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Bowerbird

Schema

The schema is the heart of Bowerbird. It defines what types of notes exist, what fields they have, and how they’re validated.

Schema Location

Section titled “Schema Location”

Each vault has a schema at .bwrb/schema.json.

my-vault/
└── .bwrb/
    └── schema.json

Schema Structure

Section titled “Schema Structure”

A schema defines:

  • Types — Categories of notes (e.g., task, idea, person)
  • Fields — Properties each type has (e.g., status, priority, deadline)
  • Config — Vault-wide settings (link format, default editor, etc.)
  • Audit — Configuration for schema validation
{
  "types": { ... },
  "config": { ... },
  "audit": { ... }
}

See the Schema Reference for complete property documentation.

Schema is King

Section titled “Schema is King”

The schema is the source of truth. Notes must conform.

  • Hard enforcement on CLI — bwrb new refuses to create invalid notes
  • Soft enforcement on edits — Files can drift, but bwrb audit catches it
  • TypeScript analogy — Like tsc, Bowerbird can fail builds on schema violations

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”