Task Add

Automatically add a timestamped task entry to today's daily note log when user wants to create a task. Due date is optional.

Trigger Detection

This skill activates when the user's prompt contains task creation intent:

• "add a task to review PR"
• "add a task to do X by DATE"
• "create task to X due DATE"
• "new task: X"
• "task to do X for DATE"

Due date is optional. If no due date is mentioned, omit the 📅 portion from the task.

Examples

User prompts that trigger this skill:

• "add a task to review PR" (no due date - task added without 📅)
• "add a task to review PR by tomorrow" (with due date)
• "create a task to call dentist by 2025-12-31"
• "task to do laundry by Friday"
• "new task: finish report due Jan 5"

User prompts that DO NOT trigger this skill:

• "create a task" (no description)
• "what tasks do I have" (query, not creation)

Process

1. Check for due date (optional)

   • Check if prompt contains date reference (by, due, for + date)
   • If no date found, proceed without due date

2. Get current time

   • Parse from injected UserPromptSubmit hook context: "Time: HH:MM"
   • IMPORTANT: Do NOT use Bash or PowerShell commands.

3. Extract task description

   • Remove trigger words ("add a task to", "task to do", etc.)
   • Extract description before the due date reference
   • Preserve any [[wikilinks]] in the description

4. Extract and parse due date

   • Look for date reference after "by", "due", "for"
   • Parse natural language dates:
     • "tomorrow" → next day (YYYY-MM-DD)
     • "Friday" → next Friday (YYYY-MM-DD)
     • "2025-12-31" → ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD)
     • "Jan 5" / "January 5" → YYYY-01-05
   • Format: YYYY-MM-DD (ISO 8601)

5. Construct daily note path

   • Path: {paths.daily_notes}/YYYY-MM-DD.md (from config)

6. Read the daily note

   • Find the Log section (from config sections.log)

7. Add the task entry

   • Format: - [ ] HH:MM [description] 📅 YYYY-MM-DD (omit 📅 portion if no due date)
   • Use the calendar emoji: 📅 (U+1F4C5) when due date is present
   • Add after the last log entry in the section
   • Use Edit tool to insert the new entry
   • Check Edit result - if blocked or failed:
     • Inform user: "Edit was blocked or failed. Please confirm the mutation or add manually."
     • Do NOT proceed to confirmation

8. Verify the write succeeded

   • Re-read the daily note file
   • Search for the newly added task text (the exact description + timestamp)
   • If NOT found: Alert user "Task write failed - please add manually: - [ ] HH:MM [description]"
   • If found: Proceed to confirmation

9. Confirm (only if Step 8 succeeded)

   • Display the added task with timestamp, description, and due date

Task Entry Format

## Log

- [ ] 20:50 Review PR #123 📅 2025-12-31
- [ ] 14:22 Call dentist 📅 2026-01-05
- [ ] 09:15 Finish quarterly report

Format Components

1. Checkbox: - [ ] (unchecked task)
2. Timestamp: HH:MM (when task was created)
3. Description: Free text with optional [[wikilinks]]
4. Due date emoji: 📅 (calendar emoji, U+1F4C5) - optional
5. Due date: YYYY-MM-DD (ISO 8601 format) - optional

Date Parsing Rules

Supported Date Formats

Relative dates (calculate from injected context date):

• "tomorrow" → +1 day
• "today" → same day
• "Monday", "Tuesday", etc. → next occurrence of day
• "next Monday" → following Monday
• "in 3 days" → +3 days

Absolute dates:

• "2025-12-31" → use as-is (ISO format)
• "12/31/2025" → convert to 2025-12-31
• "Dec 31" → current year + 12-31
• "January 5" → current year + 01-05

Edge Cases

• If date is in the past, use it anyway (user may want to track overdue tasks)
• If date is ambiguous ("Friday" on a Friday), assume next Friday
• If date cannot be parsed, ask user: "Please specify the due date as YYYY-MM-DD"

Critical Rules

• Due date optional: Include 📅 portion only if due date is mentioned
• Calendar emoji: Use 📅 (U+1F4C5) when due date present
• ISO date format: Always YYYY-MM-DD for due dates
• Timestamp required: Always include HH:MM format for task creation time
• Preserve structure: Don't modify other sections
• Task format: Use - [ ] HH:MM description [📅 YYYY-MM-DD]
• Wikilinks: Preserve any [[wikilinks]] in the user's description

Six Gates Compliance

Gate	Implementation
1. Read Before Write	Reads daily note before adding task (step 6)
2. File Exists	Validates daily note exists; creates if missing
3. Chain Validation	N/A (single operation)
4. Mutation Confirmation	Task shown to user before write
5. Health Check	Uses vault config infrastructure
6. Post Validation	Re-reads file and verifies task was written (step 8)

Configuration

This skill uses these config values:

• paths.daily_notes: Folder containing daily notes (default: "daily-notes")
• sections.log: Log section header (default: "## Log")