ZiBase

Markdown tables as living databases — for Obsidian.

ZiBase turns an ordinary markdown table into a rich, interactive database view: sortable/filterable columns, Kanban/Gallery/Calendar layouts, drag-and-drop, formula columns, and inline editing — all while your data stays as plain, portable markdown. No extra files, no proprietary format, no lock-in.

Built from scratch under ZIYAL (ழியல்).

Screenshots

Annotated table with custom column types (Toggle, Select, Number, Date, Label) and auto-inferred plain table.

Kanban view grouped by priority, and Gallery view for quick card-based browsing.

Calendar view automatically generated from a Date column.

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Features

• 📊 Multiple views — Table (default), Kanban, Gallery, and Calendar, switchable per-table
• 🖊️ Inline editing — Alt+Click any cell to edit in place, even rendered links/wikilinks
• 🧮 Formula columns — reference other columns by name (e.g. Price * Qty), no eval(), powered by a safe recursive-descent expression parser
• 🏷️ Typed columns — Text, Toggle, Select, Label, Number, Date, Formula
• 🔍 Schema inference — works on plain tables with zero setup; auto-detects column types from content
• 🗂️ Kanban view — group by any Select/Label column, drag cards between lanes
• 📌 Zero extra files — everything lives in the markdown table itself, using HTML-comment annotations Obsidian already ignores in Reading View

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Installation

1. Open Settings → Community Plugins in Obsidian
2. Disable Safe Mode (if prompted) and click Browse
3. Search for ZiBase and click Install, then Enable

(Manual install: copy manifest.json, main.js, and styles.css into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/zibase/, then enable it from Community Plugins.)

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Usage Guide

1. Start with any markdown table

ZiBase renders any table in Reading View — even a plain one with no annotations. Column types are auto-inferred from the header name and content (e.g. a column named status becomes a Select column; done/completed become a Toggle; tag/tags/category/label become Label columns).

| Task                  | Completed | Hours | Category   |
| ---------------------- | --------- | ----- | ---------- |
| Read chapter 5         | true      | 3     | Study      |
| Submit lab report      | false     | 5     | Assignment |

2. Add an explicit schema row for full control

For precise typing, add a schema row as the 3rd line of the table (right after the header separator), with one annotation comment per column:

| Topic          | Done                        | Priority                               | Score                       | Due Date                  | Domain               |
| -------------- | --------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | -------------------------- | --------------------- |
| <!-- zibase: text --> | <!-- zibase: toggle --> | <!-- zibase: select:Low,Medium,High,Critical --> | <!-- zibase: number --> | <!-- zibase: date --> | <!-- zibase: label --> |
| Cell Biology   | true                         | High                                     | 92                            | 2026-06-10                  | biology                |

Available column types:

Type	Annotation	Notes
Text	<!-- zibase: text -->	Renders markdown, wikilinks included
Toggle	<!-- zibase: toggle -->	true / false → checkbox
Select	<!-- zibase: select:Opt1,Opt2,Opt3 -->	Dropdown with fixed options
Label	<!-- zibase: label -->	Colored chip, auto-colored per value
Number	<!-- zibase: number -->	Right-aligned, sortable numerically
Date	<!-- zibase: date -->	YYYY-MM-DD, used for Calendar view
Formula	<!-- zibase: formula:Price * Qty -->	Reference other column names directly

3. Switch views

Add a view annotation on its own line, right before the table (or use the view-switcher icons in the table's toolbar — this writes the annotation for you):

<!-- zibase-view: kanban:Status -->
| Task | Status | Priority |
...

• <!-- zibase-view: kanban:ColumnName --> — Kanban board grouped by a Select/Label column
• <!-- zibase-view: gallery --> — card gallery
• <!-- zibase-view: calendar --> — calendar grouped by a Date column
• No annotation — default Table view

4. Editing

• Alt+Click any cell to edit it in place — works even on rendered links/wikilinks
• Kanban: drag a card between lanes to update its grouping column
• Add row: use the "+ Add row" button at the bottom of the table
• All edits write straight back to the markdown table — your file stays the single source of truth

5. Formula columns

Formula columns reference other column names directly (case-insensitive), no cell syntax like =A1*B2:

<!-- zibase: formula:Price * Qty -->

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Notes & Limitations

• Reading View only (Live Preview support not yet available)
• Desktop and mobile compatible (isDesktopOnly: false)

Feedback / Issues

Please open an issue on the GitHub repo with a minimal example table if you hit a bug — screenshots of Reading View + the raw markdown source are the fastest way to get it fixed.

Support

ZiBase is built solo as a passion project. If it saves you time or makes your Obsidian vault feel a little more alive, consider sponsoring — it genuinely helps with university expenses and keeps the motivation going! 🙏

Completely optional — even a ⭐ star on the repo means a lot!

License

MIT — see LICENSE