| name | obsidian-task-center |
| description | Read and write tasks in an Obsidian vault through the Task Center plugin's CLI. Use when the user wants to list, schedule, complete, abandon, nest, or add tasks — or when they want estimate-accuracy / review / agent-brief stats. Obsidian must be running with the `task-center` plugin enabled; all verbs are namespaced `obsidian task-center:<verb>`. |
Obsidian Task Center — CLI skill
This skill is the AI interface to the obsidian-task-center plugin. The plugin registers its verbs to Obsidian's native CLI (1.12.2+), so calls go obsidian task-center:<verb> key=value ….
For a full command index, run:
obsidian task-center
Data stays inline markdown. Syntax:
- [ ] Title #2象限 📅 2026-05-15 ⏳ 2026-04-24 ➕ 2026-04-23 [estimate:: 90m] [actual:: 75m]
| Field | Encoding | Meaning |
|---|
⏳ YYYY-MM-DD | scheduled | which day the user plans to do it |
📅 YYYY-MM-DD | deadline | external hard deadline |
➕ YYYY-MM-DD | created | when the task was added |
✅ YYYY-MM-DD | completed | done stamp (written when [x]) |
❌ YYYY-MM-DD | cancelled | dropped stamp (written when [-]) |
[estimate:: Nm] | estimate | minutes planned |
[actual:: Nm] | actual | minutes actually spent |
#1象限..#4象限 | quadrant | Covey quadrants (1=urgent+important, 2=not-urgent+important, 3=urgent, 4=neither) |
When to use this skill
- "list today's tasks" / "what do I have scheduled" →
task-center:list
- "show task details" / "pull the raw line" →
task-center:show
- "schedule X" / "move X to tomorrow" →
task-center:schedule
- "mark X done" / "I finished X" →
task-center:done
- "drop X" / "abandon X" / "remove X" →
task-center:abandon
- "nest X under Y" / "make X a subtask of Y" →
task-center:nest
- "log time on X" / "I spent 45m on X" →
task-center:actual
- "add a task" / "remind me to …" →
task-center:add
- "how accurate were my estimates" / "weekly review" →
task-center:stats
- "what should I do next" / "brief me on today" →
task-center:brief
- "end-of-day review" / "what happened this week" →
task-center:review
- "list/manage/edit query tabs" / "show saved query DSL" / "run a preset view" →
task-center:query-list / task-center:query-show / task-center:query-run
- "create/update/rename/copy/hide/delete/default a query tab" →
task-center:query-create / task-center:query-update / task-center:query-rename / task-center:query-copy / task-center:query-hide / task-center:query-delete / task-center:query-set-default
Do not use Read/Write directly on task files to mutate tasks — use the CLI so vault.process locking + parser conventions are respected. Reading files is fine when you want broader context (the task body, surrounding notes).
Before calling any verb
Verify the plugin is loaded:
obsidian plugins:enabled | grep task-center
If missing, ask the user to enable it. If Obsidian isn't running, the CLI will auto-launch (first call incurs latency).
If obsidian task-center works but a specific verb is missing, the vault is running an older plugin build. Ask the user to update/reload Task Center before using that verb.
Verbs
task-center:list [filters]
Read-only. Returns tasks matching all filters. Every row starts with <path>:L<line> as the id — safe to pipe.
obsidian task-center:list scheduled=today
obsidian task-center:list scheduled=unscheduled tag='#2象限'
obsidian task-center:list done=2026-04-01..2026-04-30
obsidian task-center:list overdue
obsidian task-center:list status=todo search=示例
scheduled= / done= vocabulary:
today / tomorrow / yesterdayweek (this week) / next-weekmonth / next-monthunscheduled (only meaningful with scheduled=)- ISO
YYYY-MM-DD
- range
YYYY-MM-DD..YYYY-MM-DD
Other flags: overdue, has-deadline, status=todo|done|dropped, tag=<comma-sep> (supports #*象限), parent=<id>, search=<text>, limit=N, format=text|json (JSON gives a structured array with every field — prefer it when you plan to parse).
