Auto Note Importer

Auto Note Importer

Import and sync notes bidirectionally between Airtable, SeaTable, Supabase, and your Obsidian vault with smart field mapping and organization features. Built on a provider-agnostic core; more databases (Notion, Custom API) tracked in #11.

✨ Key Features

• Multiple Databases: Airtable, SeaTable, and Supabase supported today; pluggable provider architecture for more
• Bidirectional Sync: Sync notes from your remote database to Obsidian and back
• Multi-Config: Run several sync configurations (different bases / tables / folders) side-by-side
• Computed-Field Support: Auto-fetch formula / rollup / lookup / link-formula values after pushing
• Conflict Resolution: Manual, Obsidian wins, Remote wins modes
• Smart Field Selection: Type-aware dropdowns; provider-specific safe-for-filename whitelist
• Subfolder Organization: Auto-organize notes into subfolders based on a field value
• Safe File Naming: Per-provider validation (text / select / number / formula / auto-number)
• Template Support: {{fieldName}} placeholders with nested-property access
• Obsidian Bases Compatible: YAML output tuned for table/card views
• Automated Syncing: Manual sync, scheduled intervals, or auto on file change
• Zero Coding Required: Point-and-click setup with intuitive UI

📦 Installation

1. Open Obsidian
2. Go to Settings → Community plugins → Browse
3. Search for "Auto Note Importer" and install it
4. Enable the plugin
5. Add a credential for your provider (Airtable PAT, SeaTable API Token, or Supabase API key), then configure a sync configuration

🚀 Quick Start

1. Get Your Provider Credentials

Airtable

1. Visit the Airtable Tokens page
2. Click Create new token
3. Select scopes:
   • data.records:read — required for importing
   • data.records:write — required for bidirectional sync
   • schema.bases:read — required for field selection
4. Choose your bases and click Create token
5. Copy the Personal Access Token

SeaTable

1. Open your SeaTable Base → More options (⋯) → Advanced settings → API Tokens → Add API Token
2. Pick Read and write permission
3. Copy the API Token (it is base-specific)
4. Note your server URL (default: https://cloud.seatable.io; self-hosted users use their own host)

Supabase

1. In your Supabase project, open Project Settings → API
2. Copy the Project URL (e.g. https://abc.supabase.co)
3. Copy an API Key:
   • Publishable (sb_publishable_…) — RLS-protected, safe for client-side use. Recommended.
   • Legacy anon (JWT) — RLS-protected, also fine but deprecated by Supabase
   • Secret (sb_secret_…) or service_role (JWT) — bypasses RLS; only use if you understand the implications. The plugin auto-detects key type and warns when a secret key is entered.
4. Ensure the schema you want to sync is in Settings → API → Exposed schemas (default public is already exposed)
5. Publishable key users: Supabase's new key system blocks schema introspection (OpenAPI) for publishable keys. The plugin shows a one-time setup banner — either inline inside the Add credential form (when you click Test or Save) or in the Supabase Connection card afterwards — with a SECURITY DEFINER SQL function. Click Copy SQL, paste it into your Supabase SQL Editor, Run once, then click I've run it — Verify. Re-running is safe. Credential save is blocked until the RPC is verified (fail-closed). Legacy anon JWT and secret keys don't need this step — the plugin auto-detects and skips the gate.

2. Configure the Plugin

1. Open Settings → Auto Note Importer
2. Add credential — pick the provider type (Airtable / SeaTable / Supabase) and paste your token
3. The connection card adapts to your selected credential. Fill in:
   • Airtable: Base → Table → View (optional) → Filename / Subfolder fields
   • SeaTable: Table ID → View ID (optional) → Filename / Subfolder column names
   • Supabase: Schema (default public) → Table → View (optional) → Primary key column → Filename / Subfolder columns. Tables/columns are auto-populated from your project's OpenAPI spec; a text-input fallback appears when the schema cannot be reached.
4. Destination folder in your vault
5. Template — optional {{fieldName}} template
6. Bidirectional sync — toggle if you want changes flowing both ways

You can have multiple configurations (e.g. one Airtable + one SeaTable + one Supabase, or two SeaTable bases) — switch between them with the tab bar at the top of the settings panel.

3. Sync Notes

Use Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P). Each command is labeled with the active config's provider:

* Commands marked with * require Enable bidirectional sync to be turned on. They are hidden from Command Palette when disabled.

