Obsidian Dataview

Dataview

Reference for authoring queries and scripts against the Obsidian Dataview plugin. Dataview indexes vault metadata (frontmatter, inline fields, tasks, links) and exposes it through four codeblock surfaces.

This file is the index. For deep coverage, consult the reference files (loaded only when relevant).

What Dataview is

A read-only metadata index. It scans the vault, builds a typed in-memory database from frontmatter + inline fields + tasks + the Obsidian link graph, and renders results back into notes through codeblocks. It does not modify files (the one exception: clicking a checkbox in a rendered TASK block toggles the underlying source, but DataviewJS code itself cannot write).

The four codeblock surfaces

| Surface | Fence | Use it for | |---|---|---| | DQL query | `dataview | Static, declarative views. Safer, faster to render, no JS required. | | DataviewJS | `dataviewjs | Anything DQL can't express: control flow, multi-step computation, custom DOM, awaiting dv.io/dv.query, custom views via dv.view. | | Inline DQL | ` = expr (default prefix =) | Single-value expression rendered inline mid-paragraph. | | **Inline JS DQL** | $= expr (default prefix $=) | Same idea, full dv` API available. |

JS surfaces are gated by the plugin's "Enable JavaScript Queries" toggle. Treat third-party DataviewJS as untrusted code — it has full vault read access.

Decision tree — DQL vs DataviewJS

Pick DQL unless one of these is true:

• The output needs await (dv.query, dv.io.csv, dv.io.load, dv.view).
• You want loops, mutable state, conditionals over the rendered output (e.g. one header per group, then a per-group table).
• You want to render a custom DOM structure or multiple sub-views in one block.
• The transformation needs intermediate variables that DQL can't express.
• You need to import a dv.view("Scripts/foo", input) helper.

Otherwise DQL wins on conciseness, performance, and reactivity.

DQL — minimum viable shape

 
FROM 
 
...

• Query type is mandatory and first: TABLE, LIST, TASK, CALENDAR (with WITHOUT ID variants for TABLE/LIST).
• FROM is optional but, if present, must come right after the query type (max one).
• WHERE, SORT, GROUP BY, FLATTEN, LIMIT are repeatable and execute in the order written — order matters (e.g. LIMIT before SORT truncates an unsorted set).

TABLE rating, file.mtime AS Modified
FROM #book
WHERE rating >= 7
SORT rating DESC
LIMIT 10

Full grammar, every data command, multi-clause behavior, source syntax, expression operators, literals, and gotchas → references/dql.md.

DataviewJS — the canonical shape

const pages = dv.pages('"Books"').where(p => p.rating >= 7);
for (const g of pages.groupBy(p => p.genre)) {
    dv.header(3, g.key);
    dv.table(
      ["Title", "Rating"],
      g.rows.sort(p => p.rating, "desc").map(p => [p.file.link, p.rating])
    );
}

Three things are always in scope:

• dv — the API object (also aliased dataview).
• this — the post-processor context (rarely needed directly).
• Top-level await — yes, it's allowed inside dataviewjs.

Full dv.* catalog (rendering, page access, queries, I/O, views, links, dates, evaluation), the DataArray method list, sync vs async cheatsheet, and end-to-end examples → references/dataviewjs.md.

What Dataview indexes

Every page exposes:

• Implicit file.* fields — file.name, file.path, file.folder, file.link, file.size, file.ctime/cday, file.mtime/mday, file.tags (subtag-expanded), file.etags (no subtag expansion), file.inlinks, file.outlinks, file.aliases, file.tasks, file.lists, file.frontmatter, file.day, file.starred.
• YAML frontmatter — every key is a field, types coerced (number, boolean, date, list, object, link).
• Inline fields — three syntaxes:
• Key:: value (line form, key visible in Reader mode)
• [Key:: value] (bracketed, embedable mid-line, key visible)
• (Key:: value) (parenthesized, key hidden in Reader mode)
• Keys are normalized to lowercase + dashes (Last Reviewed:: → last-reviewed).
• Tasks and list items — every - [] line, with auto-extracted fields (status, completed, fullyCompleted, text, due, scheduled, start, completion, created, children, link, section, tags, outlinks, …) and Tasks-plugin emoji shorthands (📅 ✅ ➕ 🛫 ⏳).

Full field type system, every file.* field, every task field, frontmatter vs inline rules, normalization edge cases → references/metadata.md.

Functions

Dataview exposes a rich function library, available in DQL directly and in DataviewJS via dv.func.. Categories: numeric (round, min, sum, reduce, minby, …), string (lower, regexreplace, containsword, split, truncate, …), list/object (length, contains, filter, map, unique, flat, extract, …), date (date, dateformat, striptime, dur, durationformat), constructors (object, list, link, embed, elink), utility (default, choice, typeof, meta, localtime, currencyformat, hash).

