Cells and syntax

Notebook cells live inside markdown container directives named cell. Text outside those blocks stays ordinary markdown.

Cell directive shape

Each cell needs a stable id and a language:

:::cell{#load-data lang="ts"}

```ts
const tag = "project/alpha";
lapis.markdown(`Filtering notes tagged **${tag}**.`);
```

:::

Supported lang values:

Language	Use for
`ts` / `js`	Calculations, inputs, vault reads, charts
`sql`	DuckDB queries over registered files or app tables
`md`	Dynamic markdown with `{{variable}}` placeholders

Python (py / python) is not supported in the current runtime.

If you omit lang, Lapis infers it from the fenced code block info string when possible, otherwise it defaults to ts.

Optional notebook frontmatter

---
notebook:
  version: 1
  autorun: false
  mode: lazy
---

autorun — per-note override for stale-cell auto-runs after edits
mode — reserved metadata; execution still requires explicit runs unless auto-run is enabled

Mix prose and cells

# Weekly review

This paragraph is not executable.

:::cell{#matching-notes lang="sql"}

```sql
SELECT path, name
FROM lapis.notes
ORDER BY name
LIMIT 10
```

:::

In a .notebook.md source editor, type / to insert canonical templates for:

/code — JavaScript/TypeScript cell
/sql — SQL cell
/input — input cell with view(...)
/markdown — dynamic markdown cell

Cell ids matter

Cell ids (#load-data, #summary, and so on) identify cells in the dependency graph, Variables panel, and error messages. Reuse ids carefully; duplicate definitions are reported as errors.

Cells and syntax

Cell directive shape

Optional notebook frontmatter

Mix prose and cells

Slash menu templates

Cell ids matter

Related pages