ENG-1608: Add command to create Base view for a node type (#935)

* ENG-1608: Add command to create Base view for a node type

Adds a "Create Base view for node type" command that generates a .base
YAML file filtered by nodeTypeId, with entry points from the command
palette, node type settings, and discourse context panel.

Also refactors NodeTypeModal to accept a generic callback instead of
being hardcoded to createDiscourseNode, enabling reuse across both
the existing node creation flow and the new Base view creation.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Apply suggestions from code review

Co-authored-by: devin-ai-integration[bot] <158243242+devin-ai-integration[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* add documentations

* PR comment

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: devin-ai-integration[bot] <158243242+devin-ai-integration[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: 3 people

apps/obsidian/src/components/DiscourseContextView.tsx

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import {
   WorkspaceLeaf,
   Notice,
   FrontMatterCache,
+  setIcon,
 } from "obsidian";
 import { createRoot, Root } from "react-dom/client";
 import DiscourseGraphPlugin from "~/index";
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@ import { PluginProvider, usePlugin } from "~/components/PluginContext";
 import { getNodeTypeById } from "~/utils/typeUtils";
 import { refreshImportedFile } from "~/utils/importNodes";
 import { publishNode } from "~/utils/publishNode";
+import { createBaseForNodeType } from "~/utils/baseForNodeType";
 import { useState, useEffect } from "react";
 
 type DiscourseContextProps = {
@@ -154,6 +156,18 @@ const DiscourseContext = ({ activeFile }: DiscourseContextProps) => {
               />
             )}
             {nodeType.name || "Unnamed Node Type"}
+            <button
+              onClick={() => {
+                void createBaseForNodeType(plugin, nodeType);
+              }}
+              className="clickable-icon ml-1"
+              title={`Create Base view for ${nodeType.name}`}
+              aria-label={`Create Base view for ${nodeType.name}`}
+            >
+              <div
+                ref={(el) => (el && setIcon(el, "layout-list")) || undefined}
+              />
+            </button>
             {isImported && (
               <button
                 onClick={() => {

apps/obsidian/src/components/NodeTypeModal.tsx

@@ -1,29 +1,32 @@
-import { App, Editor, SuggestModal, TFile, Notice } from "obsidian";
-import { DiscourseNode } from "~/types";
-import { createDiscourseNode } from "~/utils/createNode";
+import { SuggestModal } from "obsidian";
+import type { DiscourseNode } from "~/types";
 import type DiscourseGraphPlugin from "~/index";
 
 export class NodeTypeModal extends SuggestModal<DiscourseNode> {
+  private nodeTypes: DiscourseNode[];
+  private onSelect: (nodeType: DiscourseNode) => void;
+
   constructor(
-    private editor: Editor,
-    private nodeTypes: DiscourseNode[],
-    private plugin: DiscourseGraphPlugin,
+    plugin: DiscourseGraphPlugin,
+    onSelect: (nodeType: DiscourseNode) => void,
   ) {
     super(plugin.app);
+    this.nodeTypes = plugin.settings.nodeTypes;
+    this.onSelect = onSelect;
   }
 
   getItemText(item: DiscourseNode): string {
     return item.name;
   }
 
-  getSuggestions() {
+  getSuggestions(): DiscourseNode[] {
     const query = this.inputEl.value.toLowerCase();
     return this.nodeTypes.filter((node) =>
       this.getItemText(node).toLowerCase().includes(query),
     );
   }
 
-  renderSuggestion(nodeType: DiscourseNode, el: HTMLElement) {
+  renderSuggestion(nodeType: DiscourseNode, el: HTMLElement): void {
     const container = el.createDiv({ cls: "flex items-center gap-2" });
     if (nodeType.color) {
       container.createDiv({
@@ -34,12 +37,7 @@ export class NodeTypeModal extends SuggestModal<DiscourseNode> {
     container.createDiv({ text: nodeType.name });
   }
 
-  async onChooseSuggestion(nodeType: DiscourseNode) {
-    await createDiscourseNode({
-      plugin: this.plugin,
-      editor: this.editor,
-      nodeType,
-      text: this.editor.getSelection().trim() || "",
-    });
+  onChooseSuggestion(nodeType: DiscourseNode): void {
+    this.onSelect(nodeType);
   }
 }

apps/obsidian/src/components/NodeTypeSettings.tsx

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import {
   getAndFormatImportSource,
 } from "~/utils/typeUtils";
 import { FolderSuggestInput } from "./GeneralSettings";
+import { createBaseForNodeType } from "~/utils/baseForNodeType";
 
 const generateTagPlaceholder = (format: string, nodeName?: string): string => {
   if (!format) return "Enter tag (e.g., clm-candidate)";
@@ -709,6 +710,25 @@ const NodeTypeSettings = () => {
             />
           </div>
         </div>
+        {selectedNodeIndex !== null && selectedNodeIndex < nodeTypes.length && (
+          <div className="setting-item">
+            <div className="setting-item-info">
+              <div className="setting-item-name">Base view</div>
+              <div className="setting-item-description">
+                Create a new Base view filtered to this node type
+              </div>
+            </div>
+            <div className="setting-item-control">
+              <button
+                onClick={() =>
+                  void createBaseForNodeType(plugin, editingNodeType)
+                }
+              >
+                Create Base view
+              </button>
+            </div>
+          </div>
+        )}
       </div>
     );
   };

