Conditional Properties (Obsidian Plugin)

Automate frontmatter property updates in your Obsidian notes using simple conditional rules. Define rules like: IF property X equals Y THEN set property Z to W. Run on the whole vault or only on the current file, manually or on a schedule.

What inspired me to do this plugin was: My Granola meeting notes imports weren’t bringing the same name values as my people notes. So, I created this plugin to correct the names of people in my notes.

Features

• Define multiple rules with a simple IF/THEN model
• Property Existence Check: Check if a property exists or not in the frontmatter
• Operators: exactly, contains, notContains, exists, notExists, isEmpty
• Multiple THEN actions per rule: Set multiple properties in a single rule
• Comma-separated values: Set multiple values for a property (e.g., "work, apple" → properly formatted YAML array)
• ADD/REMOVE actions: Choose to ADD values to a property or REMOVE specific values
• Smart property merging: Add values to existing properties without duplicating
• Scan Scope Options: Choose between entire vault, latest created notes, or latest modified notes
• Configurable scan count: Set number of notes to scan (1-1000, default 15) for latest notes options
• Title-based conditions: Use the note's title (first H1 after YAML frontmatter or inline title) as the IF condition
• Run on the entire vault (settings button or command)
• Run on the current file (command palette)
• Scheduled scans with a minimum interval of 5 minutes
• Safe updates: only frontmatter properties are modified, body content is preserved
• Handles multi-value properties (arrays/strings): preserves existing values when adding

Settings

• Scan interval (minutes): default 5, minimum 5
• Scan Scope: Choose between "Latest Created notes", "Latest Modified notes", or "Entire vault"
• Number of notes: When using latest notes options, set the number of notes to scan (1-1000, default 15)
• Rules editor: add/remove rules, pick operator, edit values
• Run now button (executes based on selected scope)
• Add many values in the same THEN action separated by commas
• Add multiple THEN actions

Installation (Development)

1. Copy this folder into your vault at .obsidian/plugins/obsidian-conditional-properties.
2. In Obsidian, go to Settings → Community Plugins → toggle this plugin.

This repository ships the compiled main.js. No build step is required for testing.

Operators

Property Operators

• exactly: Checks if the property value exactly matches the specified value
• contains: Checks if the property value contains the specified text
• notContains: Checks if the property value does not contain the specified text
• exists: Checks if the property exists in the frontmatter (ignores the value field)
• notExists: Checks if the property does not exist in the frontmatter (ignores the value field)
• isEmpty: Checks if the property exists but is empty (empty string or empty array) (ignores the value field)

Example: Using exists/notExists/isEmpty

# Rule: If 'status' property exists
IF: status exists
THEN: set priority to 'high'

# Rule: If 'reviewed' property does not exist
IF: reviewed notExists
THEN: set needs_review to true

# Rule: If 'tags' property exists but is empty
IF: tags isEmpty
THEN: add tags 'untagged'

# Note: isEmpty vs notExists
# - isEmpty: property exists in frontmatter but has no value (e.g., tags: "" or tags: [])
# - notExists: property is not present in frontmatter at all

Usage

Run now

• Settings → Conditional Properties → "Run now" button (executes based on selected scan scope).
• Command palette: "Run conditional rules on vault".

Run on current file

• Command palette: "Run conditional rules on current file".

Scheduled execution

• Settings → set "Scan interval (minutes)" (minimum 5). The plugin runs automatically using a timer.

Scan Scope Options

Choose which notes the plugin will scan when running rules:

• Latest Created notes: Scan the most recently created notes (configurable count, default 15)
• Latest Modified notes: Scan the most recently modified notes (configurable count, default 15)
• Entire vault: Scan all notes in the vault

The scan scope can be configured in Settings → Conditional Properties → "Scan Scope".

Action Types

Property Actions

When setting properties in THEN actions, you can choose between different modes:

ADD (Default)

• Adds the specified values to the property
• Does NOT duplicate values if they already exist
• Preserves existing values in the property
• Preserves the IF condition value - will not remove it when adding new values

REMOVE

• Removes the specified values from the property
• Only removes values that exist
• Preserves all other values in the property
• Safe: does nothing if the value doesn't exist

OVERWRITE

• Completely replaces the property value with the specified new value
• Removes all existing values and sets only the new ones
• Useful for resetting or fully updating a property
• Warning: This will erase any existing data in the property

DELETE PROPERTY

• Completely removes the property from the frontmatter
• The property and all its values are deleted permanently
• Warning: This action is irreversible and will permanently delete the property
• No value field is required, as nothing is being set

How to use Property Actions

In the rules editor, each THEN action has a dropdown between the property name and value field:

• Select ADD to add values (default behavior)
• Select REMOVE to remove values
• Select OVERWRITE to replace the entire property value
• Select DELETE PROPERTY to remove the property entirely

Title Modification Actions

You can now modify note titles based on conditions. When adding a new action, select Change Title from the action type dropdown.

