| name | obsidian-tasknotes |
| description | Manipulate Obsidian TaskNotes tasks, track time, run Pomodoro sessions, and search the vault via the obsidian CLI. Use when the user mentions tasks, task status/priority, time tracking, Pomodoro, vault search, follow-ups, or asks to capture a task. |
Obsidian TaskNotes via CLI
This vault uses Obsidian with the TaskNotes plugin. The obsidian CLI
connects to the running Obsidian app to read, create, and update tasks.
User Intent → Command
| User says... | Run this command |
|---|
| "Capture a task: <text>" | obsidian tasknotes:capture text="..." |
| "Exact capture, no NLP" | obsidian tasknotes:capture literal=true text="..." |
| "What tasks are pending?" | obsidian tasks todo |
| "Show me all tasks" | obsidian tasks format=tsv |
| "What's in task X?" | obsidian read file="X" |
| "Mark task X as done/in-progress/..." | obsidian property:set name=status value="\<val\>" path="task_notes/tasks/X.md" |
| "Change task X priority" | obsidian property:set name=priority value=\<val\> path="..." |
| "Tick checkbox on line N" | obsidian task path="..." line=N done |
| "Search for Y in vault" | obsidian search text="Y" |
| "Search Y with context" | obsidian search:context text="Y" |
| "Backlinks to note X" | obsidian backlinks file="X" |
| "Links from note X" | obsidian links file="X" |
| "List vault files" | obsidian files |
| "List files in folder F" | obsidian files folder="F" |
| "Start time tracking on X" | obsidian tasknotes:start-time path="..." |
| "Stop time tracking" | obsidian tasknotes:stop-time path="..." |
| "Check time status" | obsidian tasknotes:time-status |
| "Start a 25min Pomodoro" | obsidian tasknotes:pomodoro duration-minutes=25 |
| "Check Pomodoro status" | obsidian tasknotes:pomodoro-status |
| "Cancel Pomodoro" | obsidian tasknotes:pomodoro-cancel |
| "Open note X" | obsidian open path="..." |
| "Show file metadata for X" | obsidian file path="..." |
Decision Rules
property:set vs task ... done
| Operation | What it changes | When to use |
|---|
property:set name=status value="..." | YAML frontmatter | TaskNotes tasks (files in task_notes/tasks/) |
task ... line=N done/todo | [ ]/[x] checkbox in note body | Ad-hoc checklists in any note |
path= vs file=
path= — vault-relative path. Fast, exact.file= — Obsidian resolves like a [[wikilink]]. Use when only the note name is known.
Capture: NLP vs literal
- NLP (default):
text="Buy groceries due:tomorrow #errands" — parsed for title, dates, tags.
- Literal:
literal=true — stores text as-is. Use title=, priority=, tags= explicitly.
Task Model
Tasks: task_notes/tasks/<name>.md with YAML frontmatter.
- Status:
todo, in-progress, follow-up, done, cancelled, open
- Priority:
low, normal, high, critical
Error Recovery
| Problem | Action |
|---|
obsidian: command not found | Tell user CLI not installed |
| Can't connect to Obsidian | Ask user to open Obsidian app |
| Path/file not found | glob "task_notes/tasks/*<fragment>*" to locate |
| Missing frontmatter property | Read file first to check fields |
Response Format
This vault uses Obsidian Flavored Markdown. In responses:
- Use
[[wikilink syntax]] for note references
- Always leave blank line before Markdown tables
- Math:
$inline$ and $$display$$ (not \(...\))
See Also
REFERENCE.md — all commands with full syntax and flagsEXAMPLES.md — end-to-end workflow scenarios
