notion-import

name	notion-import
description	Import Notion workspaces into Obsidian vaults and process results into usable structure. Covers API export setup, landscape mapping, routing decisions, and cleanup. Use when migrating content from Notion or processing a Notion export.

Notion Import Skill

Guide for importing Notion workspaces into an Obsidian vault and processing the results into a usable structure.

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Phase 1: Export from Notion

Method: API Import (Recommended)

Why API over ZIP: API import preserves Notion Databases as Obsidian .base files. ZIP/HTML import loses all database structure — you get flat markdown only.

Setup Steps

1. Create Notion Integration Token

   • Go to Notion Integrations
   • New integration → name it (e.g., "Personal Export")
   • Choose the workspace to export
   • Save → copy the ntn_... token
   • In the Access tab → Edit access → add all pages/databases you want

2. Run Obsidian Importer

   • Settings → Community Plugins → install/enable Importer
   • Open Importer (Cmd+P → "Importer" or ribbon icon)
   • File format: Notion (API)
   • Paste API token
   • Click Load to pull page/database list
   • Select what to import
   • Set output folder to a staging directory (e.g., Project/notion-import/) — never import directly into your working folders
   • Click Import, wait

What You Get

• Regular pages → .md files with notion-id in frontmatter
• Database items → .md files with frontmatter containing all database properties + base: "[[DatabaseName.base]]" link
• Databases → .base files (Obsidian's native database format) with filters, properties, and view definitions
• Folder structure → mirrors Notion's page hierarchy (parent pages become folders)

Known Limitations (API Import)

• Only the primary view per database is imported (alternate views lost)
• Linked data sources not imported (Notion API limitation)
• People functions (name(), email()) not available
• Text functions (style(), unstyle()) not available
• Rate limits make large workspaces slow — 1500 files can take 10-30+ minutes
• Emoji-prefixed page names become emoji-prefixed folder names (e.g., 📦 Archive/)

Frontmatter Structure (Database Items)

---
notion-id: 1d0be9d0-0a42-808f-9795-d946fcdc690a
base: "[[DatabaseName.base]]"
Property Name: value
Another Property: value
Sub-item: []
Parent item:
  - notion-id-of-parent
---

.base File Structure

# Database Name

filters:
  and:
    - note["base"] == link("DatabaseName.base")
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Name
  Property1:
    displayName: Property 1
views:
  - type: table
    name: Table View
    order:
      - file.name
      - Property1

---

Phase 2: Landscape Mapping

After import completes, you need to understand what you have before routing anything.

Step 1: Census

Run a structural census to understand the shape of the import:

# Total file count
find "path/to/notion-import/" -type f | wc -l

# File types breakdown
find "path/to/notion-import/" -type f | sed 's/.*\.//' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

# Database (.base) files — these are the structured data
find "path/to/notion-import/" -name "*.base"

# Top-level folder structure (Notion's page hierarchy)
ls -la "path/to/notion-import/"

# Deepest nesting
find "path/to/notion-import/" -type f | awk -F/ '{print NF-1}' | sort -rn | head -5

Step 2: Database Inventory

Each .base file represents a Notion database. Read each one to understand:

• What properties/columns it has
• How many items belong to it (grep for files with base: "[[ThatDatabase.base]]")
• Whether it maps to an existing system (content calendar, task tracker, etc.)

Step 3: Content Categorization

Map top-level folders to their destination:

• Archive/junk → delete or quarantine
• Active projects → merge with existing project folders
• Reference material → route to appropriate project
• Databases worth keeping → preserve .base files and their items together

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Phase 3: Processing & Routing

Approach Options

Option A: Manual audit (small imports, <100 files) Read through folders, move things where they belong.

Option B: Agent team (large imports, 500+ files) Use subagents to parallelize the landscape mapping:

• Agent 1: Census + database inventory
• Agent 2: Read frontmatter of all database items, categorize by base
• Agent 3: Read top-level pages, summarize content
• Coordinator: builds routing map from agent findings

Option C: QMD indexing (very large imports, searchable archive) Index all imported markdown into QMD for full-text + semantic search. Good when you need to query across the import rather than just route it.

Routing Decisions

For each top-level folder/database, decide:

1. Merge — content maps to an existing project folder → move files there
2. Keep — valuable standalone content → rename/reorganize in place
3. Archive — old but might be useful → move to an archive folder
4. Delete — junk, duplicates, empty pages → remove

Edge Cases & Gotchas

• Emoji folder names: Notion uses emoji prefixes heavily. These work in Obsidian but can cause issues with CLI tools and scripts.
• "Untitled" databases: Notion allows unnamed databases — these import as Untitled/Untitled.base, making identification harder. Check the properties and items to understand what they are.
• Notion AI summaries in frontmatter: If Notion AI was used, database items may have an AI summary property — this can actually be useful for quick triage.
• Parent-child references by notion-id: Parent/sub-item relations use raw Notion IDs, not wikilinks. These may need conversion if you want Obsidian graph connections.
• Duplicate content: Pages that appear in multiple Notion databases may import multiple times.

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Phase 4: Cleanup & Integration

After Routing

• Delete the staging notion-import/ folder once everything is routed
• Update project CLAUDE.md files if new content was added
• Create task files for any follow-up work discovered during audit
• If databases were preserved as .base files, verify they work in Obsidian's Base view

Repeat for Additional Workspaces

Each Notion workspace needs its own integration token. Import one at a time to keep things manageable. The second import benefits from lessons learned on the first.

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Session Log

Import 1: Creative Intelligence Agency (Personal Notion)

• Date: 2026-02-28
• Token: Created, all pages shared
• Target folder: Creative Intelligence Agency/Notion/
• File count: ~1500 expected
• Status: Import in progress
• Observations:
  • First files to land: Podcast Name for Guests/, 📦 Archive/, loose pages
  • Archive contains old Ray Peat book drafts (Bioenergetic Tiger, PUFA chapter, etc.) — likely maps to existing wiki-projects/ content
  • .base file found for an unnamed database with AI summary, Sub-item, Parent item columns
  • Database items include notion-id in frontmatter — good for dedup
  • Emoji prefixed folders confirmed (📦 Archive)