TL;DR
Obsidian Bases enables you to build a full-featured agile project management system right inside your vault. Your project notes get organized in a custom database that helps you track tasks, bigger initiatives, and overall progress. You can template your project management so that every project is effortlessly organized in the same way.
When combined with artificial intelligence tools like Google AI Studio and NotebookLM, you can automate project creation, generate detailed roadmaps, and streamline execution like never before. This guide explains how to set up project workflows using Bases, integrate AI as your project manager, and harness the power of my Project Architect plugin and Project Management Bases Kit to boost your productivity.
Note: if you want an intro to Obsidian Bases, I have a full article here.
Introduction: Take Your Obsidian Projects from Chaos to Clarity with Bases and AI
As I began using Obsidian Bases, switching from dataview, I quickly realized it was far more than just a note-organizing tool— Bases provides a foundation for managing real-world projects. As I explain in more depth (with examples) in my videos, the ability to build hierarchical projects with epics, stories, and tasks in one place while embedding dynamic dashboards lets me see every aspect of my workflow at a glance.
What’s even more impactful is combining Bases with AI tools. I’ve been using platforms like Google AI Studio and NotebookLM to prompt AI to write the code for my Bases views, generate complex project roadmaps, and automate note generation – effectively turning AI into a personal project manager. This approach doesn’t just save time; it changes how you think about project planning, making it more effortless & impactful.
If you’re ready to escape the overwhelm of managing and organizing multiple projects, this system will help you reduce information overload while boosting productivity at the same time.
Let’s dive in 🚀
Building a Full Agile Project Management System with Obsidian Bases
1. Hierarchical Structure: Projects, Epics, Stories, and Tasks
I built a full project system where everything is organized hierarchically: projects house epics, epics contain stories, and stories break down into tasks. This mirrors agile methodology and offers clarity on progressing complex work.
Using Bases, this structure is fully customizable. You can track progress, priorities, start and due dates, owners, and more. I use properties like status, priority, and due extensively, and these are editable directly within tables, which makes updating projects frictionless.
Each category in the hierarchy (task, story, epic) has a dedicated property type (e.g., ProjectType = Task). By creating a new property for project management, it becomes incredibly easy to organize your project-specific files into their own dedicated Base.
You can use any hierarchy name you want, customizing each project style for your particular use case. You can template each of these systems so that you build once and reuse as often as you need.
There’s no end to how you can customize this system, enabling effortless project management and a workflow that enhances the promotion of ideas.
2. Idea Inbox & Workflow Promotion
A core part of my system is an “Idea Inbox” where I can dump new ideas (ProjectType = Idea). From there, I promote ideas through stages: idea → (epic → story → task → project). This fluid, modular workflow keeps my system flexible and avoids missing opportunities as they arise.
By promotion, I mean that it is possible to have a fleeting note (see Molecular Zettelkasten) that has an idea tag or category. I can create a specific Base view in my Projects for Ideas, effectively turning that view into an Idea Inbox.
I can then go through my Idea Inbox and decide which tier in the project hierarchy the idea relates to. Maybe the Idea is a task within a story, maybe it’s a larger initiative that deserves its own story with sub-tasks. The core idea is that it doesn’t matter! You can promote an Idea into any other project tier and the Project Base will automatically update the organization without you needing to do anything other than change the ProjectType.
Each view in each Base becomes a dynamic dashboard.
3. Dynamic Dashboards & Embedded Views
Embedding filtered views of Bases into notes creates dynamic, self-updating dashboards. For example, a project note can embed views showing only tasks related to that project, updating instantly as you add or change tasks.
This is where the turning Obsidian into a dataBase becomes more powerful. Every note in your Obsidian vault has a preset list of properties that are automatically updated at all times. Data modified, date created, file name, file links, and more (see the full list of core file properties here), you can leverage these Obsidian core file properties to dynamically adapt each Base automatically.
For example, you can have a “parent” property for tracking which tasks are associated with which stories. You can then have a dynamic Bases view that displays all the “children” of that Story, automatically listing the tasks associated with it.
The key is that you do not need to manually create this view for every Story, but can create a single “children view” in the Base that automatically looks for any note that has a parent property of “this.file”.
It’s a classic use of DRY – don’t repeat yourself. Build the view once and have it apply to every one of your Project templates.
