.zbase schema & filter grammar

.zbase files define ordered views over Markdown files and their indexed metadata. They are canonical, human-readable YAML and can be embedded from Markdown.

![[.zorid/views/tasks.zbase]]
![[Dashboards/tasks.zbase]]

v0 `.zbase` schema

schemaVersion: 1
id: tasks
name: Tasks

views:
  - id: table
    type: table
    name: Table
    filters:
      and:
        - zorid.type == "task"
        - status != "done"
    sort:
      - property: due
        direction: ASC
    groupBy:
      property: status
      direction: ASC

  - id: list
    type: list
    name: List
    filters:
      and:
        - zorid.type == "task"

Top-level fields

Field	Required	Notes
`schemaVersion`	yes	v0 supports `1`
`id`	yes	unique base ID, lowercase recommended
`name`	yes	display name
`views`	yes	one or more views
`description`	no	help text

View fields

Field	Required	Notes
`type`	yes	core readable type or plugin namespaced type
`name`	yes	display name
`filters`	yes	filter tree
`id`	no	generated from name if missing
`sort`	no	ordered sort specs
`groupBy`	no	grouping spec

View ID generation: lowercase slug from name, suffixed on conflict (table, table-2).

Core view types

table list kanban calendar timeline

v0 implementation scope: table and list. Others remain valid schema values but show a “not implemented yet” placeholder until renderer support exists. Plugin renderers use namespaced types like charts.bar, acme.matrix.

Filter tree shape

filters:
  and:
    - zorid.type == "task"
    - status != "done"
    - or:
        - priority == "high"
        - due <= today()

Allowed boolean keys: and, or, not. Empty and is true; empty or is false.

Expression grammar

Filters are Zorid-defined expression strings parsed to AST. The parser must never use eval, new Function, or arbitrary JavaScript.

expression  := unary | comparison | call | identifier
unary       := '!' expression
comparison  := operand operator operand
operator    := '==' | '!=' | '>' | '>=' | '<' | '<=' | 'in' | 'contains'
operand     := identifier | literal | list | call | member
member      := identifier ('.' identifier)*
call        := member '(' arguments? ')'
literal     := string | number | boolean | null
list        := '[' (literal (',' literal)*)? ']'

Strings prefer double quotes ("task").

Operators and helpers

Operators: ==, !=, >, >=, <, <=, in, contains. File helpers

file.hasTag("project")
file.hasLink("Projects/Zorid")
file.path.startsWith("Projects/")
file.path.contains("Archive")
file.name.contains("Meeting")

Field helpers

status.exists()
owners.contains("Casey")

Date/time helpers

today()
now()

Special fields

zorid.type   file.path   file.name   file.extension   file.title

Missing field behavior

missing field        == null
missing.exists()     -> false
missing == "x"       -> false
missing != "x"       -> true
missing > 1          -> false
missing contains "x" -> false

Validation

Invalid base schema → mark whole base invalid; show error; don’t rewrite user file.
Invalid view or filter → mark that view invalid; other views remain usable.
Unknown plugin renderer type → placeholder; other views remain usable.

Source

Full .zbase schema and filter grammar on GitHub.

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Product

Architecture

Core plugins

.zbase schema & filter grammar

v0 `.zbase` schema

Top-level fields

View fields

Core view types

Filter tree shape

Expression grammar

Operators and helpers

Special fields

Missing field behavior

Validation

Source

​v0 .zbase schema

​Top-level fields

​View fields

​Core view types

​Filter tree shape

​Expression grammar

​Operators and helpers

​Special fields

​Missing field behavior

​Validation

Source

v0 `.zbase` schema

Top-level fields

View fields

Core view types

Filter tree shape

Expression grammar

Operators and helpers

Special fields

Missing field behavior

Validation