_old:
    displayName: 'Days old'

summaries:
  custom_average: 'values.mean().round(1)'

views:
  - type: table
    name: 'Active'
    limit: 20
    order:
      - file.name
      - status
      - formula.days_old
    groupBy:
      property: status
      direction: ASC
    summaries:
      formula.days_old: Average

Views may use table, cards, list or map. Global filters affect every view; a view may also define its own filters.

Filters

A filter is an expression or a recursive and, or or not object:

filters:
  or:
    - 'file.hasTag("book")'
    - and:
        - 'status == "active"'
        - 'priority >= 3'
    - not:
        - 'file.inFolder("Archive")'

Operators: ==, !=, >, <, >=, <=, &&, || and !.

Property namespaces:

• Note property: status or note.status
• File property: file.name, file.path, file.folder, file.ext, file.ctime, file.mtime, file.tags, file.links, file.backlinks
• Formula property: formula.<name>

this refers to the Base itself in its main view, the embedding file when embedded and the active file when opened in the sidebar.

Formulas

formulas:
  status_label: 'if(done, "Done", "Open")'
  created: 'file.ctime.format("YYYY-MM-DD")'
  days_until_due: 'if(due, (date(due) - today()).days, "")'

Common functions: date(), now(), today(), if(), duration(), file() and link(). Load references/FUNCTIONS_REFERENCE.md only when another function or type is needed.

Date subtraction returns a Duration. Access .days, .hours, .minutes, .seconds or .milliseconds before number operations:

formulas:
  age: '(now() - file.ctime).days.round(0)'

Guard optional properties with if(). Every formula.X reference must have a matching X under formulas.

Quoting

• Quote strings containing YAML punctuation.
• Prefer single quotes around formulas containing double-quoted strings.
• Check nested quotes before changing formula logic.

properties:
  status:
    displayName: 'Status: Active'
formulas:
  label: 'if(done, "Yes", "No")'

Validation

After editing:

1. Parse the file as YAML.
2. Confirm referenced properties and formulas exist.
3. Check filter and formula quoting.
4. Open the Base in Obsidian when available.

To embed a Base in Markdown:

![[MyBase.base]]
![[MyBase.base#View Name]]

References: syntax, functions and views.