You can also schedule syncs:

• Sync interval: minutes (0 = manual only)
• Watch for changes: detect file edits and queue automatic sync

⚙️ Settings Guide

Per-Configuration Basics

Bidirectional Sync

Supported Field Types

The plugin maps each provider's native types to a normalized taxonomy (text / number / date / boolean / single-select / multi-select / attachment / link / computed / system). Each provider's FieldTypeMapper decides which types are filename-safe and which are read-only (excluded from push) — fail-closed for unknown types.

Airtable

✅ Safe for Filenames & Subfolders: singleLineText, singleSelect, number, formula

🔒 Read-only (synced from Airtable only): formula, rollup, count, lookup, externalSyncSource, aiText, button, createdTime, lastModifiedTime, createdBy, lastModifiedBy, autoNumber

📋 Complete Airtable Field Type Reference →

SeaTable

✅ Safe for Filenames & Subfolders: text, single-select, number, auto-number, formula

🔒 Read-only (synced from SeaTable only): formula, link-formula, button, ctime, mtime, creator, last-modifier, auto-number

Supabase

✅ Safe for Filenames & Subfolders: string, string:uuid, integer, integer:int64 (and their :readonly variants — typical for PostgreSQL primary keys)

🔒 Read-only (synced from Supabase only): any column flagged readOnly: true in the PostgREST OpenAPI spec — typically GENERATED ALWAYS AS ... columns and view-derived columns

PostgreSQL type → standard mapping summary: text/varchar/uuid → text · integer/numeric/real → number · boolean → boolean · date/timestamp/timestamptz → date · json/jsonb → text (raw JSON string) · text[]/int[] → multi-select · bytea → unknown (skipped)

Unsupported / read-only fields are automatically hidden in dropdowns to prevent push errors.

🔄 How It Works

Unique Identification

Each note carries the remote record id in the primaryField frontmatter key — the immutable handle the sync pipeline uses to match notes back to their remote row.

File Naming Logic

1. Use the selected Filename Field if present and non-empty
2. Fallback to the remote record id
3. All filenames are sanitized for cross-platform compatibility

Subfolder Organization

• With Subfolder Field: destination/field-value/note.md
• Without Subfolder Field: destination/note.md
• Supports nested folders (e.g. "Category/Subcategory")
• Recursive duplicate detection across all subfolders

Bidirectional Sync Flow

┌─────────────┐     Push      ┌──────────────┐
│   Obsidian  │ ───────────▶  │   Remote DB  │
│   (Notes)   │               │  (Airtable / │
│             │  ◀───────────  │   SeaTable)  │
└─────────────┘     Pull      └──────────────┘

1. Obsidian → Remote: edit frontmatter, sync pushes writable fields
2. Server-side computation: the remote computes formulas / rollups / link-formulas
3. Remote → Obsidian: pull back computed values to update notes

Conflict Resolution

When the same field is modified in both Obsidian and the remote:

📝 Template Usage

Create custom note templates using {{fieldName}} placeholders:

---
title: "{{Title}}"
status: "{{Status}}"
author: "{{Author.name}}"
created: "{{Created time}}"
---

# {{Title}}

## Summary
{{Summary}}

## Content
{{Description}}

## Attachments
{{Attachment.0.url}}

Advanced Features:

• Nested Access: {{Attachment.0.url}}, {{User.name}}
• Multi-line Support: Automatic YAML block-scalar formatting
• Bases Optimization: Proper YAML types for table/card views

📝 Template Examples & Best Practices →

🔗 Obsidian Bases Integration

This plugin emits Bases-compatible YAML frontmatter with proper data types for seamless table/card view editing. Import your notes, enable the Bases plugin, and create a database from the imported folder for powerful data management workflows.

📊 Example Workflows

One-way Import

1. Collect data with automation tools (n8n, Zapier, Apps Script)
2. Store in Airtable or SeaTable
3. Import to Obsidian via this plugin
4. Organize automatically using Subfolder Field
5. Manage in Obsidian Bases (table/card view)

Bidirectional Workflow

1. Import records as Obsidian notes
2. Edit frontmatter fields in Obsidian (status, tags, notes)
3. Push changes back to the remote
4. Compute formulas / rollups / link-formulas server-side
5. Pull computed values back into Obsidian

🔐 Permissions & Disclosures

What the plugin accesses and why — full transparency. Nothing is sent anywhere except the database APIs you configure; there is no telemetry.

