---
description: A YAML block at the top of a page that sets page-level attributes.
status: Complete
tags: glossary
references:
- client/codemirror/frontmatter.ts
- client/codemirror/frontmatter_folding.ts
- plugs/index/frontmatter.ts
---
Frontmatter is a common format to attach additional metadata (data about data) to markdown documents. Many tools support it as a markdown [[Markdown/Extensions|extension]].

In SilverBullet, there are multiple ways to attach [[Metadata]] to a page; frontmatter is the most popular one.

You create frontmatter by starting your markdown document with `---` followed by [[YAML]] encoded attributes and then ending with `---` again. Followed by the regular body of your document. This very page contains some frontmatter, click on it to see the underlying code.

Here is another example:

    ---
    status: Draft
    tags:
    - tag1
    - tag2
    seeAlso: "[[YAML]]"
    ---
    ## This is a section
    This is content

For convenience, you may use the `attribute.subAttribute` notation, which internally will expand:

```yaml
attribute.subAttribute: 10
```

to

```yaml
attribute:
   subAttribute: 10
```

# Folding
Frontmatter can be folded in the editor. By default, frontmatter blocks with more than 5 lines fold automatically when you open a page, unless your cursor or selection is inside the frontmatter. When folded, frontmatter with a `tags` key previews those tags as tag chips.

You can configure this in your [[CONFIG]] page with `frontmatterFolding`:

Never auto-fold frontmatter:

```lua
config.set("frontmatterFolding", {
  foldByDefault = "never",
})
```

Always auto-fold frontmatter:

```lua
config.set("frontmatterFolding", {
  foldByDefault = "always",
})
```

Only auto-fold frontmatter above a custom line threshold:

```lua
config.set("frontmatterFolding", {
  foldByDefault = "long",
  foldByDefaultLines = 10,
})
```

# Special attributes
While SilverBullet allows arbitrary metadata to be added to pages, there are a few attributes with special meaning:

* `name` (==DISALLOWED==): is an attribute used for page names, _you should not set it_.
* `displayName` (`string`): very similar in effect as `aliases` but will use this name for the page in certain contexts.
* `aliases` (`array of strings`): allow you to specify a list of alternative names for this page, which can be used to navigate or link to this page
* `tags` (`array of strings` or `string`): an alternative (and perhaps preferred) way to assign [[Tag]] to a page. There are various ways to define these:
  ```yaml
  tags: tag1, tag2 # with commas
  tags: tag1 tag2 # with spaces
  tags: "#tag1 #tag2" # with pound signs and quotes (with auto completion)
  tags: # as a list
  - tag1
  - tag2
  tags: # as a list with pound signs and quotes
  - "#tag1"
  - "#tag2"
  ```

> **note** Recommended style
> Prefer **space-separated bare words on a single line** — `tags: market competitors` — over the YAML-list form. It is the most common SilverBullet convention and the least visually noisy. All the forms above remain valid for compatibility. If you care about Obsidian compatibility, use YAML lists.

For specific use cases, like [[^Library/Std/Infrastructure/Page Templates]] or [[^Library/Std/Infrastructure/Slash Templates]], frontmatter may have specific meaning.