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

1. Resolve config — follow the Config Resolution Protocol in llm-wiki/SKILL.md (inline @name override → walk up CWD for .env → ~/.llm-wiki/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

```dataview
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)

```dataview
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.

```dataview
TABLE WITHOUT ID
  rows.file.link AS "Concept",
  rows.summary AS "Summary"
FROM "concepts"
GROUP BY tags[0] AS "Domain"
```

Stale pages — use file.mtime for date math

Avoid choice(updated, date(updated), file.mtime) — mixed date formats in updated frontmatter cause arithmetic errors. file.mtime is always a valid DateTime.

```dataview
TABLE WITHOUT ID
  file.link AS "Page",
  category AS "Type",
  file.mtime AS "Last Modified",
  (date(today) - file.mtime).days + " days" AS "Age"
FROM "concepts" OR "entities" OR "projects"
WHERE file.name != file.folder
WHERE (date(today) - file.mtime).days > 30
SORT (date(today) - file.mtime).days DESC
```

Multi-folder query

```dataview
TABLE
  summary AS "Summary",
  file.mtime AS "Last Modified"
FROM "projects"
WHERE file.name != file.folder
SORT file.mtime DESC
```

Dataview reference

Step 3: Write the File

Bases: Target path $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/_meta/<dashboard-name>.base

Dataview: Write queries directly into any .md note. A dedicated dashboard note at $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/_meta/dashboard.md works well for multi-section views.

Slug examples:

• "All concepts" → _meta/concepts-index.base
• "Recent ingests" → _meta/recent-ingests.base
• "Project overview" → _meta/projects-overview.base
• "Stale pages" → _meta/stale-pages.base
• "Full dashboard" → _meta/dashboard.md

Create _meta/ if it doesn't exist yet.

Step 4: Embed Bases (optional)

To embed a .base inside a note:

## Entities
![[_meta/entities-tracker.base]]

Ask before modifying an existing note.

Step 5: Update Tracking

Append to $OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH/log.md:

- [TIMESTAMP] WIKI_DASHBOARD name="<slug>" tool=bases|dataview view=<type> filter="<description>"

No manifest or index update needed — dashboards are live queries, not static pages.

Common Dashboard Recipes

Quality Checklist

• Bases: filters use expression strings under and:/or:/not:, never typed objects
• Bases: groupBy goes inside the view definition — not as a top-level key
• Bases: column headers set via properties: <name>: displayName: "...", not columns: [{title}]
• Bases: formulas: used for computed columns, referenced as formula.<name> in order/properties
• Dataview: GROUP BY queries use rows.property not bare property
• Dataview: date arithmetic uses file.mtime, not choice(updated, ...)
• File written to _meta/ with a descriptive slug
• log.md updated
• User told how to embed Bases (![[_meta/<name>.base]]) or open the dashboard note

QMD Refresh After Vault Writes

GUARD: If $QMD_WIKI_COLLECTION is unset — the default — skip this step. QMD is a search index, not the source of truth.

When it is set, read llm-wiki/references/qmd.md and follow the Refresh section after this skill has written vault markdown. If refresh fails, do not roll back the vault changes; report the QMD status separately.