Dendron-Obsidian Compatible Markdown

Frontmatter Template (Required)

Every note MUST include this frontmatter structure:

yaml

---
id: <uuid-v4>
name: <note-name>
description: <brief description>
type: <document-type>
created: <ISO-datetime>
updated: <ISO-datetime>
tags: [tag1, tag2]
aliases: [alternate-name]
---

Field Requirements

Field	Required	Format	Notes
`id`	Yes	UUID v4	Dendron requires; Obsidian ignores
`name`	Yes	String	Short name (matches SKILL.md format)
`description`	Yes	String	Brief description of the document
`type`	Yes	String	Document type (see below)
`created`	Yes	ISO datetime	`2025-01-29T14:30:00` (seconds precision)
`updated`	Yes	ISO datetime	Same format as created
`tags`	No	Array `[tag1, tag2]`	Both support
`aliases`	No	Array `[alt-name]`	Both support

Document Types

Type	Purpose
`plan`	Intent, goals, roadmaps
`experiment`	Hypothesis testing, trials
`log`	Chronological records, decisions, results
`issues`	Problems, bugs, blockers
`notes`	General notes, meeting notes, research
`reference`	API docs, library usage, concepts

Generate UUID with: uuidgen or Python uuid.uuid4()

File Naming Convention

The project root serves as the vault. Dot-notation filenames are ONLY used for experiment, issues, and log types. All other types use simple hyphenated names.

code

project/                    # vault root
├── doc/                    # documentation
│   ├── project-alpha-plan.md          # plan (no dot notation)
│   ├── experiment.dan-hyperparams.md  # experiment (dot notation)
│   ├── issues.sigmoid-overflow.md     # issues (dot notation)
│   ├── log.2025-01-29.md              # log (dot notation)
│   ├── meeting-kickoff-notes.md       # notes (no dot notation)
│   └── glove-embeddings-reference.md  # reference (no dot notation)
├── .claude/
│   └── skills/
│       ├── markdown/
│       │   └── SKILL.md
│       └── latex/
│           └── SKILL.md
├── src/
├── data/
└── README.md

Rules:

•Project folder = vault root
•CLAUDE.md and README.md are exceptions (no frontmatter required)
•Dot-notation types (experiment, issues, log): <type>.<topic>.md
•Simple naming types (plan, notes, reference): <topic>-<type>.md or <descriptive-name>.md
•Lowercase, hyphenated words
•No spaces in filenames

Linking Syntax

Use only basic wikilinks:

markdown

[[note-name]]

Avoid these (compatibility issues):

Syntax	Problem
`[[note\|display text]]`	Inconsistent pipe handling
`[[note#heading]]`	Heading links differ
`[[note#^block-id]]`	Obsidian-only
`![[embed]]`	Rendering differs

Safe alternatives:

•Link then explain: [[note-name]] (see section on X)
•Use standard markdown links for external: [text](url)

Callouts (Limited Compatibility)

Obsidian callouts don't render in Dendron. Use blockquotes instead:

markdown

> **Note:** Important information here.

Features to Avoid

Feature	Reason
Dataview queries	Obsidian-only
Dendron schemas	Dendron-only
Mermaid diagrams	Inconsistent rendering
`<%` Templater syntax	Obsidian-only
Dendron note refs `![[ref]]`	Different behavior
Obsidian comments `%%`	Obsidian-only

Example Notes

Example 1: Plan (simple naming)

Filename: doc/project-alpha-plan.md

markdown

---
id: 8a2b3c4d-5e6f-7a8b-9c0d-1e2f3a4b5c6d
name: Project Alpha Plan
description: Planning document for Project Alpha including goals and timeline.
type: plan
created: 2025-01-29T10:30:00
updated: 2025-01-29T10:30:00
tags: [project, active]
aliases: [alpha-plan]
---

## Overview

This document describes the plan for Project Alpha.

## Goals

- [x] Initial planning
- [ ] Development phase

## Notes

> **Important:** Deadline is end of Q1.

See [[issues.project-alpha]] for known blockers.

Example 2: Experiment (dot notation)

Filename: doc/experiment.learning-rate-sweep.md

markdown

---
id: 1a2b3c4d-5e6f-7a8b-9c0d-1e2f3a4b5c6d
name: Learning Rate Sweep
description: Experiment testing different learning rates for model training.
type: experiment
created: 2025-01-29T14:00:00
updated: 2025-01-29T14:00:00
tags: [experiment, hyperparameter]
aliases: [lr-sweep]
---

## Hypothesis

Lower learning rates will improve convergence stability.

## Results

...

Generating Compliant Notes

When creating new markdown files:

•Generate UUID: python -c "import uuid; print(uuid.uuid4())"
•Get ISO datetime: date -Iseconds or date +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S
•Apply frontmatter template
•
Choose filename based on type:
- •experiment, issues, log → use dot notation: <type>.<topic>.md
- •plan, notes, reference → use simple naming: <descriptive-name>.md
•Link with basic [[wikilinks]] only