I will continually hand it to the creators of [[Obsidian]] for their vision and the execution thereof. **Obsidian treats the contents of your text files as the source of truth.** It does not have some secret database that it would use to override what the text files would have you believe. While there *is* a database ( [[IndexedDB]], specifically) it is treated as a **disposable & rebuildable layer on top of the truth**, not as the truth itself. ![[Obsidian's Source of Truth 2026-01-26 13.06.22.excalidraw.svg]] %%[[Obsidian's Source of Truth 2026-01-26 13.06.22.excalidraw.md|🖋 Edit in Excalidraw]]%% Obsidian's cache (I.e. database) includes information about the files, their [[Frontmatter]], their structure & headings, and the links they contain. If the cache is deemed possibly stale, it is simply rebuilt. Being very clear about this information flow keeps the whole thing conceptually [[Simplicity|simple]], which makes it easier to develop and easier to develop your own systems around. This is an example of the value of [[Design systems Based on Simple Principles]]. **** # More ## Source - https://docs.obsidian.md/Reference/TypeScript+API/MetadataCache