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Essential Properties
Draft Bench manages notes via frontmatter properties prefixed with dbench-. This page is a cheat sheet. For the full data model, see the specification.
| Property | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
dbench-type |
string | Note role: project, chapter, scene, draft (V1). Future: character, beat, etc. |
dbench-id |
string | Stable identifier, format abc-123-def-456. Stamped at creation; never changes. |
dbench-project |
wikilink | The project this note belongs to. |
dbench-project-id |
string | Stable-ID companion to dbench-project. |
| Property | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
dbench-project-shape |
string |
folder or single. |
dbench-status |
string |
idea, draft, revision, final (default workflow). |
dbench-scenes |
array of wikilinks | Reverse array of direct scene notes (chapter-less projects), maintained by the linker. |
dbench-scene-ids |
array of strings | Stable-ID companions for dbench-scenes. |
dbench-chapters |
array of wikilinks | Reverse array of chapter notes (chapter-aware projects), maintained by the linker. |
dbench-chapter-ids |
array of strings | Stable-ID companions for dbench-chapters. |
A project's top-level children are either all chapters or all direct scenes — never both. See Projects, Chapters, and Scenes.
| Property | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
dbench-order |
number | Sort position within the project. |
dbench-status |
string | Workflow status per default vocabulary. |
dbench-target-words |
number (optional) | Per-chapter authoring target, surfaces as a chapter-card progress bar. |
dbench-synopsis |
string (optional) | Short summary surfaced as a chapter-card subline. |
dbench-scenes |
array of wikilinks | Reverse array of scenes in this chapter, maintained by the linker. |
dbench-scene-ids |
array of strings | Stable-ID companions for dbench-scenes. |
dbench-drafts |
array of wikilinks | Reverse array of chapter-level draft snapshots. |
dbench-draft-ids |
array of strings | Stable-ID companions for dbench-drafts. |
| Property | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
dbench-order |
number | Sort position within the scene's immediate parent (the project for chapter-less, the chapter for chapter-aware). |
dbench-status |
string | Workflow status per default vocabulary. |
dbench-chapter |
wikilink (optional) | Parent chapter, on scenes-in-chapters only. Absent / empty on direct scenes in chapter-less projects. |
dbench-chapter-id |
string (optional) | Stable-ID companion to dbench-chapter. |
dbench-target-words |
number (optional) | Per-scene authoring target; surfaces as a per-scene progress bar in the Manuscript view. |
dbench-subtitle |
string (optional) | Short second-line text under the scene title in the Manuscript view. Useful for POV markers, time stamps, setting cues, or descriptors that disambiguate similarly-titled scenes. |
dbench-drafts |
array of wikilinks | Reverse array of prior scene draft snapshots. |
dbench-draft-ids |
array of strings | Stable-ID companions for dbench-drafts. |
| Property | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
dbench-scene |
wikilink | The parent scene (for scene-level drafts). Empty for chapter or single-scene-project drafts. |
dbench-scene-id |
string | Stable-ID companion to dbench-scene. |
dbench-chapter |
wikilink | The parent chapter (for chapter-level drafts). Empty for scene or single-scene-project drafts. |
dbench-chapter-id |
string | Stable-ID companion to dbench-chapter. |
dbench-draft-number |
number | Sequential draft number per parent; plugin-managed. |
A draft's target type is implicit: scene drafts carry dbench-scene, chapter drafts carry dbench-chapter, single-scene-project drafts carry only the project ref. See Drafts and Versioning.
Stable identifiers follow the pattern abc-123-def-456 — three lowercase letters, three digits, three lowercase letters, three digits. The format is:
- Visually legible at a glance (unlike UUIDs).
- Collision-resistant at realistic vault sizes.
- Line-of-sight stable (not time-encoded; rearranging notes doesn't reshape IDs).
- Shared with Charted Roots for cross-plugin consistency.
When you rename a note inside Obsidian, the app automatically updates wikilinks in frontmatter. Draft Bench additionally carries stable-ID companions (-id suffix) for every wikilink relationship, so references survive moves made via non-Obsidian tools or sync relocations. If any inconsistency occurs, the Repair project links command (see Settings and Configuration) reconciles forward and reverse references.
The plugin writes all properties through Obsidian's FileManager.processFrontMatter — safe, non-destructive, and preserves other tools' properties alongside dbench-*. You can also edit properties directly via Obsidian's Properties panel.
When you use Set as scene (or similar) on a note that's not yet associated with a project, dbench-project is stamped as an empty string. Fill it in via the Properties panel to attach the scene to a project. A Phase 2 picker modal will streamline this. See Context Menu Actions.