task-center:show ref=<id>
Full single-task detail — scheduled/deadline/estimate/actual/created/completed/cancelled/parent/children/raw.
task-center:stats [days=N] [group=<prefix>]
Rolling-window estimate accuracy + tag minutes breakdown. Default days=7. group=象限 aggregates matching tags into a section (useful for Covey quadrants). Output includes:
sum actual / sum estimate ratio (calibration signal)per-task mean / σ for ratio variancewithin band 11/18 (61%) share inside [0.8, 1.25]- per-tag minutes with ASCII bar chart
Use this to correct planning-fallacy when suggesting estimates. If the 7-day ratio is 1.3, new estimates should be scaled up by that factor vs. the user's gut feel.
task-center:brief [today=YYYY-MM-DD] [limit=N] [format=text|json]
Agent brief for near-term planning. Shows overdue / today / unscheduled candidate counts, sample tasks, and executable next-action commands such as done, abandon, schedule_today, schedule_tomorrow, and actual +15m.
Use this when the user asks what to do next or wants a compact status overview before planning.
task-center:review [today=YYYY-MM-DD] [days=N] [limit=N] [format=text|json]
End-of-day / weekly retrospective summary. Reports today and rolling-week windows: done, abandoned, delayed-open tasks, estimate-vs-actual totals, grouping summaries, and sample task ids.
Use this for shutdown reviews, weekly reviews, and "what actually happened?" questions. Prefer text output for user-facing summaries; use format=json only when you need to parse it.
Query Tab / Preset verbs
Query Tabs are saved QueryPreset DSL objects. The CLI uses the same storage, schema, and validation as the GUI Query editor. Always target tabs by stable id, not display name.
Read:
obsidian task-center:query-list
obsidian task-center:query-list hidden=true format=json
obsidian task-center:query-show id=preset-week
obsidian task-center:query-run id=preset-today
obsidian task-center:query-run id=preset-today view=week anchor=2026-05-04
obsidian task-center:query-run id=preset-week view=month anchor=2026-05-01 format=json
query-list text output includes id, name, builtin|custom, default, and hidden|visible. JSON output returns:
[
{ "id": "preset-week", "name": "Week", "builtin": true, "hidden": false, "default": false }
]
query-run executes the preset DSL against current vault tasks and renders the result by view:
- default: uses the preset's saved
view.
view=list|week|month|matrix: temporary display override; it does not save back to the preset.anchor=YYYY-MM-DD: week/month cursor date. Week output shows all 7 days with counts; month text output shows dated cells that contain tasks, while JSON contains all month cells.- all task rows keep stable ids like
Tasks/Inbox.md:L42 so you can pipe into show, schedule, done, or abandon.
Create or update DSL:
obsidian task-center:query-create dsl='{"name":"工作","filters":{"tags":["#work"],"status":["todo"]},"view":{"type":"list"},"summary":[{"type":"count"}]}'
obsidian task-center:query-update id=sv-alpha dsl='{"name":"工作周","filters":{"tags":["#work"],"time":{"scheduled":"week"},"status":["todo"]},"view":{"type":"week"},"summary":[{"type":"count"}]}'
query-save is kept as an alias for query-create. Create always allocates a new id, even if the DSL contains one. Update preserves the target id and builtin/custom identity.
Manage tabs:
obsidian task-center:query-rename id=sv-alpha name="深度工作"
obsidian task-center:query-copy id=preset-week name="我的本周"
obsidian task-center:query-hide id=preset-week hidden=true
obsidian task-center:query-hide id=preset-week hidden=false
obsidian task-center:query-delete id=sv-alpha
obsidian task-center:query-set-default id=preset-week
obsidian task-center:query-set-default id=null
Rules:
- Builtin tabs can be hidden/unhidden, copied, renamed, updated, and set as default, but cannot be permanently deleted.
- Deleting a custom Query Tab deletes only that saved view, never tasks.
- Hidden tabs cannot be set as default.
- Invalid DSL fails with
error invalid_query and leaves settings unchanged.
