Metadata Visuals 0.2.0

Metadata Visuals 0.2.0

Metadata Visuals 0.2.0 is a major refinement of how visual metadata rules are applied across Obsidian. It brings the same field-and-value rule model to the places where metadata is most useful in daily work: note Properties, the File Explorer, enabled Smart Folders, and supported native Obsidian Bases views.

Create a rule once, then use it wherever that property appears. A Status / Draft rule can colour a normal note Property, a File Explorer note, an enabled Smart Folder, or a compatible Base value without adding colours, icons, or emoji to stored frontmatter. The visual treatment stays separate from the data unless you deliberately use a bulk metadata update.

This release also makes matching more predictable. Rules now have one consistent precedence model across supported surfaces, field names match regardless of capitalisation, and rendering work is more careful about keeping colours attached to the correct value as Obsidian updates its interface.

Highlights

• Use existing Metadata Visuals rules in supported Obsidian Bases Table and Card views, including embeds.
• Keep rule behaviour consistent across Properties, File Explorer, Smart Folders, and Bases.
• Resolve duplicate rules predictably: the first configured match wins.
• Match field names case-insensitively while preserving the spelling already used in your notes.
• Apply Smart Folder status visualisation and deliberate bulk metadata updates from the File Explorer.
• Benefit from broader automated regression coverage and release validation.

Obsidian Bases support

Metadata Visuals carries its existing property/value rules into compatible native Obsidian Bases. Enable Colour properties in Bases in settings; there is no second rule destination or Base-specific rule editor to maintain.

Native Table and Card views are supported, including Table and Card Bases embedded in a normal Markdown note. Multiple visible Bases can use the same rules independently. Colours follow the property and its currently rendered value, so sorting, filtering, scrolling, and virtualised rendering do not change what a rule means.

The same word can be coloured differently when it belongs to different properties. For example, Status / Draft, Stage / Draft, and publication-state / Draft can use red, blue, and purple respectively. Metadata Visuals colours only a safely isolated value; Base labels, titles, backgrounds, layout, and controls remain native to Obsidian.

Scalar values, straightforward links, and a single compatible value in supported Table/Card rendering can be coloured. When a multi-value or list presentation cannot be identified safely, it is deliberately left native rather than applying a colour to the wrong token.

Native Bases List view remains intentionally unsupported. List values do not reliably expose their originating property, so Metadata Visuals does not colour text merely because it happens to read Draft. file.* and formula.* Base properties also remain native.

Consistent rule behaviour

Metadata Visuals now uses the same matching contract across supported surfaces: the first configured rule that matches a field/value pair wins. This includes normal Properties, File Explorer presentation, Smart Folders, and supported Bases values.

For example, if your rule order is:

1. Status = Draft → red
2. Status = Draft → blue

then Draft is red. Move the blue rule before the red one when you want blue to take precedence. The result does not depend on which interface is open, the order in which Base rows render, or the position of a File Explorer row.

Case-insensitive property matching

For matching purposes, Status, status, and STATUS identify the same field. This avoids a capitalisation-only difference causing one surface to colour a value while another leaves it native.

Metadata Visuals does not rewrite your frontmatter keys or alter their displayed casing. Existing metadata keeps its spelling, and bulk updates reuse an existing matching key where one is present. The change makes matching consistent without imposing a naming style on your vault.

File Explorer improvements

Choose one File Explorer field to provide optional note-name colour and icon presentation. The selected field prevents unrelated rule groups from competing to decorate the same note row, while Properties and Bases can still use all relevant groups.

File Explorer updates now focus on the relevant visible rows when Obsidian redraws its workspace. That keeps decoration responsive during normal navigation and expansion while avoiding unnecessary presentation work for unrelated interface changes. Metadata Visuals also removes only the colour it owns, preserving a newer inline colour supplied by another theme or plugin.

Smart Folder improvements

An enabled Smart Folder is a File Explorer folder that inherits an aggregate visual state from its descendant notes. It uses the selected File Explorer field when that group has compatible To Do, In Progress, and Done rules available for folders.

All recognised To Do descendants produce a To Do folder state; all Done descendants produce Done. A mixed To Do/Done folder, or any descendant explicitly marked In Progress, produces In Progress. Folder notes and direct-child Dashboard notes are excluded so a folder’s own summary note does not determine the folder’s state.

Smart Folders share the same first-match precedence and case-insensitive field handling as other Metadata Visuals surfaces. Enable or disable a folder from the Metadata Visuals File Explorer context menu; Colour enabled folders controls whether enabled folders receive their visual treatment.

Bulk metadata workflows

The File Explorer context menu can apply a configured field/value to selected notes or folders. Selecting a folder applies the raw value to its descendant Markdown notes, and overlapping selections are handled once per note. This is a deliberate metadata-writing workflow: it changes frontmatter values, not just their appearance.

