Frontmatter and properties
Lapis treats YAML frontmatter as the durable source for note properties and also provides property editors for the active file and the wider vault.
---status: activetags: - writing - roadmapdue: 2026-06-12related: - "[[Project Notes]]"---What properties are for
Section titled “What properties are for”Use properties for data you want to sort, filter, or reuse across views.
- Status, stage, or owner fields
- Dates and deadlines
- Tags and related-note references
- Checkbox, number, and text values
- Inputs for Bases and task-oriented views
Editing properties in Lapis
Section titled “Editing properties in Lapis”Lapis can edit properties in two ways:
- Directly in YAML frontmatter inside the note
- Through the file-properties editor for the active note
Property edits stay tied to the note file. Adding the first property creates a YAML block, and removing the last property removes the block cleanly.
Tips for stable metadata
Section titled “Tips for stable metadata”- Keep property names consistent across similar notes.
- Prefer a small shared vocabulary over near-duplicate fields.
- Use dates and booleans when you expect filtering or grouping later.
- Store long prose in the body of the note, not in frontmatter.
Where properties show up
Section titled “Where properties show up”Properties feed multiple Lapis surfaces:
- Bases views
- Search filters and snippets
- Graph relationships through tags and links
- Task and workflow pages that rely on note metadata