Is there a way to automatically index the nodes?

[ooker777]

Let's say I pick a node as the source/root node. It's children will be indexed as 1, 2, 3. Children of 1 will be indexed as 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc. Children of 1.1 will be indexed as 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, etc. Is there a way to automatically do that? Perhaps with the combination of the plugin Templater.

If I make the indexing more complicate, by identify that the children of 1 are 1.1a, 1.1b, 1.2, and occasionally there will be an "upgraded" version of a node, and it will be indexed by a plus, i.e. 1+, 1.1a+. I understand that these things need to be done manually, but is it possible to make the script assume that the indexing for the children of a node should be normal, before I manually edit it?

Related question: Is there a way to make "close siblings"?

[michaelpporter]

There's a related feature, but it works the other way around, so it's worth being clear about the direction.

Breadcrumbs has a Johnny.Decimal edge builder, but it's input-only: you name notes with the numeric prefix (e.g. 01.02 Title) and Breadcrumbs infers the up/down hierarchy from those numbers. It reads numbering → hierarchy; it does not auto-assign or renumber (hierarchy → numbering).

So the specific ask here — automatically generating 1, 1.1, 1.1.1, … for an existing parent/child tree — isn't something Breadcrumbs does today. If you're willing to write the numbers yourself, the Johnny.Decimal builder will turn them into a navigable hierarchy. To go the other way (emit the numbers from the graph), you'd combine Breadcrumbs' graph — via window.BCAPI.create_list_index() or get_neighbours() (API docs) — with something like Templater or DataviewJS to write the index.

I'll leave this open as a feature request for auto-numbering an existing hierarchy, since that's genuinely not implemented.

(Your tail question about "close siblings" is tracked separately in #309.) 🍞

[michaelpporter]

Breadcrumbs reads numbering to build hierarchy (the Johnny.Decimal builder: name a note 01.02 Title and it infers the up/down edges), but it deliberately doesn't go the other way — auto-stamping 1, 1.1, 1.1.1 onto an existing parent/child tree.

That direction is an authoring/automation task rather than an edge-display feature, so it sits outside the plugin's core. Two ways to get it today:

• Ordered index: the "Create list index" command walks down from a root note in order and outputs a nested list — the indentation already encodes the same hierarchy the numbers would.
• True auto-numbering: use window.BCAPI from Templater or DataviewJS to traverse the tree and write numbers into frontmatter/filenames however you like.

Keeping the Johnny.Decimal flow one-directional (numbers → hierarchy) is intentional, so I'm closing this as resolved. Thanks for the suggestion!