Wiki Dashboard

Wiki Dashboard — Dynamic Vault Views

Two tools available: Obsidian Bases (native, GUI-driven, no plugin) and Dataview (community plugin, SQL-like, more powerful). Check which the user has and prefer Bases unless they ask for Dataview or need GROUP BY / computed columns.

Before You Start

Writing profile: Before drafting or rewriting natural-language Markdown, read and apply the Writing Profile Resolution section in llm-wiki/SKILL.md. Framework schema, provenance, safety, and operation-specific requirements take precedence. Apply WRITING.md preferences only to optional Markdown dashboard prose; .base syntax remains unchanged.

1. Resolve config — follow the Config Resolution Protocol in llm-wiki/SKILL.md (inline @name override → walk up CWD for .env → global config → prompt setup). This gives OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH.
2. Read $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/index.md to understand what categories and pages exist.
3. Ask the user what they want to view if not specified — folder, tag, category, date range?
4. Ask if they have Dataview installed if you're unsure which tool to use.

Option A — Obsidian Bases (.base files)

Bases are YAML files that define live views over vault notes. Native to Obsidian 1.8+, no plugin needed.

Official canonical schema

Top-level keys:

filters:      # Global filter applied to all views (expression strings under and/or/not)
formulas:     # Named computed properties — referenced as formula.<name>
properties:   # Display config per property — sets displayName for column headers
summaries:    # Aggregation formulas (e.g. mean, sum)
views:        # Array of view definitions (required)

Each item in views::

views:
  - type: table          # table | list | cards | map
    name: "View Name"    # display label
    limit: 50            # optional max rows
    order:               # column display order (list of property/formula names)
      - file.name
      - note.updated
    groupBy:             # grouping — goes INSIDE the view, NOT at top level
      property: note.tags
      direction: ASC     # ASC | DESC
    filters:             # view-specific filter (merges with global filters)
      and:
        - 'note.status != "done"'
    summaries:
      formula.myFormula: Average

Filter syntax — CRITICAL

Filters use expression strings, not typed objects. Always wrap in and:, or:, or not: — a bare list causes a "may only have one of and/or/not keys" parse error.

# CORRECT
filters:
  and:
    - file.inFolder("concepts")

# WRONG — typed objects (parse error)
filters:
  - type: folder
    folder: concepts

Filters support nesting:

filters:
  or:
    - file.hasTag("book")
    - and:
        - file.inFolder("concepts")
        - file.hasTag("research")
    - not:
        - file.hasTag("archived")

Property name conventions

Different contexts use different naming — confirmed from Obsidian's auto-reformat behaviour:

Basic table — folder filter

filters:
  and:
    - file.inFolder("concepts")
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Page
  note.tags:
    displayName: Tags
  note.summary:
    displayName: Summary
  note.updated:
    displayName: Updated
views:
  - type: table
    name: Table
    order:
      - file.name
      - tags
      - summary
      - updated

Cards view — folder filter

filters:
  and:
    - file.inFolder("entities")
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Entity
  note.title:
    displayName: Full Name
  note.tags:
    displayName: Tags
  note.summary:
    displayName: Summary
views:
  - type: cards
    name: Cards
    order:
      - file.name
      - title
      - tags
      - summary

Group by property — groupBy goes INSIDE the view

When groupBy is set, omit that property from `order:` — it becomes the group header row and adding it as a column too causes duplication.

filters:
  and:
    - file.inFolder("concepts")
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Concept
  note.summary:
    displayName: Summary
  note.updated:
    displayName: Updated
views:
  - type: table
    name: By Domain
    groupBy:
      property: tags        # bare property name, no note. prefix
      direction: ASC
    order:
      - file.name           # do NOT include tags here — already the group header
      - summary
      - updated

Tag filter

filters:
  and:
    - file.hasTag("machine-learning")
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Page
  note.category:
    displayName: Category
  note.summary:
    displayName: Summary
views:
  - type: table
    name: Table
    order:
      - file.name
      - category
      - summary

Multi-filter (folder AND tag)

filters:
  and:
    - file.inFolder("projects")
    - file.hasTag("active")
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Project
  note.summary:
    displayName: Summary
  note.updated:
    displayName: Last Updated
views:
  - type: cards
    name: Cards
    order:
      - file.name
      - summary
      - updated

OR filter (two folders)

filters:
  or:
    - file.inFolder("concepts")
    - file.inFolder("entities")
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Page
  note.category:
    displayName: Category
  note.updated:
    displayName: Updated
views:
  - type: table
    name: Table
    order:
      - file.name
      - category
      - updated

Computed column via formulas

filters:
  and:
    - file.inFolder("concepts")
formulas:
  days_stale: "floor((now() - note.updated) / 86400000)"
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Page
  note.updated:
    displayName: Updated
  formula.days_stale:
    displayName: Days Stale
views:
  - type: table
    name: Stale
    order:
      - file.name
      - updated
      - formula.days_stale

Filter expression reference

On Obsidian UI-generated format: When Obsidian's GUI writes or reformats a .base file it may output a simplified shorthand with top-level columns:, sort:, and view: keys instead of the canonical schema. That format also works — Obsidian accepts both. Manually authored files should use the canonical schema above.

Option B — Dataview (community plugin)

Dataview uses a SQL-like query language inside `dataview ` code blocks in any note. More powerful than Bases for computed columns, GROUP BY, and cross-folder queries.

Basic table — folder

TABLE tags AS "Tags", summary AS "Summary", file.mtime AS "Last Modified" FROM "concepts" SORT file.mtime DESC

Table with clickable links (TABLE WITHOUT ID)

TABLE WITHOUT ID file.link AS "Entity", tags AS "Tags", summary AS "Summary" FROM "entities" SORT file.name ASC

GROUP BY — use rows. prefix after grouping

After GROUP BY, individual file properties must be prefixed with rows. — otherwise the column is empty or errors.

TABLE WITHOUT ID rows.file.link AS "Concept", rows.summary AS "Summary" FROM "concepts"