inteligir-formulas

name	inteligir-formulas
description	Formula pills and named variables in inteligir notes — the persisted grammar, identity, bound references, and metadata.

inteligir Formulas And Variables

A pill holds a computed or reusable value inline. Two fields are enough for a one-off calculation; a name and an id make it something other pills can point at.

The Grammar

{{source|display}}
{{source|display|key=value;key=value}}

source runs to the first |, display to the second, and optional semicolon-separated metadata follows. There is no escape form: a pipe cannot appear inside source or display.

display is what the reader sees. Keep it consistent with source — the app recomputes executable pills, but a stale display you wrote by hand is a lie until something recomputes it.

Kind	Written as
One-off calculation	{{2+2|4}}
Named value	{{16|16|id=<uuid>;name=base_size}}
Symbolic label	{{timeline|6 weeks|id=<uuid>}}

What Executes

Arithmetic only: + - * / ( ), decimals, $, thousands commas, %, and k/m/b magnitude suffixes in either case. No functions, no exponentiation. Anything else is symbolic — it displays and can be referenced, but nothing recomputes it.

Results carry thousands separators and at most two decimals. $ and % shape the parse; they do not decorate the result.

Identity And References

A pill's identity is (note id, pill id). Names live in name=, and a name is only meaningful next to an id.

A bound reference points at an exact pill:

@(name#note-id#pill-id)

{{16|16|id=3f2a9d10-6c1e-4b7a-8e52-0aa1b2c3d4e5;name=base_size}}
{{@(base_size#1c9a5b76-4e2d-4f4b-9a63-7e1f2b8c0d44#3f2a9d10-6c1e-4b7a-8e52-0aa1b2c3d4e5)*2|32|id=9b8c7d6e-5f4a-4321-a098-76543210fedc;name=double_size}}

That is the whole point of named pills: define an anchor once, derive from it, and changing the anchor moves everything downstream.

Only write a bound reference when you have both real ids — from the note's frontmatter id: and the target pill's id=. An invented id resolves to nothing and the pill goes stale. When you lack them, write a plain value.

Duplicating a pill inside one note keeps the id, and the copies stay linked. An independent value needs a fresh uuid.

Metadata

Key	Meaning
id	This pill's identity within its note
name	The name other pills reference
stale=1	The last recompute could not resolve a reference; the display is the last known value

stale is the app's to set and clear. Never add it by hand, and never strip it from a pill you are not rebuilding — it is the app telling the reader the number may be out of date.

Unknown keys are preserved. Legacy format= is dropped on rewrite.

In Tables

A pill can sit in a table cell, and its internal pipes stay pill syntax rather than becoming column separators. Write the pill's own pipes escaped as \| inside a cell so the row parses:

| Monthly | {{1000\|1,000}} |

Before You Finish

• Every new independent pill has a fresh uuid.
• Bound references use real note and pill ids, never examples from this page.
• stale was left exactly as found.
• Literal syntax examples are inside backticks, so they stay text.