How to Write Note Frontmatter

Every note in the Obsidian vault starts with a YAML frontmatter block. The site reads it to decide whether a note is published, to build the Progress page, the learning library, courses and the competency map. This page is the reference for the fields: the build step validates notes against it.

Principle: write each note once. The frontmatter is what lets the site reuse it as a page, flashcards, a course chapter, a quiz and progress data.

Start From a Template

Point the Obsidian Templates core plugin at the templates folder (templates/ at the vault root, one template per note type).
Create a note with Insert template and pick the matching type.
Fill in the fields; delete optional fields you don't use instead of leaving them empty.

Fields

Required on every note

Field	Format	Meaning
`title`	text	Page title. Falls back to the first `#` heading, but set it explicitly.
`type`	one value, see Types	What the note is. Drives which other fields are required.
`status`	`planned` \| `in-progress` \| `done` \| `dropped`	Where you are with it.
`visibility`	`public` \| `private`	Only `public` notes are copied into this public repo. Default: `private`.
`created`	`YYYY-MM-DD`	Date the note was created.

Learning fields (source types and `lab`)

Field	Format	Meaning
`source.title`	text	Title of the course, video, article, podcast or book.
`source.author`	text	Author, speaker or instructor.
`source.url`	URL	Link to the source, if public.
`source.provider`	text	Platform or publisher (Coursera, IAPP, AWS Skill Builder, YouTube…).
`started`	`YYYY-MM-DD`	First study session.
`finished`	`YYYY-MM-DD`	Last session; leave out while `status` is not `done`.
`time_spent_min`	integer (minutes)	Total time spent. Rough is fine; round to 15 minutes.
`sessions`	list of `{date, min}`	Optional. Per-session log. When present, the site uses it instead of `time_spent_min` for hours per month.

source is required for course, video, article, podcast and book, optional for lab.

Classification (optional, all types)

Field	Format	Meaning
`tags`	list	Free tags, used by the graph and search.
`frameworks`	list, see Frameworks	Regulations and standards the note covers. Drives the library filters.
`competencies`	list of VAE bloc IDs	Competency-map evidence. Leave out until the RNCP blocs are known.
`course`	slug	Groups the note into a site course (e.g. `aigp`).
`order`	integer	Chapter position inside `course`.
`aliases`	list	Obsidian's alternative names for the note.

Types

`type`	Use it for	`source`
`course`	A course module or certification chapter	required
`video`	A talk, webinar or video	required
`article`	An article, paper, regulation text or guideline	required
`podcast`	A podcast episode	required
`book`	A book or book chapter	required
`lab`	Hands-on work in the homelab / AI audit lab	optional
`note`	A concept note in your own words (permanent note)	none, link to the source notes instead
`moc`	A Map of Content: a hub linking related notes	none
`post`	A blog post (post-mortem format)	none
`how-to`	A step-by-step guide	none
`reference`	Reference material, glossaries	none

Frameworks

Use these values only, so filters stay consistent. Add a value here before using it in a note.

Value	Framework
`ai-act`	EU AI Act
`dora`	Digital Operational Resilience Act
`gdpr`	General Data Protection Regulation
`nist-ai-rmf`	NIST AI Risk Management Framework
`owasp-llm`	OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications
`iso-42001`	ISO/IEC 42001 (AI management system)
`itil`	ITIL 4

Publish Public Notes

Set visibility: public on the notes to publish.
From crud-in-the-cloud, run make content-build.
Fix any reported errors: the build checks every public note first and copies nothing if one is invalid.
Commit the generated fastapi-app/content/ folder.

The build replaces fastapi-app/content/ entirely, so a note switched back to private (or deleted) disappears from the site on the next build. Never edit that folder by hand.

What the build rejects in a public note:

a missing required field, or a value outside the allowed lists (type, status, frameworks…)
unknown fields, which are usually typos (framework: instead of frameworks:)
a source type without source
finished while status is not done, or finished before started
order without course, or a course slug that isn't lowercase-with-dashes

Notes without frontmatter, without visibility, or with YAML that doesn't parse are treated as private and never published.

The schema is enforced by NoteFrontmatter in fastapi-app/services/content_service.py. Change both together.

Example

---
title: AIGP Domain 2 – Laws and standards that apply to AI
type: course
status: done
visibility: public
created: 2027-01-12
source:
  title: AIGP Body of Knowledge
  author: IAPP
  url: https://iapp.org/certify/aigp/
  provider: IAPP
started: 2027-01-12
finished: 2027-01-26
time_spent_min: 360
frameworks: [ai-act, gdpr, nist-ai-rmf]
course: aigp
order: 2
tags: [aigp, regulation]
---

Rules

Write notes in your own words: no transcripts, no copied passages.
Nothing from your employer in a public note: no internal names, incidents, figures or documents. Use the fictional "BankCo" for case studies.
When in doubt, keep visibility: private. Making a note public is a deliberate step.
Don't rename course slugs once notes are public: they become URLs.
End posts, how-tos, labs, notes and reference pages with a ## References section. List primary sources first (the regulation article, official docs, the upstream issue), with one line each on why the link is there. For anything that changes (issue status, guidance), say when you last checked it.