obsidian-tasks

Task management in Obsidian vaults using Kanban boards, Dataview dashboards, and structured task notes.

Setup

Run the setup script to initialize a task board in an Obsidian vault:

python3 scripts/setup.py <vault-path> [--folder <name>] [--columns <col1,col2,...>]

• vault-path: Path to the Obsidian vault root
• --folder: Subfolder to create (default: Tasks)
• --columns: Kanban columns (default: Backlog,Todo,In Progress,Review,Done)

This creates:

• <folder>/Board.md - Kanban board (requires Kanban community plugin)
• <folder>/Dashboard.md - Dataview dashboard (requires Dataview community plugin)

Tell the user to install Kanban and Dataview community plugins if not already installed.

Task Note Format

Each task is a separate markdown file with YAML frontmatter:

---
status: todo
priority: P1
category: revenue
created: 2026-02-03
due: 2026-02-07
---

# Task Title

Description and notes here.

## References
- [[linked-document|Display Name]]

## Status
- [x] Step completed
- [ ] Step pending

Frontmatter Fields

Field	Values	Required
status	backlog, todo, in-progress, review, done	yes
priority	P1, P2, P3	yes
category	free text (revenue, content, research, setup, project)	yes
created	YYYY-MM-DD	yes
due	YYYY-MM-DD	no
parked_until	YYYY-MM-DD	no

Priority Labels on Board

Use emoji prefixes on the Kanban board for visual priority:

• 🔴 P1 (urgent)
• 🟡 P2 (normal)
• 🟢 P3 (backlog/parked)

Managing Tasks

Create a Task

1. Create a markdown file in the tasks folder with frontmatter
2. Add a card to Board.md in the appropriate column:

- [ ] [[Task Name]] 🔴 P1 @{2026-02-07}

Move a Task

1. Update status in the task note's frontmatter
2. Move the card line in Board.md to the target column

Complete a Task

1. Set status: done in frontmatter
2. Move to Done column and mark checkbox:

- [x] [[Task Name]] ✅ 2026-02-03

Always update both Board.md AND the task note frontmatter to keep them in sync.

Linking Documents

Use Obsidian [[wikilinks]] to connect tasks to supporting documents:

## References
- [[2026-02-03-research-report|Research Report]]
- [[meeting-notes-jan|Meeting Notes]]

Store referenced documents in a sibling folder (e.g., Research/ next to Tasks/).

Dashboard Queries

The setup script creates a Dataview dashboard. Core queries:

Tasks by priority:

TABLE status, category, due
FROM "<tasks-folder>"
WHERE priority = "P1" AND status != "done"
SORT due ASC

Overdue tasks:

TABLE priority, category
FROM "<tasks-folder>"
WHERE due AND due < date(today) AND status != "done"
SORT due ASC

Recently completed:

TABLE category
FROM "<tasks-folder>"
WHERE status = "done"
SORT file.mtime DESC
LIMIT 10