The Vault That Needed Boundaries
Date: September 15, 2023 Issue: One vault, too many purposes Challenge: Separation without isolation Result: Folder structure + frontmatter tagging
The Problem
My Obsidian vault had become everything:
- Daily work notes
- Technical homelab documentation
- Personal thoughts and reflections
- Letters to my daughter (for her to read someday)
- Random research and learning
All mixed together. A search for “server” returned work tickets, homelab configs, AND a journal entry about feeling like a “server” for everyone else’s needs.
Time for structure.
The Requirements
- Work and personal separated - I don’t want to see personal stuff when searching for work notes
- Technical docs accessible - Homelab notes should be findable
- Daughter’s letters private - Not mixed with daily noise
- Still connected - A work problem might link to a homelab solution
The challenge: separation without silos.
The Folder Structure
Vault/
├── 00-Inbox/ # Quick capture, process later
├── 01-Daily/ # Daily notes (all contexts)
├── 10-Work/
│ ├── Clients/
│ ├── Projects/
│ └── Tickets/
├── 20-Personal/
│ ├── Journal/
│ ├── Letters/ # To my daughter
│ └── Reflections/
├── 30-Technical/
│ ├── Homelab/
│ ├── Security/
│ └── Learning/
├── 40-Reference/
│ ├── Snippets/
│ └── Templates/
└── 90-Archive/The number prefixes force sort order. Inbox first, archive last.
The Daily Note Dilemma
Daily notes span all contexts. A Monday might include:
- Work standup notes
- Homelab debugging session
- A thought about my daughter
Solution: Keep daily notes unified, but use headers for context:
## 📋 Work
- Client meeting at 2pm
- Ticket #4521 escalated
## 🏠 Personal
Feeling tired today. Need more sleep.
## 🔧 Technical
Finally got Traefik working. 238 messages yesterday.One file, clear sections. Searchable by header.
The Frontmatter Strategy
Every note gets frontmatter declaring its type:
---
type: work
client: ACME Corp
status: active
------
type: personal
category: letter
recipient: daughter
------
type: technical
project: homelab
topic: networking
---Now Dataview can query by type:
LIST
FROM ""
WHERE type = "technical" AND topic = "networking"The Link Philosophy
Folders separate. Links connect.
A work note about a VPN issue can link to:
[[20-Personal/Journal/2023-09-10|The day I was too tired to debug]][[30-Technical/Homelab/OpenVPN-Setup|OpenVPN config notes]]
The folders provide context. The links provide connections. Both matter.
The Daughter’s Letters
These are special. Private. Long-term.
20-Personal/Letters/
├── 2023-01-birthday.md
├── 2023-06-first-day-summer.md
├── 2023-09-thoughts-on-growing-up.md
└── ...Template for letters:
---
type: letter
recipient: daughter
date: <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>
age: [her current age]
---
# <% tp.date.now("MMMM Do, YYYY") %>
Dear [Daughter],
[Content]
Love,
DadThese don’t appear in work searches. They don’t show up in daily task lists. They exist in their own space, waiting.
The Search Scoping
Obsidian’s search supports path filters:
path:10-Work vpn issueOnly searches Work folder. Ignores the personal journal entry where I complained about VPN debugging at 2am.
path:30-Technical dockerOnly technical notes. Not the work ticket about a client’s Docker problem.
What I Learned
Folders are for humans. They provide visual organization and search scoping.
Links are for connections. They let related ideas find each other across boundaries.
Frontmatter is for machines. Dataview queries depend on consistent metadata.
Separation enables focus. When I’m in work mode, I don’t need personal journal entries cluttering results.
Connection enables insight. When a work problem relates to a homelab solution, the link should exist.
The Current State
The vault has grown. The structure has held. Daily notes still span contexts, but everything else has its place.
The letters to my daughter are now three years of moments. She doesn’t know they exist yet. Someday she will.
Structure isn’t about restriction. It’s about knowing where to find things when you need them.