From cc6aec6775d833f9220d34bf3506af1add05dc13 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Christian Bager Bach Houmann <christian@bagerbach.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2026 15:05:34 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix: handle alias frontmatter case and commas

---
 src/gui/suggesters/FileIndex.test.ts | 73 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/gui/suggesters/FileIndex.ts      | 39 +++++++++++----
 2 files changed, 103 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/gui/suggesters/FileIndex.test.ts b/src/gui/suggesters/FileIndex.test.ts
index 6bb0fefe..f316dc89 100644
--- a/src/gui/suggesters/FileIndex.test.ts
+++ b/src/gui/suggesters/FileIndex.test.ts
@@ -298,6 +298,79 @@ describe('FileIndex', () => {
 		});
 	});
 
+	describe('alias extraction', () => {
+		it('should split comma-separated alias strings', async () => {
+			const files = [
+				{
+					path: 'test.md',
+					basename: 'test',
+					extension: 'md',
+					parent: { path: '' },
+					stat: { mtime: Date.now() }
+				}
+			] as TFile[];
+
+			(mockApp.vault.getMarkdownFiles as any).mockReturnValue(files);
+			mockApp.metadataCache.getFileCache = vi.fn(() => ({
+				frontmatter: { aliases: 'hello, world' }
+			}));
+
+			await fileIndex.ensureIndexed();
+
+			const helloResults = fileIndex.search('hello', {}, 10);
+			const worldResults = fileIndex.search('world', {}, 10);
+
+			expect(helloResults.some(result =>
+				result.matchType === 'alias' && result.displayText === 'hello'
+			)).toBe(true);
+			expect(worldResults.some(result =>
+				result.matchType === 'alias' && result.displayText === 'world'
+			)).toBe(true);
+		});
+
+		it('should read aliases from case-insensitive keys', async () => {
+			const files = [
+				{
+					path: 'upper.md',
+					basename: 'upper',
+					extension: 'md',
+					parent: { path: '' },
+					stat: { mtime: Date.now() }
+				},
+				{
+					path: 'note.md',
+					basename: 'note',
+					extension: 'md',
+					parent: { path: '' },
+					stat: { mtime: Date.now() }
+				}
+			] as TFile[];
+
+			(mockApp.vault.getMarkdownFiles as any).mockReturnValue(files);
+			mockApp.metadataCache.getFileCache = vi.fn((file) => {
+				if (file.path === 'upper.md') {
+					return { frontmatter: { Aliases: ['Caps'] } };
+				}
+				if (file.path === 'note.md') {
+					return { frontmatter: { aLiAs: 'Mixed' } };
+				}
+				return { frontmatter: {} };
+			});
+
+			await fileIndex.ensureIndexed();
+
+			const capsResults = fileIndex.search('caps', {}, 10);
+			const mixedResults = fileIndex.search('mixed', {}, 10);
+
+			expect(capsResults.some(result =>
+				result.matchType === 'alias' && result.displayText === 'Caps'
+			)).toBe(true);
+			expect(mixedResults.some(result =>
+				result.matchType === 'alias' && result.displayText === 'Mixed'
+			)).toBe(true);
+		});
+	});
+
 	describe('heading search', () => {
 		it.skip('should support global heading search with #', async () => {
 			// Create files with headings
diff --git a/src/gui/suggesters/FileIndex.ts b/src/gui/suggesters/FileIndex.ts
index 0a85f402..053a344c 100644
--- a/src/gui/suggesters/FileIndex.ts
+++ b/src/gui/suggesters/FileIndex.ts
@@ -283,18 +283,39 @@ export class FileIndex {
 		this.updateUnresolvedLinks();
 	}
 
+	private extractAliases(frontmatter?: Record<string, unknown>): string[] {
+		if (!frontmatter) return [];
+
+		const aliases: string[] = [];
+		for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(frontmatter)) {
+			const lowerKey = key.toLowerCase();
+			if (lowerKey !== 'alias' && lowerKey !== 'aliases') continue;
+
+			if (typeof value === 'string') {
+				const splitAliases = value
+					.split(',')
+					.map((alias) => alias.trim())
+					.filter((alias) => alias.length > 0);
+				aliases.push(...splitAliases);
+			} else if (Array.isArray(value)) {
+				aliases.push(
+					...value
+						.filter((alias) => typeof alias === 'string')
+						.map((alias) => alias.trim())
+						.filter((alias) => alias.length > 0)
+				);
+			}
+		}
+
+		return aliases;
+	}
+
 	private createIndexedFile(file: TFile): IndexedFile {
 		const fileCache = this.app.metadataCache.getFileCache(file);
 		const frontmatter = fileCache?.frontmatter;
-		
-		// Extract aliases
-		const aliases: string[] = [];
-		const aliasData = frontmatter?.alias ?? frontmatter?.aliases;
-		if (typeof aliasData === 'string') {
-			aliases.push(aliasData);
-		} else if (Array.isArray(aliasData)) {
-			aliases.push(...aliasData.filter(a => typeof a === 'string'));
-		}
+
+		// Extract aliases (case-insensitive keys, handle comma-separated strings)
+		const aliases = this.extractAliases(frontmatter as Record<string, unknown> | undefined);
 		const aliasesNormalized = aliases.map((alias) => normalizeForSearch(alias));
 
 		// Extract and sanitize headings at index time