BrainPARA

A highly structured, automated Obsidian vault built on the PARA Method (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive). It leverages custom templating and dataview scripts to automate metadata, bidirectional linking, and task management.

🗂️ Vault Structure

• PROJECTS/: Active efforts with a specific goal and deadline. Each project contains an index file (00000.md), a Kanban task board, and related resources.
• AREAS/: Spheres of ongoing activity with a standard to be maintained (e.g., Health, Finances).
• RESOURCES/: Topics or themes of ongoing interest.
• ARCHIVE/: Inactive items from the above categories.
• Templates/: Core scripts and layout templates that automate vault maintenance.

✨ Key Features

🤖 Interactive File Generation (Templater)

• Guided Creation: Templates use interactive prompts to walk you through creating new files, ensuring no metadata is ever missed.
• Smart Tagging: Automatically detects existing areas and topics in your vault to offer autocomplete suggestions, preventing duplicate or misspelled tags.
• Auto-Filing: New files automatically inherit the parent tags, project names, and folder paths of the project they are created in.

📊 Dynamic Dashboards (Dataview & DataviewJS)

• Project Indexing: Every project root (00000.md) acts as a dynamic dashboard. It automatically queries and lists all related notes and tasks.
• Topic Grouping: A custom DataviewJS script groups project files by their #topic/ tags into clean markdown tables, instantly organizing scattered research and resources.
• Orphan File Prevention: Ensures that all notes are visible on the index page so nothing gets lost in the folder hierarchy.

📋 Integrated Task Management (Kanban)

• Zero-Friction Task Boards: Generating a new project automatically generates a linked Kanban board alongside it.
• Direct-to-Board Notes: When creating a new Resource note, the template prompts you to automatically add a linked card directly to the project's "Backlog" or "In Progress" column on the Kanban board.

🧠 Knowledge Synthesis (Idea & Source Management)

• Bidirectional Linking: When creating an Idea note, the system prompts you to link it to specific Source notes. It automatically writes the reciprocal links back into the source note's ideas-extracted field.
• Reading Status Automation: Allows you to mark a source note as reading_status: integrated directly from the prompt when you finish extracting ideas from it.
• Granular Note Types: Enforces strict Type frontmatter (Index, Tasks, Resource, Idea, Source) so your vault understands the functional purpose of every file.

🚀 Getting Started

1. Open Obsidian and select Open folder as vault.
2. Select this repository folder.
3. Ensure the following community plugins are installed and enabled:
   • Dataview (Enable JavaScript Queries in settings)
   • Kanban
   • Templater (Set the template folder to Templates/)
4. Create a new project by using the ProjectIndexTemplate.md to automatically generate the necessary dashboards and Kanban boards.

🛠️ Usage

When adding new files, use the integrated templates to ensure correct metadata mapping. The vault relies on specific frontmatter keys (Parent, Type, Project, and tags) to dynamically organize your dashboard views and link ideas back to their source material.