Tasknotes

TaskNotes Skill

TaskNotes manages tasks as individual Markdown notes in Obsidian. Each task stores metadata in YAML frontmatter, and views are powered by Obsidian Bases (.base files).

Reference: TaskNotes Documentation

Onboarding (First Use)

When the user first asks to create a task, check if their preferences are known. If not, ask:

1. Priority scheme: "What priority format do you prefer?"

• Simple: high, normal, low (default)
• GTD: P1, P2, P3, P4
• Numeric: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

1. Context format: "Do your contexts use the @ prefix?"

• With prefix: @work, @home
• Without prefix: work, home (default)

1. Custom properties: "Do you use any custom fields like type, energy, or others?"

See config.yaml for all configurable options. Use defaults if the user wants to skip setup.

Core Properties

Create tasks with this basic structure:

---
title: Task description here
status: open
priority: normal
due: 2026-01-20
scheduled: 2026-01-15
contexts:
  - work
projects:
  - "[[Project Name]]"
tags:
  - category
timeEstimate: 30
---

Task notes and details go here.

Property Reference

| Property | Type | Description | Example | |----------|------|-------------|---------| | title | text | Task name (or use filename) | "Review budget" | | status | enum | Workflow state | open, in-progress, done | | priority | enum | Importance level (see formats below) | normal or P2 | | due | date | Deadline | 2026-01-20 | | scheduled | date | When to work on it | 2026-01-15 | | contexts | list | Location/tool groupings | ["work"] or ["@work"] | | projects | list | Related project notes | ["[[Project A]]"] | | tags | list | Standard Obsidian tags | ["finance", "urgent"] | | timeEstimate | number | Minutes to complete | 60 |

Customizable Formats

Priority (choose your style):

# Simple (default)
priority: high      # high, normal, low

# GTD-style
priority: P1        # P1=urgent, P2=important, P3=normal, P4=someday

# Numeric
priority: 1         # 1-5 scale (1=highest)

Contexts (choose your style):

# Without prefix (default)
contexts:
  - work
  - phone

# With @ prefix
contexts:
  - "@work"
  - "@phone"

Date Formats

# Date only (YYYY-MM-DD)
due: 2026-01-20

# Date with time (ISO 8601)
due: 2026-01-20T14:30:00

# With timezone
due: 2026-01-20T14:30:00Z

Metadata Properties

Auto-managed by TaskNotes:

dateCreated: 2026-01-10T08:00:00
dateModified: 2026-01-15T14:30:00
completedDate: 2026-01-20T16:45:00

Quick Example

A project task with estimate:

---
title: Design new landing page
status: in-progress
priority: high
due: 2026-01-25
scheduled: 2026-01-20
projects:
  - "[[Website Redesign]]"
tags:
  - design
  - marketing
timeEstimate: 240
---

## Requirements
- Mobile-first responsive design
- A/B test ready

## Notes
- Review competitor sites for inspiration

Advanced Features

For complex task management, see the reference files:

• Recurrence (RRULE format): See references/advanced-properties.md
• Dependencies (blockedBy): See references/advanced-properties.md
• Time Tracking (timeEntries): See references/advanced-properties.md
• Reminders: See references/advanced-properties.md
• Natural Language Parsing: See references/advanced-properties.md
• Complete Examples: See references/examples.md
• Configuration: See config.yaml for customization options

Integration with Bases

TaskNotes views use .base files. Common filter pattern:

filter:
  - property: status
    operator: "!="
    value: done
  - property: due
    operator: "<="
    value: "{{endOfWeek}}"

See the obsidian-bases skill for complete .base file syntax.

External References

• TaskNotes GitHub
• RFC 5545 - iCalendar RRULE
• ISO 8601 Duration

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: andrew-mccaskill
• Source: andrew-mccaskill/tasknotes-claude-skill
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.