obsidian-bases

obsidian-bases: Obsidian's Database Layer

Obsidian Bases (launched 2025) turns vault notes into queryable, dynamic views. Tables, cards, lists, maps. Defined in .base files. No plugin required; it is a core Obsidian feature.

Authoritative reference: If the kepano/obsidian-skills plugin is installed, prefer its canonical obsidian-bases skill. Otherwise, use the reference below. Official docs: https://help.obsidian.md/bases/syntax

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File Format

.base files contain valid YAML. The root keys are filters, formulas, properties, summaries, and views.

# Global filters: apply to ALL views
filters:
  and:
    - file.hasTag("wiki")
    - 'status != "archived"'

# Computed properties
formulas:
  age_days: '(now() - file.ctime).days.round(0)'
  status_icon: 'if(status == "mature", "✅", "🔄")'

# Display name overrides for properties panel
properties:
  status:
    displayName: "Status"
  formula.age_days:
    displayName: "Age (days)"

# One or more views
views:
  - type: table
    name: "All Pages"
    order:
      - file.name
      - type
      - status
      - updated
      - formula.age_days

---

Filters

Filters select which notes appear. Applied globally or per-view.

# Single string filter
filters: 'status == "current"'

# AND: all must be true
filters:
  and:
    - 'status != "archived"'
    - file.hasTag("wiki")

# OR: any can be true
filters:
  or:
    - file.hasTag("concept")
    - file.hasTag("entity")

# NOT: exclude matches
filters:
  not:
    - file.inFolder("wiki/meta")

# Nested
filters:
  and:
    - file.inFolder("wiki/")
    - or:
        - 'type == "concept"'
        - 'type == "entity"'

Filter operators

== != > < >= <=

Useful filter functions

Function	Example
file.hasTag("x")	Notes with tag x
file.inFolder("path/")	Notes in folder
file.hasLink("Note")	Notes linking to Note

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Properties

Three types:

• Note properties: from frontmatter: status, type, updated
• File properties: metadata: file.name, file.mtime, file.size, file.ctime, file.tags, file.folder
• Formula properties: computed: formula.age_days