Every function with signature and one-line example → references/functions.md.

Common patterns and integration

Cookbook (open tasks across the vault, daily-note metric aggregation, leaderboards, custom dv.view helpers, link/section/block links, recursive task expansion, group-by then per-group table), settings that affect rendering, plugin-developer integration (getAPI(app), dataview:index-ready, dataview:metadata-change, dataview:refresh-views), performance notes, and the full caveats list → references/patterns.md.

Order of operations cheatsheet — DQL

1. Query type picks what gets rendered (TABLE/LIST/TASK/CALENDAR).
2. FROM picks the initial page set (single position, source-level booleans and/or/!).
3. Each subsequent clause runs on the previous output:

• WHERE pred — filter (predicate-level booleans &&/||/!).
• SORT key [ASC|DESC], key2 [ASC|DESC] — multi-key only via comma; a second SORT clause overwrites, doesn't tie-break.
• GROUP BY key — collapses rows into groups; thereafter only key and rows are addressable.
• FLATTEN field — explodes a list-valued field; reverses GROUP BY.
• LIMIT n — truncate; put it after SORT for top-N.

Common pitfalls

• Folders need double-quoting in dv.pages and FROM: dv.pages('"Books"'), FROM "Books". Never bare.
• FROM boolean syntax uses and/or/!/-. WHERE boolean syntax uses &&/||/!. Don't mix the two positions.
• LIMIT before SORT truncates an unsorted set — SORT … LIMIT n is the top-N idiom.
• Two SORT clauses do not chain. The second resorts the already-sorted list, breaking nothing. Use SORT a ASC, b DESC for tie-breaking.
• After GROUP BY, original-row fields disappear. Reach them via rows. (a list) or rows[0]..
• Reserved names need bracket access — row["where"], row["limit"] if a field name collides with a keyword.
• completed ≠ checked. completed is true only for [x]. checked is true for any non-blank status (/, -, >, etc.).
• Tasks-plugin recurrence/priority/dependency emojis are NOT auto-promoted to fields. Only the date emojis (📅 ✅ ➕ 🛫 ⏳) are. To filter on 🔁 / priority / ⛔ use plain [recurrence:: weekly]-style annotations.
• Frontmatter links must be quoted: class: "[[Math]]", not bare [[Math]].
• Header chars ( ) / # [ ] in [[file#Heading]] break parsing — keep headings to plain text + dash separators.
• Inline field keys are normalized: **Bold Field**:: → bold-field. Query the normalized form.
• dv.view cannot read dot-prefixed folders (.scripts/). Throws "custom view not found".
• Paths in dv.io and dv.view are vault-rooted; pass originFile to switch resolution.
• dv.query returns Result — branch on .successful and .value.type ("list"/"table"/"task"/"calendar"). dv.tryQuery throws instead.
• DataviewJS re-runs the whole script on every refresh. Hot expensive work belongs in dv.view files or external plugins, not inline.

Custom helper plugins

If the vault has a companion Obsidian plugin owning shared DataviewJS helpers (a common pattern — sometimes called a "vault toolkit"), prefer the toolkit accessor over duplicating logic across notes:

const tk = app.plugins.plugins["vault-toolkit"].api.dataview;
const rows = tk.data.loadByStatus(dv, '"Some/Folder"', { status: "active" });
tk.ui.progressBars(this.container, { bars: [...] });

The vault's own CLAUDE.md should document its toolkit conventions. The typical shape: inside a dataviewjs block keep three hardcoded values — the toolkit accessor, the source string (folder/tag), and any domain constants — and route everything else through the toolkit.

For one-off views inside a single note, plain dataviewjs is fine — keep blocks under ~70 lines or Obsidian's lazy-render leaves a gap until you scroll the block into view.

How to use this skill

1. Identify the surface: DQL block, DataviewJS, inline DQL, inline JS, or external-plugin integration.
2. For DQL: pick query type, build the source, append clauses in the right order. Consult references/dql.md for syntax, references/functions.md for the function vocabulary, references/metadata.md for available fields.
3. For DataviewJS: lean on references/dataviewjs.md for the API + DataArray methods. If the user wants a recurring helper, propose a dv.view file or — if the vault has a custom toolkit plugin — a module on that.
4. When something doesn't render or returns empty, walk the "Common pitfalls" list above before spelunking — most issues are one of those.
5. Keep blocks focused. If a single block grows past ~70 lines, suggest extracting helpers.

Source of truth for everything in this skill: .

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: lexbritvin
• Source: lexbritvin/obsidian-skills-pack
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.