obsidian-bases

# Obsidian Bases

Expert knowledge for creating and managing Obsidian Bases - the interactive database feature introduced in Obsidian v1.9.10 that transforms notes into filterable, sortable views using YAML frontmatter properties.

## Core Concepts

**What is Bases?**
- Native core plugin (no community plugins required)
- Creates interactive database views from any set of notes
- Uses `.base` file extension (plain-text YAML format)
- **Only reads YAML frontmatter** - does not parse note content
- Faster performance than Dataview with inline editing support

**Key Distinction from Dataview:**
- Bases: User-friendly, visual, inline editable, YAML frontmatter only
- Dataview: More powerful queries, inline properties, content parsing

## File Structure

```yaml
# example.base
filters:
  # Global filters (apply to all views)
  and:
    - 'status != "done"'
    - taggedWith(file.file, "project")

formulas:
  # Computed properties
  days_left: '(dueDate - today()).days()'
  status_icon: 'if(done, "✅", "⬜")'

views:
  - type: table
    name: "Active Tasks"
    filters:
      'dueDate > now()'      # View-specific filter
    properties:
      - name: title
        displayName: "Task"
      - name: status
      - name: dueDate
    sort:
      - property: dueDate
        direction: asc

  - type: card
    name: "Visual View"
    properties:
      - name: cover
      - name: title
```

## Property Access Patterns

### Note Properties (Frontmatter)

```yaml
# Shorthand access
price
status
tags

# Explicit prefix
note.price
note.status

# Bracket notation (for spaces)
note["property name"]
```

### File Properties (Implicit)

```yaml
file.path      # Full file path
file.name      # File name only
file.folder    # Parent folder
file.size      # File size in bytes
file.ctime     # Creation time
file.mtime     # Modification time
file.ext       # Extension
file.file      # File object (for filter functions)
file.links     # Outgoing links
file.inlinks   # Incoming backlinks
```

###