Frontmatter Reference

Quick reference for all frontmatter fields used across content types. Copy the relevant block when creating new files.

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Content Types and Required Fields

Chapter Intro (00-Chapter-Intro.md)

Field	Required	Values / Notes
type	Yes	chapter
book	Yes	[your-book-slug]
part	Yes	Part number (1 to [N])
chapter	Yes	Chapter number (1 to [N])
title	Yes	Chapter title in quotes
aliases	Yes	ch[XX], Chapter [X]
status	Yes	See status workflow below
target_words	Yes	Total chapter word target
summary	Yes	One sentence description
key_concepts	No	Links to [[concepts/Name]] notes
related_chapters	No	Links like [[ch05\|Title]]
tags	Yes	chapter + part tag + topic tags

Section (01-Section-Name.md)

Field	Required	Values / Notes
type	Yes	section
book	Yes	[your-book-slug]
part	Yes	Part number
chapter	Yes	Chapter number
section	Yes	Section number within chapter
title	Yes	Section title in quotes
status	Yes	See status workflow below
target_words	Yes	Section word target
research_sources	No	Links to research answer files
tags	Yes	section + topic tags

Part Intro (00-Part-Intro.md)

Field	Required	Values / Notes
type	Yes	part-intro
book	Yes	[your-book-slug]
part	Yes	Part number
title	Yes	Part title in quotes
status	Yes	See status workflow below
summary	Yes	1-2 sentence part description
tags	Yes	part + topic tag

Status Workflow

outline --> drafting --> revising --> editing --> done

Status	Meaning
outline	Structure defined, content not started
drafting	Content being written
revising	Content review and structural improvement
editing	Final editorial and copy-editing pass
done	Publication ready

Tag Conventions

• Use flat tags only (no hierarchical parent/child tags)
• Maintain a central tag index document in planning/
• Core structural tags: chapter, section, part, concept, research
• Add topic tags for your book's major themes: one tag per theme
• Keep the total tag vocabulary under [YOUR LIMIT -- e.g., 30 tags]