Frontmatter and properties

Frontmatter is an optional block of properties at the very top of a note, written in YAML. Myne owns a fixed set of fields in it and leaves everything else to you. This article covers the rules and the fields Myne manages.

The frontmatter block

If a note has frontmatter, it must be the very first thing in the file: a line of exactly ---, then valid YAML, then a closing line of exactly ---.

---
title: Weekly review
tags: [planning, review]
---

The note body starts here.

When a note has frontmatter, the editor renders it as a Properties widget at the top of the note. The note’s title sits above the list as its own field. Below it, each key is an editable name beside its value: a plain value is a text input, and a list value is a row of chips you can remove, with a field for adding another item. + Add property adds a new key. Editing an input and pressing Enter or moving focus away writes the change straight back into the note’s frontmatter.

A value with structure the widget has no control for — nested keys under a key of yours, a multi-line block — gets no editable row of its own; its key line still appears, with nothing in the value field. The value itself stays in your file untouched, and to change it you edit the note in another editor.

Fields Myne manages

Myne writes thirteen fields of its own. You rarely touch them directly; actions in the app keep them current:

Several of these are value-strict, which protects you from accidents: trashed, archived, deleted and done only count when their value is a real timestamp, and template, folder_index and conflict only count when the value is exactly true. So your own template: maybe or trashed: someday won’t quietly hide a note. cover is value-strict in its own way: it counts only when it holds exactly one attachment reference written by Myne, so a filename or a web address typed there is left alone and shows no cover. A note is at most one of archived or trashed: archiving a note clears any trashed, and trashing an archived note clears its archived. Neither archiving nor restoring from the Archive touches updated, since moving a note in or out of the Archive is not a content edit. The folder value is virtual: it is recorded inside the encrypted note, not as a real directory on disk, which is why your folder structure travels with the note even to another editor.

Your own fields are kept

Myne never strips frontmatter it doesn’t recognize. Any fields you add (tags, aliases, your own bookkeeping) are preserved exactly, on every save. Editing a note, renaming it, or moving it touches only the relevant managed field and leaves everything else byte-for-byte intact.

Myne’s own fields count only at the top level of the block. A key with the same name nested inside one of your own — a title: under a seo: mapping, for example — belongs to you: Myne does not read it as the note’s state and never rewrites it.

A note on tags: a frontmatter tags: list is a different surface from the inline #tags you write in the body. Both feed the same places; see Tags.

Limits

The caret never enters the Properties block: clicking or arrowing into it puts the caret on the first line of the body instead, and a selection cannot span it. The inputs are the only way to edit frontmatter here, which is also why select-all selects the body and leaves your frontmatter alone. A find-and-replace match that falls inside the frontmatter is counted in the k/N total but is not highlighted on screen, because frontmatter renders as the Properties widget rather than as raw text and there is nothing in the note body to paint the match on; see Find and replace. If you want a template’s structure to include frontmatter, build it into the template; see Templates.