Obsidian Bases outside Obsidian: open and edit .base files in a browser

Obsidian Bases is a core plugin that shows your notes as database-style views, and a base is saved as a .base file, which is plain YAML. Outside Obsidian, Folio (foliowiki) opens that file as a page with table, cards and list views, filters, formulas, grouping and summaries, and lets people with edit rights change the properties in its cells. Kanban and map views, plugin functions and a few formula functions are not supported.

This post says what a base is according to Obsidian's own help, what Folio does with one, what it leaves out, and why the rows you see depend on who you are. It describes the current Folio release as of 2 November 2026. For the vault around the base, see the guide to making Obsidian multiplayer, Folio vs. Obsidian and the post on connecting a vault to an AI agent.

What is an Obsidian base, and what is in a .base file?

According to Obsidian's help, Bases lets you view, edit, sort and filter files and their properties. The data stays in your Markdown notes and their properties; the base only stores the configuration. It can be a separate .base file or a code block inside a note. A base holds one or more views, and the built-in layouts are table, list, cards, kanban and map; community plugins can add more.

The syntax page describes the file as YAML with a few top-level keys: filters that narrow the data for all views (with and, or and not), formulas, display settings for properties, custom summaries, and a list of views, each with its own type, name and optional filters, grouping, order and limit. Here is a small example in that shape, written for this post as an illustration.

filters:
  and:
    - file.inFolder("Projects")
    - 'status != "done"'
formulas:
  overdue: 'if(due < today(), "yes", "no")'
views:
  - type: table
    name: Open projects
    order:
      - file.name
      - status
      - due
      - formula.overdue
    sort:
      - property: due
        direction: ASC
    limit: 50

Because it is text, you can open it in any editor and keep it in Git next to the notes it queries. What reads it as a live view is the part that differs between tools.

Can you open a .base file outside Obsidian?

Yes, in Folio. Connect the Git repository that holds your vault, and each .base file appears in the page tree as a base. The rows are the pages of the same space, the columns are their properties, file fields and formulas. Folio does not change the file when it shows or indexes it, and a file with broken YAML opens as a page with the error and its line number instead of failing silently.

Which rows does a reader see in a base?

This is where a team tool differs from a personal one. In Obsidian every row is a file you own. In Folio a base is a query, and each reader runs it with their own rights. The rows are pages of the same space that the reader can open: restricted pages stay out for people without access, the agent rules folder is admin-only, templates never appear, and folders are not rows. A row can be a document, a data table, a form, a board, a PDF, an office file or another base. Attachments are not rows.

The same rule explains one deliberate gap. A base exposes properties, so on a share link and on a published public site a base code block shows a note instead of the result, and the MCP tool that runs a base refuses on public sites.

Can people edit a base in the browser?

Two different things can be edited, and they are saved differently. Turn on the Editing switch on a base page and a cell becomes a field. Saving it writes the properties of the note in that row, the same call the properties panel uses, so only rows that person may edit are editable, and only note properties: never file fields or formulas. Some values stay read only, such as a status that Folio itself manages in a native space.

Configure opens the visual editor for views, filters, formulas and columns. Saving rewrites the .base file, but the writer keeps unchanged top-level blocks and unchanged views byte for byte, with their comments and keys Folio does not know. The change goes into one commit under the editor's name, so the diff of a base shows what the person changed.

To make a new base, use New base in the plus menu or the quick switcher; it starts as one table view filtered by the folder you are in. A search can also be saved as a base: its tag, kind, status, folder and property filters become Obsidian filters, and plain words are dropped, which the dialog says.

Can an AI agent read or build a base?

Yes. Over MCP, one tool runs a view of a base and returns the columns, rows, groups and summaries, with limit and offset for paging, and another creates a base from YAML or replaces one. The YAML is checked by the parser before anything is written, and a mistake comes back with a line number. Rows come only from pages the token owner can open, so an agent never sees more through a base than through search. Folio AI, the assistant in the side panel, uses the same tools. Setup is in Connect Claude Code to Folio.

What does Folio not do with bases?

• No kanban and no map views, and no views from plugins. They fall back to a table with a notice.
• No html(), image() or icon(), and no plugin functions. The column or filter is flagged, not guessed.
• No editing inside a base code block, and no ![[x.base]] embed yet. Open the base page to edit.
• One space per base. A base cannot query across spaces.
• Limits on size. A query looks at up to 5,000 candidate pages, a response page shows 200 rows with a Show more button, and the file may be up to 256 KB.
• Dates are computed in UTC, and a date with a time is shown in the reader's local time. Relative dates by the reader's time zone are not done yet.
• It is not Obsidian. A base is one part of a vault. Dataview blocks and community plugins do not run, and the full list is in LIMITATIONS.

To try it, make a copy of a vault in a Git repository and connect it as a space, then open a .base file. The public demo runs the release, and the install guide covers running your own. If a base from your vault shows wrong, tell us on GitHub Discussions with the YAML that failed.

All posts