Write verbs (idempotent, safe to retry)
All write verbs return ok <id> with a before / after diff, or unchanged if already in the target state.
obsidian task-center:schedule ref=Tasks/Inbox.md:L42 date=2026-04-25
obsidian task-center:schedule ref=Tasks/Inbox.md:L42 date=null # clear ⏳
obsidian task-center:deadline ref=… date=2026-05-15
obsidian task-center:deadline ref=… date=null
obsidian task-center:estimate ref=… minutes=90m # set [estimate::]
obsidian task-center:estimate ref=… minutes=null # clear
obsidian task-center:actual ref=… minutes=45m # set [actual::]
obsidian task-center:actual ref=… minutes=+15m # additive
obsidian task-center:done ref=… [at=YYYY-MM-DD] # [x] + ✅
obsidian task-center:undone ref=… # reverse a done
obsidian task-center:abandon ref=… # [-] + ❌, cascades to todo children
obsidian task-center:drop ref=… # deprecated alias for abandon
obsidian task-center:tag ref=… tag='#基建' # add
obsidian task-center:tag ref=… tag='#基建' remove # remove
obsidian task-center:nest ref=… under=… # make ref a subtask of under
obsidian task-center:add text="处理示例任务" tag='#3象限' scheduled=2026-04-26 [to=<path>] [deadline=…] [estimate=30m] [parent=<id>]
task-center:add target priority: explicit to= → parent's file (if parent= given) → today's Daily Note. There is no inbox fallback: when neither to= nor parent= is supplied, the Daily Notes core plugin must be enabled and configured or the command fails with daily_notes_unavailable. Default stamps ➕ today unless stamp-created=false.
abandon / drop cascades to todo descendants only. Already completed / abandoned / cancelled descendants keep their historical stamps. To abandon just one line, pass a leaf task.
Error shape
Errors go to stderr as:
error <code>
<human message>
Common codes: task_not_found, ambiguous_slug, invalid_date, daily_notes_unavailable, invalid_nest, nest_partial.
Recover by:
task_not_found → re-run task-center:list to get fresh idsambiguous_slug → the error message lists candidate ids; pick oneinvalid_date → convert to YYYY-MM-DDdaily_notes_unavailable → enable/configure Daily Notes, or pass to=<path>invalid_nest / nest_partial → inspect the named source/target tasks before retrying
Recommended workflows
End-of-day wrap-up
obsidian task-center:list done=today → collect what got done.toggl entry list --since today → cross-reference actual time per task.- For each completed task:
obsidian task-center:actual ref=… minutes=Nm to record real time.
obsidian task-center:review days=7 → read today's / week's completion, abandonment, delay, and estimate summary.obsidian task-center:stats days=7 group=象限 → read calibration.obsidian task-center:brief or obsidian task-center:list scheduled=unscheduled + obsidian task-center:list scheduled=tomorrow → candidate pool.- Pick tomorrow's set (≤1 big, ≤2 small based on user's self-declared capacity), deadline-first, quadrant-2-first.
obsidian task-center:schedule ref=… date=<tomorrow> per chosen task; use add for anything new.
Quick capture
User says "don't forget to X". Default to today's daily note:
obsidian task-center:add text="X"
Only set scheduled= / deadline= / tag= if the user specified them.
Backfill completions
User says "I finished Y yesterday": obsidian task-center:done ref=<id> at=<yesterday>.
Output contract
- Every list row starts with
<path>:L<line> — pipe-friendly.
- Monetary / time values: minutes, no conversion. Format with
formatMinutes convention (90m, 1h30m).
- Writes print
before / after — use this to confirm the mutation was what you intended.
- Stats output is ASCII-bar-charted; do not JSON-ify it before showing the user.
brief and review default to greppable text; use format=json only for downstream parsing.
Do not
- Do not edit task files directly with
Read + Write; use the CLI so parser + locking invariants hold.
- Do not try to install a wrapper shell script called
obsidian-task-center; the plugin uses Obsidian's native CLI.
- Do not call
obsidian task / obsidian tasks (those are built-in, read-only) when you mean task-center:….
- Do not stamp
✅ / ❌ / ➕ manually with Edit — let the plugin do it via done / abandon / add.
