Base Diagram

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Base Diagram

Turn any folder of notes into a relationship diagram — powered entirely by Bases and your own frontmatter. No proprietary file format, no separate database. Your notes are the data; Base Diagram just draws them.

Your notes stay the single source of truth. Base Diagram never stores your content anywhere else — it only reads what's already in your frontmatter.

What it does

Point Base Diagram at a folder, and it will:

• Read every note's frontmatter and treat any link-type property (e.g. related: "[[Other Note]]") as a relationship
• Draw each note as a table-style box: title, then its other properties
• Draw an arrow from the note that holds the link (the source) to the note it points to (the target)
• Let you drag boxes into whatever layout makes sense to you — positions are saved per folder, so they're still there next time you open the diagram
• Let a note open in a new tab with one click, right from its box
• Show subfolders as folder-shaped boxes you can step into, with a breadcrumb to step back out

This is not a full ER-diagram tool with formal cardinality notation — it's a lightweight way to see how the notes in one folder relate to each other, using data you were probably already writing.

Use cases

Base Diagram doesn't care what your notes are about — anything you can express as "this note relates to that note" works:

• Character relationship maps for fiction writing
• Project structure: planning notes, research, tasks, and ideas
• Worldbuilding: locations, factions, and events
• Lightweight data or system design sketches

Why not just use the graph view?

Obsidian's built-in graph view shows your entire vault, all the time, with no control over layout. Base Diagram is scoped and intentional instead:

Getting started

1. In a folder, add a link-type frontmatter property to a note, e.g.:

   ---
   related:
     - "[[Some Other Note]]"
   type: table
   status: draft
   ---
   

   Tip — adding properties in Live Preview: In Live Preview (Obsidian's default mode), typing --- or - by hand is treated as Markdown (a horizontal rule or a list), so the YAML won't come out right. Use one of these instead:

   • Paste the whole YAML block above at the top of a note — it turns into properties automatically
   • Or run Add file property, then type [[ in the value to pick a note

2. Open the diagram in either of two ways:

   • Command: with a note in that folder open, run Open relation diagram from the command palette. It opens the folder of the note you're currently viewing.
   • Right-click: right-click a folder in the file explorer and choose Open relation diagram. It opens the folder you clicked.

3. Drag boxes around to arrange them. Your layout is remembered. New notes that have no saved position are placed in name order (numbers sort numerically) in a new row below your lowest box. Drag a box once to keep it where you put it.

4. Click Open note on any box to jump straight to it.

5. After restarting Obsidian, click the refresh button in the view's header to redraw the diagram — no need to rerun the command.

Subfolders

Subfolders of the folder you're viewing appear as folder-shaped boxes with the number of notes inside. Like note boxes, you can drag them and their positions are saved.

• Click Open folder on a folder box to step into it in the same tab. Hold Ctrl (Cmd on Mac) while clicking to open it in a new tab.
• The breadcrumb above the diagram (e.g. / > Projects > Ideas) shows where you are. Click any level except the last to go back up.
• Links between notes in different folders aren't drawn — each diagram shows one folder's notes only.

Tips for readable diagrams

• Keep property names and values short — long values are truncated to fit the box (hover a truncated value to see the full text)
• One note, one concept — split ideas across notes and link them, rather than cramming everything into one note
• Pick a consistent direction for your links (e.g. always link from a derivative note to its source) so arrows stay easy to read over time
• related (or whatever property you use for links) is not itself shown as a property row — it becomes the arrow instead

Optional: color-coding

Add a color property to tint a note's box background:

color: blue

Supported values: red, blue, green, yellow, purple. Any other value, or no value at all, falls back to the default background.

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.8.7 or later (for the Bases feature and language detection)

Installation

From Community Plugins (recommended)

1. Open Settings → Community plugins in Obsidian
2. If Restricted mode is on, click Turn on community plugins
3. Click Browse and search for Base Diagram
4. Click Install, then Enable

Manual installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create a folder YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/bases-relation-diagram/
3. Copy the three files into it
4. Reload Obsidian and enable Base Diagram in Community plugins

Manual layout by design

Base Diagram intentionally does not run an automatic graph layout. Once you place a note, it stays there — positions are saved per folder, so a layout you've arranged with meaning (a timeline, a hierarchy, groups of related notes) won't be reshuffled as your notes change.

Think of it less as a graph view and more as a relation board you build and maintain yourself.

Known limitations

• One diagram shows one folder at a time
• Relationship lines are straight and can cross or pass behind boxes; rearrange boxes to keep dense diagrams readable
• No formal cardinality notation (1-to-many, etc.) — just directional arrows

Feedback

Feedback and bug reports are welcome in Issues.

License

See LICENSE.