45 Root

⚠️ This proposal is currently a draft and is not yet finalized.

Goals

Discuss the role of root.md file moving forward

Context

root.md is used to designated the root of all hierarchies in Dendron. This has been the design when Dendron first rolled out. This RFC re-examines the original motivation behind root.md and the role it plays (if any), moving forward

Proposal

1. Remove root.md - note that we might still keep root.md as the default note that gets generated but it becomes a regular note, just like every other note with no special treatment
2. Remove root.schema.yml. It exists for similar reasons as root.md but similarly, does not serve any function
3. Introduce custom command to modify README file for a vault

Details

Removing root

root.md was used to designate the root of all hierarchies. It served the following functions:

• in graph view, it was the root node in which all nodes could be children of
• it functioned as a README for a vault
• it functions as the default home page if none is selected
• it provides useful links to get help for newly created vaults
• it is a convenient way of switching between vaults

root.md has caused a lot of confusion among new and existing users. Folks are unsure what it is for and how to customize it. Furthermore, it is special cased in dendron - for example, you cannot create children off of root

In regards to the functions it servers:

• in graph view, it was the root node in which all nodes could be children of

  • this is optional, we could also represent a vritual root node instead of a physical root.md file

• it functioned as a README for a vault

  • with self contained vaults, we're better served with an actual README.md and stick to existing conventions

• it functions as the default home page if none is selected

  • its probably better to be explicit here and ask users to select a home page

• it is a convenient way of switching between vaults

  • this is true but also kind of a hack. ideally, we should have a command here (eg. switch vaults) that sets the current vault context instead of relying on this implementaiton detail

Modifying the README

Having a project README is the ubiquitous way of describing a project. Currently, Dendron only has ways of modifying notes inside a vault but a README is generally outside of the vault. To deal with this, we propose creating a custom command (could be a note trait) that makes it easy to lookup the README (an analogy is what we do with Configure Dendron(yaml) command)

Timeline

• Removing root.md will be a big endeavor with no immediate gains in functionality. No ETA on when this will happen but we should stop adding new features to root moving forward.
• Modifying the README is something we can take on much sooner and will be prioritized according to user feedback

Tradeoffs

Discussion

https://github.com/dendronhq/dendron/discussions/new