I also use dynamic properties and formulas, like “days remaining” or “percentage complete,” which bases calculate on the fly. This makes my project views alive and actionable. I can use formulae to calculate how many days are remaining until a due date, how long it has been since I last touched a note, and more.
There is no end to the way you can build your Bases, you just need to have a basic understanding of the syntax to get going…
or do you?
Integrating AI to Supercharge Your Project Management in Obsidian
1. Let AI Do the Heavy Lifting: Base & View Creation
AI is incredible at coding. It makes sense, it’s built on code and understands natural language, making it the perfect interface between us and the digital world.
Bases’ syntax and YAML structure make it easy for AI to understand and generate new views or formulas. The “language” of Bases is similar to javascript, which makes it relatively easy for the AI to work with.
For example, I ask AI to “build me complex filter formulas” or “generate a new project base structure with dynamic due data views,” paste the output into Obsidian, and instantly have a new, fully functional project system.
I share more about how to use AI in your Project Management in this video here:
2. AI as Your Project Manager: Roadmapping and Execution
You can take the combination of AI & Project Bases even further by using AI as a project manager that understands both the context of your projects and the structure you are using to manage them.
By feeding AI with context files—like existing project notes, goals, and constraints—it generates detailed roadmaps aligned with your workflow. AI analyzes your input and outputs epics, stories, and task breakdowns ready to import.
In my experience, this is a game change. I have become significantly more productive by using AI to help break down complex projects into epics, stories, and tasks that I can work through one by one, sastisfyingly marking them as complete in my Project Base.
3. The Project Architect Plugin: Seamless Execution & Visualization
To convert AI-generated roadmaps into living notes, I developed the Project Architect plugin (now in Beta). It creates a side panel reflecting your project hierarchy with checkboxes and progress indicators.
Checking one task can automatically update subtasks or higher-level stories, providing instant visual feedback and automation. The plugin is currently in beta for YouTube members but will expand to everyone soon 👀.
I’ll share more about what Project Architect can do and when it will be available on my YouTube channel, so consider subscribing to stay up to date with what I’m working on.
The key is that project architect works WITH Bases, leveraging the power of a new core plugin for Obsidian.
Real-World Use Cases and Benefits
Here are a few cases & workflows where you might want to use Bases:
- Running multiple complex projects simultaneously without losing track of details
- Automating project setup with AI-generated templates and complex formulae
- Creating dynamic, embedded dashboards that update in real-time
- Promoting ideas seamlessly through the project lifecycle
- Reducing “admin drag” so you focus more on doing and less on organizing
As I’ve shared, this system has dramatically increased my productivity and reduced overwhelm, and I believe it can do the same for you.
Getting Started with Project Management & AI in Obsidian Bases
- Enable Obsidian Bases (Core Plugin).
- Watch my detailed video walkthroughs that cover everything from setup to AI integration.
- Explore AI tools like Google AI Studio, NotebookLM, or ChatGPT to help you create bases and roadmaps automatically.
- Join my YouTube membership to access the beta-version Project Architect plugin and gain more automation power.
- Optionally, check out my Obsidian Project Management Bases Kit, available on my website, tailored to the workflows I demonstrate in videos.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Is coding required to use AI with Bases?
No, the system leverages AI-generated code snippets you can copy-paste. I walk through every step in my tutorials.
Q: Can I customize the project hierarchy?
Absolutely—Bases lets you tailor levels (projects, epics, stories, tasks) and properties to your needs. There is no right way to organize, it all depends on what makes the most sense for the way you think.
Q: What if I don’t want to use AI?
The system works perfectly without AI; AI can just accelerates setup and planning.
Q: Where can I get your Project Management Kit?
It’s available on Wanderloots.com and includes ready-to-use bases, templates, and instructions on how to kickstart your project management with Obsidian Bases.
Conclusion: Future-Proof Your Workflow with Obsidian Bases and AI
Project management in Obsidian just got a whole lot more efficient. Combining Bases with AI unlocks a new way to plan, execute, and stay on top of your projects—all within your local vault. It’s fast, flexible, and uniquely tailored to knowledge work today.
Whether you want to use AI or not, Bases significantly enhances project management in Obsidian. I highly recommend you check it out.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but the best time to start learning is now ✨
Call to Action & Resources
To dive deeper:
- Grab my Obsidian Project Management Bases Kit here.
- Explore these playlists:
- Join the conversation in my YouTube comments and community
