BasesPage

This plugin provides support for Obsidian Bases (.base files) in Quartz. It reads .base files from your vault, resolves matching notes based on the query definition, and renders them as interactive database-like views with support for tables, lists, cards, galleries, and boards. It uses the default page frame (three-column layout with sidebars).

Note

For information on how to add, remove or configure plugins, see the Configuration page.

Features

• Table view: Sortable columns with automatic type rendering (strings, numbers, booleans, arrays, links).
• List view: Compact list with metadata chips for each entry.
• Cards view: Card layout with an optional cover image (image property, imageFit, imageAspectRatio).
• Gallery view: Image-focused grid of thumbnails.
• Board view: Kanban-style columns, one per value of the grouping property (boardProperty or groupBy).
• Multiple views: A single .base file can define multiple views, displayed as switchable tabs. A base opens on its first view, as in Obsidian.
• Embedding: ![[Tasks.base]] embeds a base in a note, and ![[Tasks.base#Open tasks]] embeds one view (matched by its name as written, case-sensitively). Inline ```base code blocks work too.
• Filters: Recursive filter trees with and/or/not operators.
• Formulas: Computed properties via formula expressions.
• Summaries: Column-level aggregations (Sum, Average, Min, Max, Median, etc.).
• Property configuration: Custom display names for properties.
• Link rendering: Links (link(), link-valued properties such as "[[Note]]") are rendered as clickable links; links to missing notes get Quartz’s broken class.
• Tag links: tags in tables, lists, cards and boards link to their tag pages (when TagPage is enabled).

Map views from Obsidian are not supported: a view with an unknown type shows Unknown view type: <type>.

Obsidian compatibility

bases-page 1.2 (shipped with Quartz 5.1) brings evaluation in line with Obsidian. Notable behaviour, some of it changed from earlier versions:

• file.name is the name without the extension for Markdown notes (Note) and with it for other files (Plan.canvas, Tasks.base). file.basename never has the extension, file.fullname always does (Note.md).
• file.tags lists tags as written, with # and their original case, inline tags first. The tags property holds only the frontmatter tags.
• file.hasTag("a/b"), file.tags.contains("a/b"), containsAny and containsAll also match nested tags (a/b/c) by whole segments, ignoring case and a leading #. file.hasTag("x", "y") is true when the note has any of the tags.
• Dates are shown as Obsidian shows them (moment’s L / L LT) in the site’s configuration.locale; .format() and .relative() are locale-aware. date() only reads ISO-style strings (2024-03-05, 2024-03-05 14:30, 2024-03-05T14:30:00Z) and 20240305, in local time; other strings give an empty value.
• Subtracting dates gives a duration, shown like 9 days. Durations have .days, .hours, .minutes, .seconds, .milliseconds, .weeks (fractional), and .months/.years; duration() takes one whole number and one unit (1d, 2 weeks).
• imageAspectRatio on cards is height / width, as in Obsidian (0.5 is a wide cover, 2 a tall one; default 1).
• file.folder of a file at the root of the vault is /.
• contains(), containsAny() and containsAll() on text ignore case; on lists they are case-sensitive.
• this: in a base embedded in a note, this.<key> and this.file are that note’s properties and file; on the .base page itself, this is the .base file.
• A formula error (such as an unknown function) is shown in its cell.
• .base files are listed in bases like other files.

With Quartz 5.1, .base pages follow the site’s publish filters (e.g. ExplicitPublish, RemoveDrafts): a .base file has no frontmatter, so with ExplicitPublish it is published only when a published note links to it. A .base page links only to the notes its views show.

Interaction with unlisted pages

BasesPage respects the file.data.unlisted convention written by UnlistedPages and EncryptedPages. Pages marked unlisted: true (or encrypted pages with stealth: true) are excluded from every rendered base view — table, list, board, cards, gallery, and any custom view — regardless of whether the base’s filter expression would match them. Unlisted pages also cannot be dereferenced from formulas on visible pages via .asFile().

Note

Base views are server-side rendered HTML baked at build time. They do not update client-side after a visitor decrypts an encrypted page. Graph, explorer, and search all re-hydrate from the patched in-memory content index and show newly-unlocked pages for the rest of the browser session — base views do not, because they were materialized at build time with unlisted pages already excluded. A visitor who successfully decrypts a revealable encrypted page will see it appear in graph, explorer, and search, but not in any base view, until the site is rebuilt with that page listed. This is the same structural limitation that applies to backlinks, recent notes, folder listings, and tag listings.

Configuration

This plugin accepts the following configuration options:

• defaultViewType: Open a base on its first view of this type. Unset by default: a base opens on its first view, as in Obsidian.
• linkResolution: How to resolve internal links in view renderers. Should match configuration.links.markdownLinkResolution (built-in link processing). Can be "absolute", "relative", or "shortest". Defaults to "shortest".
• customViews: A map of custom view renderers. Keys are view type names. These override built-in renderers for the same type, or add new view types. Requires a TS override.

Default options

quartz.config.yaml

- source: "@quartz-community/bases-page"
  enabled: true
  options:
    linkResolution: shortest
  order: 50

For custom view renderers, use a TS override in quartz.ts:

quartz.ts (override)

import * as ExternalPlugin from "./.quartz/plugins"
 
// Must be placed before loadQuartzConfig()
ExternalPlugin.BasesPage({
  customViews: {
    myView: ({
      entries,
      view,
      basesData,
      total,
      locale,
      slug,
      allSlugs,
      linkResolution,
      options,
      tagPages,
    }) => {
      // return JSX
    },
  },
})

A view renderer receives the matching entries, the view definition, the parsed basesData, the total count, the site locale, the page’s slug, allSlugs and linkResolution (for resolving links), the registration’s options, and tagPages (whether tags link to tag pages). Plugins can also register view types (with their own css and afterDOMLoaded script) through viewRegistry from @quartz-community/bases-page/registry.

Expressions

Filters and formulas use the Obsidian Bases expression language (see Obsidian’s Bases syntax and functions). The plugin’s README lists the supported properties, functions and methods, and the compiler API exported from @quartz-community/bases-page/compiler.

API

• Category: Transformer, Page Type, Component
• Function name: ExternalPlugin.BasesPage().
• Source: quartz-community/bases-page
• Install: npx quartz plugin add @quartz-community/bases-page