#Technology #definition #Obsidian YAML front matter

YAML, also known as front matter, is designed to be file-level metadata that is readable by humans and Obsidian.

Front matter is a section of plain text attributes that starts at the first line of the file. It is one of the most popular ways to add metadata in a Markdown file, and has been popularized by static generators such as Jekyll, Hugo, and Gatsby.

A YAML block needs triple dashes at the start and end to be read by Obsidian (and other apps). It also needs to be placed at the very top of the file.

For example:

---
key: value
key2: value2
key3: [one, two, three]
key4:
- four
- five
- six
---

As of 0.12.12, there are four keys natively supported:

• tags (more information)
• aliases (more information)
• cssclass
• publish ([Publish and unpublish notes > Automatically select notes to publish](https://help.obsidian.md/Obsidian+Publish/Publish+and+unpublish+notes#Automatically select notes to publish) and [Publish and unpublish notes > Ignore notes](https://help.obsidian.md/Obsidian+Publish/Publish+and+unpublish+notes#Ignore notes))

Typical Alias YAML

---
aliases: [alias1, alias2, ...]
---