Features:

• Add prefix: Add text at the beginning of the title
• Add suffix: Add text at the end of the title
• Date formatting: Use {date} for default date format or {date:FORMAT} for custom formats (e.g., {date:DD-MM-YYYY})

How to use:

1. In the rules editor, click "+ Add action"
2. Select "Change Title" from the action type dropdown
3. Choose between "Add prefix" or "Add suffix"
4. Enter the text to add (use {date} or {date:FORMAT} for dynamic dates)

Examples:

• Add today's date as a prefix: {date} -
• Add a custom formatted date as a suffix: - {date:DD/MM/YYYY}
• Add a fixed prefix: [ARCHIVED]

Examples

Add tags without duplicating (exact match):

IF property: type, op: exactly, value: meeting
THEN set property: tags [ADD] work, important

Result: Adds "work" and "important" tags only if they don't already exist.

Remove old tags (exact match):

IF property: status, op: exactly, value: archived
THEN set property: tags [REMOVE] draft, wip

Result: Removes "draft" and "wip" tags if they exist.

Overwrite property value (exact match):

IF property: status, op: exactly, value: old
THEN set property: status [OVERWRITE] new

Result: Replaces the entire "status" property with "new", removing any previous values.

Delete a property (exact match):

IF property: tags, op: exactly, value: deprecated
THEN set property: old_tags [DELETE PROPERTY]

Result: Completely removes the "old_tags" property from the frontmatter.

Combine ADD and REMOVE (exact match):

IF property: tags, op: exactly, value: old-project
THEN set properties:
  - tags [REMOVE] old-project, legacy
  - tags [ADD] new-project, active
  - status [ADD] migrated

Result: Removes old tags, adds new ones, and sets status.

Substring containment:

IF property: name, op: contains, value: iago
THEN set property: tags [ADD] review

Result: Matches any value where the normalized text contains "iago" (e.g. "[[Diago Silva]]").

Rules

Each rule has:

• ifProp: source property name (ignored for heading-based rules)
• op: operator (exactly, contains, notContains)
• ifValue: value to test (substring for contains/notContains)
• thenActions: array of actions to execute, each with prop, value, and action (add/remove/overwrite/delete)

Examples

1. Rename a person mention in a multi-value property

---
related_people: ["[[steve_works]]", "[[John Doe]]"]
---

Rule:

IF property: related_people, op: exactly, value: [[steve_works]]
THEN set property: related_people to [[Steve Jobs]]

Result:

---
related_people: ["[[Steve Jobs]]", "[[John Doe]]"]
---

2. Set a status if a tag contains a keyword

IF property: tags, op: exactly, value: meeting
THEN set property: status to processed

3. Ensure a property does not contain a value

IF property: source, op: notContains, value: transcript-auto
THEN set property: verified to true

4. Set multiple properties when a condition is met (NEW!)

IF property: tags, op: exactly, value: meeting
THEN set properties:
  - status to processed
  - priority to high

5. Update multiple related properties

IF property: project_status, op: exactly, value: completed
THEN set properties:
  - "status to done
  - "priority to low
  - "archived to true

6. Set multiple tags at once

IF property: type, op: exactly, value: note
THEN set properties:
  - tags to work, apple, important

7. Use heading-based condition

IF first level heading, op: contains, value: Meeting
THEN set properties:
  - tags to meeting, important

Note: The title is the first H1 heading after the YAML frontmatter, or the inline title if enabled. Rules are skipped for notes without a title.

Roadmap

• Conditional IF/THEN rules engine
• Property operators (exactly, contains, notContains, exists, notExists, isEmpty)
• Multiple actions per rule
• Export/import settings UI
• Title prefix/suffix modifications with {date} placeholders
• Scheduled scans and scoped run options
• Run on current file
• Verify if property is empty
• Rename property
• Execute changes in the note content, not only properties or titles
• Advanced operators (regex, greater/less than)
• Compound conditions (AND/OR/NOT)
• Folder/tag scoping and new-note filters

Privacy

All processing happens locally in your vault. No data leaves your device.

License

MIT