Make it yours

Styling the Soil

Styling the Soil

Everything you can do with a note. This is the complete canonical specification for frontmatter metadata, design tokens, typography, visual directives, and layout architecture.

1. Frontmatter Metadata

Frontmatter is a YAML block placed at the very top of your Markdown file between two --- markers. In Standard Garden, frontmatter is not merely configuration—it is the direct manifestation of File over App.

---
title: "The Architecture of Quiet Thoughts"
description: "A reflection on the digital garden and the preservation of human craft."
permalink: "quiet-thoughts"
created: 2026-09-19
modified: 2026-09-19
visibility: public
publish: true
cover: "/images/woods.jpg"
lang: en
theme: forest
accent: "#d97736"
---

Your essay begins here.

Supported Frontmatter Properties

Property Type Default Description
title string Auto-extracted from first # H1 The published headline of the note.
description string Auto-extracted preview Summary used for OpenGraph social share cards and RSS entries.
permalink string Auto-slugified title Custom URL path segment (e.g. permalink: essay). Use permalink: / on your root note to replace the default profile.
created ISO Date (YYYY-MM-DD) Date of publication The date this note was originally conceived and penned.
modified ISO Date (YYYY-MM-DD) Date of last sync The date this note was last edited or revised.
visibility public | unlisted | private public Controls the reach of the note (see The Double Security Guardrail).
password text — Protects the note: visitors must enter this word to read it. The word stays in your own file; Standard Garden keeps only a salted hash and shows password: __protected__ in its copy. When you edit the note on the web, leave __protected__ to keep the password, type a new word to change it, or delete the line to remove the protection. A protected note is never listed: not in feeds, not in the Mycelium, not in Hyphe.
publish boolean | ISO Date false Sets immediate publication (true), unpublishes (false), or schedules release for a future date (YYYY-MM-DD).
domain domain string — Binds your custom domain when placed on your root note (permalink: /).
mycelium boolean true Set to false on a custom domain root to exclude your notes from the community directory and /daily bloom.
cover image path or URL First embedded photo Official cover visual used for rich previews, social cards, and reading headers.
lang string en Language code for typographical punctuation rules (en, fr, de, it, es).
theme string System default The visual theme applied to this note (e.g. forest, documentation, gallery, humanist).
accent CSS color Theme default Primary accent color for signals, links, and highlights.
foreground CSS color Theme default Text / ink color.
background CSS color Theme default Background / paper color.
font-header font-family string Theme default Typographic stack for titles and headings.
font-text font-family string Theme default Typographic stack for reading body prose.
optical-ratio number Theme default Modular typographic scale ratio.
font-density number Theme default Vertical baseline grid and line-height multiplier.
line-width CSS length Theme default Maximum reading measure for body paragraphs.
color-light-accent CSS color — Dedicated accent color for light mode.
color-light-foreground CSS color — Dedicated ink color for light mode.
color-light-background CSS color — Dedicated paper color for light mode.
color-dark-accent CSS color — Dedicated accent color for dark mode.
color-dark-foreground CSS color — Dedicated ink color for dark mode.
color-dark-background CSS color — Dedicated paper color for dark mode.
garden-brand boolean | string true Paid gardeners: set to false to hide headers and footers entirely, or supply an image URL / text to use your custom brand mark.
garden-favicon image URL — Custom icon replacing the default favicon set (root note only).
garden-display-name text your username Name shown on your account page (root note only).
garden-avatar image URL or vault path — Your avatar (root note only).
garden-domain domain name — Your custom domain (root note only). Provisioned when the root note is published.
garden-mycelium boolean true Set to false to stay out of the community directory and daily feed (root note only).
garden-hyphe-private boolean false Pro. Set to true to let Hyphe (the AI) also read your private notes, for you alone (root note only).
garden-launcher boolean true Set to false to remove the command Launcher for visitors of your garden (root note only).
garden-url URL string — Stamped automatically by the Obsidian plugin upon successful publication.
styles array of URLs [] External stylesheets (e.g., Google Fonts) injected into the <head> of the page.
scripts array of URLs [] External script URLs injected safely into the <head>.

2. The Double Security Guardrail

Standard Garden prevents any unintended leak of personal reflections, journals, or incomplete drafts by enforcing a two-tier safety rule:

visibility: publish: Online Status Where Accessible
public true Live & Public Visible on your profile, discoverable, and searchable.
unlisted true Unlisted Accessible only to individuals with the direct link; hidden from feeds.
private Any Private Accessible only to you when logged in.
Any false or absent Draft (Offline) Exists solely in your local vault; not rendered online.
Any Future Date Scheduled Remains unlisted until the specified date arrives.

Your root note is your homepage and dashboard — a normal note with permalink: / whose frontmatter sets garden-wide defaults. It has its own page: Your Garden’s Front Page.

4. Visual & Editorial Directives

Place image links on consecutive lines with zero blank lines between them to generate an automatic, justified gallery row with equalized heights and authentic aspect ratios:

![Field study one](/images/study-1.jpg)
![Field study two](/images/study-2.jpg)

Full-Bleed Heroes (::hero)

Break an image out of the reading column into a full-width presentation:

::hero
![The mountain summit](/images/summit.jpg)

Callouts (Obsidian & Block Styles)

Standard Garden natively supports both GitHub/Obsidian blockquotes and ::callout blocks:

> [!NOTE]
> This is a standard callout note.

> [!TIP] Pro Tip
> Custom titled tip box.

> [!WARNING]+ Open by default
> A collapsible callout that starts expanded (add `+` after the type).

> [!DANGER]- Closed by default
> A collapsible callout that starts collapsed (add `-` after the type).

Live

Note

This is a standard callout note.

Pro Tip

Custom titled tip box.

Open by default

A collapsible callout that starts expanded (add + after the type).

Closed by default

A collapsible callout that starts collapsed (add - after the type).

Notes & Alerts

One-line directives for a quiet aside or a status message — write the directive, then the text:

::note A quiet aside, set beside the text.

::alert Something worth your attention.

::warning Careful: this cannot be undone.

::success Published!

::error That did not work.

Live

Something worth your attention.
Careful: this cannot be undone.
Published!
That did not work.

Buttons

A link can be styled as a button. primary is the emphasised variant:

::button primary
[Visit the site](https://standard.garden)
::end

Live

Visit the site

5. Structural Layout Containers (::)

Divide your thoughts into modular columns, feature panels, and cards:

Columns

::columns 2
Left column content with full **Markdown** support.

---

Right column content.
::end

Live

Left column content with full Markdown support.

Right column content.

Cards

::cards

**First Principle**
Ideas require space to mature.

---

**Second Principle**
Tools should respect human attention.

::end

Live

First Principle
Ideas require space to mature.

Second Principle
Tools should respect human attention.

Every note receives an immutable short link derived from its unique nano_id:

https://stnd.gd/{nano_id}

This permanent link automatically redirects to the canonical address:

https://standard.garden/@{username}/{slug}

Short links remain permanently valid even if you modify the note’s title or URL slug in the future.

See Also

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This action cannot be undone.