apps/obsidian/src/utils/baseForNodeType.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { Notice } from "obsidian";
+import type DiscourseGraphPlugin from "~/index";
+import type { DiscourseNode } from "~/types";
+
+const generateBaseYaml = (nodeType: DiscourseNode): string => {
+  return [
+    "views:",
+    "  - type: table",
+    `    name: "${nodeType.name.replace(/\\/g, "\\\\").replace(/"/g, '\\"')} Nodes"`,
+    "    order:",
+    "      - file.name",
+    "    filters:",
+    "      and:",
+    `        - nodeTypeId == "${nodeType.id}"`,
+    "",
+  ].join("\n");
+};
+
+const getAvailableFilename = (
+  plugin: DiscourseGraphPlugin,
+  baseName: string,
+): string => {
+  if (!plugin.app.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(`${baseName}.base`)) {
+    return `${baseName}.base`;
+  }
+  let i = 1;
+  while (plugin.app.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(`${baseName} ${i}.base`)) {
+    i++;
+  }
+  return `${baseName} ${i}.base`;
+};
+
+export const createBaseForNodeType = async (
+  plugin: DiscourseGraphPlugin,
+  nodeType: DiscourseNode,
+): Promise<void> => {
+  try {
+    const filename = getAvailableFilename(plugin, `${nodeType.name} Nodes`);
+    const content = generateBaseYaml(nodeType);
+    await plugin.app.vault.create(filename, content);
+    await plugin.app.workspace.openLinkText(filename, "");
+    new Notice(`Created Base view for ${nodeType.name}`);
+  } catch (e) {
+    new Notice(e instanceof Error ? e.message : "Failed to create Base view");
+    console.error("Failed to create Base view:", e);
+  }
+};

apps/obsidian/src/utils/registerCommands.ts

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import { publishNode } from "./publishNode";
 import { addRelationIfRequested } from "~/components/canvas/utils/relationJsonUtils";
 import type { DiscourseNode } from "~/types";
 import { TldrawView } from "~/components/canvas/TldrawView";
+import { createBaseForNodeType } from "./baseForNodeType";
 
 type ModifyNodeSubmitParams = {
   nodeType: DiscourseNode;
@@ -65,7 +66,14 @@ export const registerCommands = (plugin: DiscourseGraphPlugin) => {
       const hasSelection = !!editor.getSelection();
 
       if (hasSelection) {
-        new NodeTypeModal(editor, plugin.settings.nodeTypes, plugin).open();
+        new NodeTypeModal(plugin, (nodeType) => {
+          void createDiscourseNode({
+            plugin,
+            editor,
+            nodeType,
+            text: editor.getSelection().trim() || "",
+          });
+        }).open();
       } else {
         const currentFile =
           plugin.app.workspace.getActiveViewOfType(MarkdownView)?.file ||
@@ -249,6 +257,16 @@ export const registerCommands = (plugin: DiscourseGraphPlugin) => {
       return true;
     },
   });
+  plugin.addCommand({
+    id: "create-base-for-node-type",
+    name: "Create Base view for node type",
+    callback: () => {
+      new NodeTypeModal(plugin, (nodeType) => {
+        void createBaseForNodeType(plugin, nodeType);
+      }).open();
+    },
+  });
+
   plugin.addCommand({
     id: "publish-discourse-node",
     name: "Publish current node to lab space",

apps/website/app/(docs)/docs/obsidian/navigation.ts

@@ -63,6 +63,10 @@ export const navigation: NavigationList = [
         title: "Node tags",
         href: `${ROOT}/node-tags`,
       },
+      {
+        title: "Querying your discourse graph",
+        href: `${ROOT}/querying-discourse-graph`,
+      },
     ],
   },
 

apps/website/app/(docs)/docs/obsidian/pages/querying-discourse-graph.md

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+---
+title: "Querying your discourse graph"
+date: "2026-04-02"
+author: ""
+published: true
+---
+
+As your discourse graph grows, you'll want to view and filter nodes by type — for example, seeing all your Claims or all your Questions in one place. Discourse Graphs integrates with Obsidian's [Bases](https://obsidian.md/blog/bases/) feature to create filtered table views for any node type.
+
+## What is a Base view?
+
+A Base view is a `.base` file that Obsidian renders as a filterable, sortable table. Discourse Graphs can generate these files pre-configured to show only nodes of a specific type, using the `nodeTypeId` frontmatter property as a filter.
+
+## Creating a Base view
+
+There are three ways to create a Base view for a node type:
+
+### From the command palette
+
+1. Open the command palette (`Cmd/Ctrl + P`)
+2. Search for "Create Base view for node type"
+3. Select the node type you want to query
+
+![base-from-command.png](/docs/obsidian/base-from-command.png)
+
+### From node type settings
+
+1. Open Discourse Graphs settings
+2. Click on a node type to edit it
+3. Click the **Create Base view** button at the bottom of the edit form
+
+<!-- TODO: Add screenshot of the "Create Base view" button in node type settings -->
+
+![base-from-setting.png](/docs/obsidian/base-from-setting.png)
+
+### From the discourse context panel
+
+When viewing a discourse node, you can create a Base view for its node type directly from the context panel:
+
+1. Open the [Discourse context panel](./discourse-context) for any discourse node
+2. Click the table icon next to the node type name
+
+![base-from-context.png](/docs/obsidian/base-from-context.png)
+
+## How it works
+
+Each time you create a Base view, a new `.base` file is created at the root of your vault with the name `{Node Type} Nodes.base` (e.g., `Claim Nodes.base`). If a file with that name already exists, a numbered suffix is added (e.g., `Claim Nodes 1.base`).
+
+The generated file contains a table view filtered to show only nodes matching the selected node type. You can then further customize the view in Obsidian — add columns, change sorting, or add additional filters.
+
+> **Note:** A new Base file is always created rather than opening an existing one. This ensures you always get a fresh view with the correct filter, even if you've modified a previous Base view.