1.2 Frontmatter
A note’s frontmatter is its machine-readable face. One property set,
stable everywhere, so that every tool — Obsidian Bases, the vault loader, the
press, an AI agent — reads the same truth.
Core properties
| Key | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
title |
string | Display title (the H1 may differ) |
description |
string | One-line summary, used by indexes and meta tags |
created / modified |
datetime | Lifecycle timestamps |
tags |
list | Free taxonomy (log, manual, design…) |
type |
string | What the note is: note, project, package, book, font |
status |
string | For projects/packages: active · paused · future · archived |
maturity |
string | For projects/packages: seed → sprout → tree |
publish |
boolean | May this leave the vault? |
visibility |
string | private · public |
permalink |
string | URL override when published ("/" marks a root note) |
theme |
string | Named theme applied to this note |
cssclasses |
list | Obsidian styling hooks |
The token rule
A custom frontmatter key is a design token: key === CSS variable.
---
theme: editorial
color-accent: "#C03A17"
font-size: 24px
---
Each custom key becomes --color-accent, --font-size on the rendered page —
Layer 3 of the design system, the override that always wins. This is why a
note can art-direct itself without touching any stylesheet.
What implements this
type: project + status/maturity drive the project dashboard (Obsidian
Base). permalink drives publishing. The token rule is honored by both the
Obsidian theme and the web renderer — see the
Framework reference.