Note Schemas

Note Schemas

Give your note kinds a type. Note Schemas lets you declare, in one file, what frontmatter each kind of note should carry — required fields, their types, allowed enum values — and then validates your vault against those rules, autocompletes frontmatter while you type, and safely autofixes the easy mistakes.

Features

• Typed schemas for note kinds, defined in a single JSON (or YAML) file.
• Validation of every note's frontmatter: missing required fields, wrong types, disallowed enum values and list members (errors), and unknown fields (warnings).
• A side panel listing all violations, grouped by note and clickable.
• A live status-bar indicator for the active note (✓ valid / ✗ invalid), refreshed on save.
• Frontmatter autocomplete: field names for the note's type, and enum values for enum fields — only inside the --- block.
• Safe autofix: insert missing required fields that declare a default, and coerce obvious type mistakes (numeric strings → numbers, "true"/"false" → booleans, a lone scalar → a one-item list).

How to use

The schema file

By default the plugin reads note-schemas.json from your vault's config directory (usually .obsidian/note-schemas.json); the path is configurable in settings. It is a map of type name → definition:

{
  "book": {
    "match": { "folder": "Books", "tagged": "book", "frontmatterType": "book" },
    "fields": {
      "title":  { "type": "string", "required": true },
      "author": { "type": "string" },
      "status": { "type": "enum", "values": ["to-read", "reading", "done"], "default": "to-read", "required": true },
      "rating": { "type": "number" },
      "tags":   { "type": "list" },
      "finished": { "type": "date" }
    }
  },
  "meeting": {
    "match": { "folder": "Meetings" },
    "fields": {
      "date":       { "type": "date", "required": true },
      "attendees":  { "type": "list", "required": true },
      "type":       { "type": "string" }
    }
  }
}

YAML is also supported — point the setting at a .yaml/.yml file instead.

How a note's type is resolved

For each note the plugin picks the first matching type:

1. If frontmatter type equals a declared type name, that type is used.
2. Otherwise each type's match rule is tried in declaration order:
   • frontmatterType — frontmatter type equals this value,
   • folder — the note lives in (or under) this folder,
   • tagged — the note carries this tag (frontmatter or inline, # optional).

Notes that match no type are simply ignored ("untyped").

Field types

string, number, boolean, date (YYYY-MM-DD), enum (requires values), list. Each field may set required: true, and any field may declare a default used by autofix. A list field may also declare values; its members are then validated against that allow-list.

Commands

• Validate vault against schemas — validates every typed note and opens the violations panel. Also available from the ribbon (checklist icon).
• Open schema violations panel — reveal the side panel.
• Fix all safe issues in this note — apply every safe fix to the active note.

Settings

• Schema file path — vault-relative path to the schema file.
• Validate on save — re-validate the active note on change and drive the status-bar indicator.
• Reload schema — re-read the schema file after editing it. Schema files kept inside the vault also reload automatically on save; the default path lives under the config directory, which Obsidian does not watch, so use this button (or re-open settings) to reload after editing the default file.

Limitations

• Validation reads Obsidian's parsed frontmatter cache, so it only covers notes with a YAML frontmatter block; body content is not inspected.
• date accepts YYYY-MM-DD-style strings (and real dates) but does not check calendar validity (e.g. 2026-02-31 passes).
• Autofix is intentionally conservative: it never deletes unknown fields, never invents values for required fields without a default, and only performs loss-free coercions.
• Enum and list-value matching is case-sensitive.
• Nested/object frontmatter fields are treated as their top-level value only.

Installation

This plugin is not yet in the community store. To install it manually:

1. Build: from the repo root run the workspace build so main.js is produced next to manifest.json.
2. Copy manifest.json, main.js, and styles.css into <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/note-schemas/.
3. Enable Note Schemas in Settings → Community plugins.
4. Create note-schemas.json in your vault's config directory with a schema like the example above.
5. Add matching notes, then run Validate vault against schemas. Edit a typed note's frontmatter to see autocomplete and the status-bar indicator, and try Fix all safe issues in this note.

Support

If this plugin is useful to you, you can support its development at Buy Me a Coffee.