obsidian-tasknotes

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 flags
• EXAMPLES.md — end-to-end workflow scenarios