Changing an ordinary visual rule does not rewrite your notes. Rule changes update compatible visible UI; bulk update is the explicit action for changing stored metadata across a group of notes.

Safer rendering and cleanup

0.2.0 strengthens the safeguards that keep visuals attached to the correct element. When a visible value changes, becomes unmatched, or is recycled by a native Base view, Metadata Visuals re-evaluates its current property/value pair rather than retaining a colour from a previous row or card.

Only the matching value receives the plugin’s colour. Property labels, Base card chrome, table headers, controls, and unrelated Obsidian UI remain native. When a rendered element disappears, the plugin releases its visual ownership cleanly. If another theme or plugin changes an inline colour after Metadata Visuals has applied one, Metadata Visuals does not overwrite that newer colour during cleanup.

Reliability and regression protection

This release includes an automated regression suite with 89 tests covering rule matching, Properties, File Explorer refresh classification, Smart Folder aggregation, Bases Table/Card value handling, List-view safeguards, property isolation, and colour cleanup.

GitHub Actions now runs the regression suite with lint validation, and release packaging runs the tests before the production bundle is built and attested. These checks do not guarantee that every future issue is impossible, but they provide a substantially stronger safety net for the behaviour Metadata Visuals already supports.

Compatibility

Metadata Visuals 0.2.0 requires Obsidian 1.12.7 or later. The plugin manifest does not restrict installation to desktop-only environments.

Bases is a native Obsidian feature whose rendered presentation can change over time. Metadata Visuals supports the compatible native Table and Card structures described above and intentionally keeps uncertain or ambiguous structures native.

Upgrading from 0.1.x

Existing settings and rules continue to work; no settings migration is required. The most noticeable behaviour changes are deliberate:

• Duplicate matching rules now use first-configured-match precedence everywhere.
• Field names match case-insensitively without changing existing frontmatter key casing.
• Supported Bases Table and Card values reuse the same rules already configured for Properties and File Explorer.

Review any deliberately duplicated rules after upgrading and arrange their order to express the result you want.

Known limitations

• Native Bases List view is intentionally left uncoloured.
• Bases file.* and formula.* properties are not styled.
• Ambiguous multi-value/list rendering may remain native.
• Themes can affect contrast and native control presentation; choose rule colours that remain legible in the themes you use.

Feedback and bug reports

Please report issues through the project’s bug-report form or suggest improvements through the feature-request form. Include your Obsidian version, Metadata Visuals version, affected surface, field/value rule, and a screenshot where possible. Avoid sharing private note paths unless they are essential to the report.

Metadata Visuals 0.1.7

Metadata Visuals 0.1.7

Highlights:

• Improved consistency across Properties, File Explorer, Bases, and Smart Folders.
• Duplicate matching rules now consistently use the first configured rule.
• Property-field matching is case-insensitive while preserving existing metadata key casing.
• Expanded automated regression coverage and GitHub Actions test gates.
• Resolved remaining lint warnings.

Metadata Visuals 0.1.6

Metadata Visuals 0.1.6 improves Obsidian Bases compatibility and refresh behaviour.

Changes

• Added reliable support for native Bases Card values rendered as single-item value lists.
• Fixed property-specific Card colouring for values such as Status / Draft and Stage / Draft.
• Improved File Explorer refresh performance by avoiding full-vault presentation refreshes after unrelated workspace mutations.
• Improved colour cleanup so newer third-party inline colours are preserved.
• Improved cleanup for removed rendered elements.
• Retains intentional native behaviour for unsupported Bases List view.

Validation

• Build passed.
• Lint passed with 0 errors.
• File Explorer FE-01–FE-12 live regression passed.
• Final RR-01–RR-30 live release regression passed.

Metadata Visuals 0.1.5

Metadata Menu bulk updates

• Bulk-update menus now automatically include newly added Metadata Menu Select values.
• Select values follow the order configured in Metadata Menu.
• Newly added values can be bulk-applied before they have a custom visual rule.
• Existing visual-rule icons are retained; new values use the standard tag icon until configured.

GitHub support and feedback

• Added native GitHub issue forms for bug reports and feature requests.
• Bug and feature submissions receive automatic labels and title prefixes.
• Updated plugin support links to open the relevant GitHub forms directly.

Settings and footer improvements

• Added an Anthony Fitzpatrick button to the Settings support footer.
• Reorganised footer links into two centred rows for a cleaner layout.
• Updated the settings tab to use Obsidian 1.13’s declarative Settings registration.
• Settings now participate in Obsidian Settings search while retaining compatibility with Obsidian 1.12.7.

Documentation

• Updated the README and User Guide to cover Select-value synchronization, bulk-menu ordering, GitHub support forms, and the revised support footer.

Metadata Visuals 0.1.4

Bulk-update menus now automatically include new Metadata Menu Select values.