• Vault file enumeration (vault.getAllLoadedFiles, vault.getAbstractFileByPath)
  • Why: find notes to sync, scope sync to your destination folder, and power folder / file autocomplete in settings.
  • Scope: file paths only. Contents are read on demand by the sync flow (see below), not during enumeration.
• Vault read & write (vault.read, vault.create, vault.modify, vault.createFolder, vault.adapter.exists)
  • Why: import remote records into .md files, parse frontmatter to push edits back, create destination subfolders, and write computed values returned by formulas / rollups.
  • Scope: only files inside the destination folder you configure per sync config.
• Vault change events (vault.on, vault.offref)
  • Why: detect file edits when "Watch for file changes" is enabled, so edits can be queued for push.
  • Scope: events on all files; the handler filters to your configured destination folder before queuing.
• Clipboard write (navigator.clipboard.writeText)
  • Why: the Supabase credential form's "Copy SQL" button copies a one-time SECURITY DEFINER setup function for you to paste into the Supabase SQL Editor. A Notice fallback is shown when clipboard access is denied.
  • Scope: clipboard is only ever written (never read), and only when you click that specific button.
• Network requests (Obsidian requestUrl)
  • Why: REST calls to Airtable / SeaTable / Supabase only, scoped to credentials you register.
  • Scope: no third-party services, no analytics endpoints, no auto-update checks.

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Common Issues:

• No fields showing: re-check token permissions and base/table selection
• Sync fails: verify network connection and credentials
• File naming errors: confirm the selected field type is supported (per-provider whitelist)
• Missing subfolders: check the subfolder field value isn't empty
• Bidirectional sync not working: ensure write permissions (Airtable PAT data.records:write; SeaTable token "Read and write")
• Formulas not updating: increase the computed-field sync delay
• Conflicts detected: check conflict resolution mode
• Supabase: RLS denial / empty result: anon/publishable key respects RLS policies. Ensure your table has the right SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE policies, or temporarily test with a secret key to confirm permissions are the issue.

🧪 Development — Supabase E2E Setup

Contributors running the Supabase e2e suite (npm run test:e2e:supabase:full) need a demo Supabase project. Create a free project at supabase.com, open the SQL Editor, and run:

CREATE TYPE note_status AS ENUM ('draft', 'published', 'archived');

CREATE TABLE notes (
  id uuid PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
  title text NOT NULL,
  content text,
  status note_status DEFAULT 'draft',
  tags text[],
  meta jsonb,
  archived boolean DEFAULT false,
  created_at timestamptz DEFAULT now(),
  updated_at timestamptz DEFAULT now(),
  full_text text GENERATED ALWAYS AS (title || ' ' || coalesce(content, '')) STORED
);

CREATE VIEW active_notes AS
  SELECT * FROM notes WHERE archived = false;

ALTER TABLE notes ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
CREATE POLICY "anon_all" ON notes FOR ALL USING (true);

If you'll run e2e (or the plugin itself) with a publishable key (sb_publishable_…), also install the schema-introspection RPC fallback — Supabase's new key system blocks the OpenAPI endpoint for publishable keys, and the plugin reads schema through this RPC instead.

Easiest path: build + load the plugin once, open Settings → Supabase Connection, and click Copy SQL in the "One-time setup required" banner. Paste into Supabase SQL Editor and Run.

For automated environments where you can't open the UI, extract the SQL with tsx (Node alone can't require a .ts file on every release):

npx tsx -e "import('./src/constants/supabase-rpc.ts').then(m => console.log(m.SUPABASE_RPC_SCHEMA_SQL))"

Re-running is safe (CREATE OR REPLACE). This step is unnecessary for legacy anon JWTs — those still receive OpenAPI directly.

Add to .env at the project root:

SUPABASE_URL=https://<your-ref>.supabase.co
SUPABASE_KEY=sb_publishable_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Then npm run test:e2e:supabase:full runs the full build + deploy + e2e flow.

Provider-specific Tips:

• Airtable: read-only fields (formulas, rollups) are auto-excluded from push. Use Obsidian wins for faster sync (skips conflict detection).
• SeaTable: API tokens are base-specific. Each token grants access to exactly one base — get a separate token per base. Self-hosted users override Server URL per credential.

☕ Support

If you find this plugin useful, support development:

📄 License

MIT License