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Obsidian Bases Hack: (Back)links Metadata Sidebar
🕑 Added 2025-07-24 09:58:36 +0000 UTCI've been playing with the new 'Bases' feature which will drop in the next version of Obsidian (1.9), and is currently in beta for Catalyst supporter users. IT'S GREAT!
TLDR, it's databases for Obsidian, using note properties for column names. If you've used the venerable Projects plugin or the newer DB Folder plugin, it can replace both, and because it's native it's faster than both.
Bases immediately replaced my project management dataview, project, and db folders, for example:
I also love the 'cards' visualisation, which I'm using here to show a nice view of all Lost Terminal seasons, (a clever person could also make a bookshelf):
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In reading the bases syntax page, I noticed a small feature that has previously only been accessible to plugin developers:
(highlighting mine)
Having access to the 'this' variable, meaning 'current file', is the key feature that allowed me to TRIVIALLY build better outgoing link views, that don't just show the names of the files that I'm linking to, but whatever metadata about those files I choose.
Here's how to do it:
1. In the bases 'all views' filter, add either `this.file.links.contains(file)` if you want outgoing links, or `file.hasLink(this.file)` for backlinks.
2. Then in the 'this view' filter, you can add the kind of links you're building a table for in this view.
In this screenshot, you can see I'm building the 'locations' table, only showing files that have the `locations` key set. I use this for lat/lon coordinates combined with the Map View plugin that I demoed in my first obsidian video.
Full Demo
I then made 2 more views for Locations and other links, and docked them to the side bar, and saved them into my 'writing' workspace, for one-command recall in my morning writing sessions:
To zoom in on the top-left, here is the base view that shows all outgoing links in the open Lost Terminal script for notes that represent characters (duck-typed by if they have an 'archetype' key or not), and a reference to their description and (in this example) hair colour. This allows me to keep writing, using this table in the sidebar to remind me of characters' stats.
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This is a wild change that I've not seen anyone post about yet. I will probably reference this in the #obsidian channel on my discord soon, and later in my upcoming video on my full PKM system with obsidian, but that's not for a while, and I wanted to let you folks in on it asap!
Thanks so much for your support, I literally couldn't keep doing all this without you,
Tris <3
Comments
No Boilerplate
RIGHT!?
No Boilerplate
It can't be long now, though I expect they'll add a kanban style view before releasing it. It's only $25 bucks for an individual, which is SO worth it imo! https://help.obsidian.md/catalyst
Cybersader
I'm super excited for it to get out of catalyst. I use it for personal and we use it at work. We do cybersecurity risk management stuff by linking day-to-day knowledge work notes to notes representing parts of the framework (ID-01.01). Bases will make it easier to have directories and views for finding evidence that covers parts of the framework (essentially).
Luiz Ferraz
I was following with a "oh, that's nice" mindset until the example with the character stats mentioned in the page. Then it clicked and I exclaimed "THAT IS FUCKING AWESOME"