• Select values in bulk-update menus follow the order configured in Metadata Menu.
• New list values are available for bulk updates before a custom visual rule is created.
• Added GitHub issue forms for bug reports and feature requests, with automatic labels and title prefixes.
• Refreshed the Settings support footer:
  • Centred two-row layout
  • GitHub bug-report and feature-request buttons
  • New Anthony Fitzpatrick link
• Updated the README and User Guide.

Metadata Visuals 0.1.3

Metadata Visuals 0.1.3

This release focuses on polishing Metadata Visuals for submission to the Obsidian Community Plugins directory.

✨ What's Changed

Compatibility

• Improved popup window compatibility by using activeDocument where appropriate.
• Updated the minimum supported Obsidian version to 1.12.7.

Plugin Metadata

• Improved the plugin description to better align with Obsidian Community Plugin guidelines.
• Added a fundingUrl to the plugin manifest.

Documentation

• Expanded the README.
• Added privacy and local data access documentation.
• Clarified that Metadata Visuals performs all metadata discovery locally within the user's vault.
• Improved installation and release documentation.

Release Process

• Added automated GitHub Actions releases.
• Added GitHub artifact attestations.
• GitHub releases are now generated automatically from version tags.
• Release assets are automatically attached:
  • manifest.json
  • main.js
  • styles.css

📦 Release Assets

This release includes the standard Obsidian Community Plugin installation files:

• manifest.json
• main.js
• styles.css

❤️ Thank You

Thank you to everyone who has tested Metadata Visuals, provided feedback, and helped shape the project before its first Community Plugin release.

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🌐 https://wolf359.app/metadata-visuals/

🐞 Report a bug
https://wolf359.app/metadata-visuals/report-bug/

💡 Request a feature
https://wolf359.app/metadata-visuals/request-feature/

☕ Support the project
https://buymeacoffee.com/wolf359pressab

Metadata Visuals 0.1.2

Metadata Visuals 0.1.2

Submission-readiness release.

What's Changed

• Added GitHub Actions release workflow.
• Updated release automation so tagged versions create draft releases automatically.
• Prepared package/release metadata for Obsidian Community Plugin submission.
• Verified build and lint with no errors.

Release Assets

This release includes the required Obsidian plugin files:

• manifest.json
• main.js
• styles.css

Metadata Visuals 0.1.1

Metadata Visuals 0.1.1

This release prepares Metadata Visuals for its first public submission to the Obsidian Community Plugins directory.

What's Changed

🚀 First-run experience

• Removed automatic default rule creation.
• New installations now start with an empty ruleset.
• Users explicitly choose which metadata fields they want to visualise.
• Existing vaults continue to load and migrate correctly.

🎨 Branding & Documentation

• Refined project branding and documentation.
• Improved README with a clearer introduction, Quick Start guide, and feature overview.
• Updated installation instructions and manual setup guide.
• Added Privacy / Data Access information.
• Improved website, support, and documentation links.

🛠 Submission Readiness

• Updated plugin metadata for Community Plugin submission.
• Raised the minimum supported Obsidian version to 1.12.7.
• Added a fundingUrl to the plugin manifest.
• Improved package metadata and repository information.
• Removed remaining legacy Metadata Labels references.

📦 Release Assets

This release includes the standard Obsidian plugin files:

• manifest.json
• main.js
• styles.css

Compatibility

• Obsidian 1.12.7 or later
• macOS
• Windows
• Linux

Documentation

• 🌐 https://wolf359.app/metadata-visuals/
• 📖 User Guide included in the repository

Support

• 🐞 Report a bug
  https://wolf359.app/metadata-visuals/report-bug/

• 💡 Request a feature
  https://wolf359.app/metadata-visuals/request-feature/

• ☕ Buy me a coffee
  https://buymeacoffee.com/wolf359pressab

Metadata Visuals 0.1.0

Metadata Visuals 0.1.0

Metadata Visuals is a metadata-driven visual engine for Obsidian.

Features

• 🎨 Metadata-driven File Explorer colours
• 🏷️ Metadata-driven File Explorer icons
• 📂 Smart folders with inherited workflow states
• 📝 Metadata/property colouring
• 🔄 Bulk metadata updates across multiple notes and folders
• 🎯 Flexible rule engine for any frontmatter field
• 📋 Drag-and-drop rule ordering
• ⚙️ Standalone operation with no required plugin dependencies

Compatibility

• Obsidian 1.12.7+
• macOS
• Windows
• Linux

Documentation

• https://wolf359.app/metadata-visuals/

Support

• 🐞 Report a bug
  https://wolf359.app/metadata-visuals/report-bug/

• 💡 Feature request
  https://wolf359.app/metadata-visuals/request-feature/

• ☕ Buy me a coffee
  https://buymeacoffee.com/wolf359pressab

Full Changelog: https://github.com/anthonyfitzpatrick/obsidian-metadata-visuals/commits/0.1.0