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Zettel ID action

Assigns a unique identifier to the note being created by a flow. Supports two strategies: Timestamp (a sortable date-time string) and Folgezettel (a branching address that expresses the note's position in a sequence relative to a parent, following Luhmann's numbering scheme).

Settings overview

Setting Default Description
Strategy Timestamp How the ID is computed.
Frontmatter key id Property name written to the note's frontmatter.
Write to frontmatter On Save the ID under the frontmatter key.
Prefix filename with ID Off Prepend the ID to the note filename (<id> <title>).
Timestamp format YYYYMMDDHHmm Format string (Moment.js). Timestamp strategy only.
Parent ID (blank) The existing Zettel ID to branch from. Folgezettel only.
Relationship Child Branch as a child or sibling. Folgezettel only.

At least one write target (frontmatter or filename) should be active.

Timestamp strategy

Generates a sortable timestamp ID at note-creation time using the configured format string.

Default format: YYYYMMDDHHmm
Example output: 202608051430

The format follows Moment.js tokens: YYYY (year), MM (month), DD (day), HH (24-hour), mm (minutes), ss (seconds).

Folgezettel strategy

Computes a branching identifier relative to a parent ID.

ID grammar

  • IDs consist of alternating segments: numeric segments are followed by alpha segments and vice-versa.
    Example chain: 21 → 21a → 21a1 → 21a1a
  • Child relationship — appends a new segment of the alternate type, starting at its first value (a after a numeric segment, 1 after an alpha segment).
  • Sibling relationship — increments the last segment of the parent ID.
    21 → 22, 21a → 21b, 21a1 → 21a2

Alpha segment rollover

When incrementing an alphabetic segment beyond z, the action uses a simple carry scheme:

Input Output
z aa
az ba
zz aaa

Collision detection

Before returning the computed ID, the action gathers a single snapshot of all existing values for the configured frontmatter key from the vault's metadata cache. If the first candidate is already taken, it advances to the next free candidate of the same relationship and emits a notice.

No parent selected (fallback)

If the parent field is left blank, the action falls back to the next free top-level numeric ID (1, 2, 3, …) and shows a notice:

"No Folgezettel parent selected — using next free top-level ID."

Token substitution

The generated ID is available as {{<key>}} (default {{id}}) in the note's body and frontmatter templates, consistent with how other action results are substituted.

Example template body:

---
id: {{id}}
---

# {{title}}

Parent: {{id}}

Observability

  • On every successful execution a log.debug entry records the strategy and the generated ID.
  • A Notice fires when:
  • No parent was selected (Folgezettel fallback to top-level).
  • A collision forced the candidate past the first free value.

Out of scope

  • Re-numbering or back-filling existing notes.
  • Migrating IDs when notes are renamed or moved.
  • Custom ID grammars beyond Timestamp and Folgezettel.
  • Cross-vault uniqueness.