Task Management (Obsidian-Native)

Every task is its own note in the tasks/ folder. Completed tasks move to tasks/done/. Tasks are viewed through Obsidian Bases, which provide filtered, sorted, grouped views over the task notes.

Folder Structure

tasks/                  ← Active, waiting, and someday tasks
  review-budget.md
  book-dentist.md
  draft-q2-roadmap.md
tasks/done/             ← Completed tasks (archived)
  submit-expense-report.md

Task Note Format

Every task note uses this frontmatter structure:

---
title: Review budget proposal
aliases:
  - budget review
tags:
  - task
context: work
status: active
priority: medium
due: 2026-03-14
assigned-to: "[[Sarah Chen|Sarah]]"
project: "[[Project Phoenix]]"
created: 2026-03-10
---

# Review budget proposal

For [[Sarah Chen|Sarah]], need to finalize before Q2 planning.

## Subtasks
- [ ] Pull latest numbers from finance
- [ ] Compare against Q1 actuals
- [ ] Send draft to [[Todd Martinez|Todd]] for review

## Blockers
- Waiting on [[Todd Martinez|Todd]] for cost estimate

## Related
- [[Q2 Budget Draft]]
- [[2026-03-08]] — discussed in standup

## Log
- 2026-03-10: Created, waiting on Todd's numbers

Frontmatter Properties

Property	Values	Required
title	Task name	Yes
tags	Always includes task	Yes
status	active, waiting, someday, done	Yes
priority	high, medium, low	Yes (default: medium)
due	YYYY-MM-DD or empty	No
context	work, personal, or [work, personal]	Only in dual-context vaults
assigned-to	Wikilink to person	No
project	Wikilink to project	No
waiting-on	Wikilink to person (when status is waiting)	No
waiting-since	YYYY-MM-DD	No
created	YYYY-MM-DD	Yes
completed	YYYY-MM-DD (set when done)	No
aliases	Short names for the task	No

Filename Convention

Lowercase, hyphenated, descriptive: review-budget-proposal.md, book-dentist-appointment.md. Keep it short but recognizable.

How to Interact

When user asks "what's on my plate" / "my tasks":

• Read all notes in tasks/ (not tasks/done/)
• Filter by active session context if in a dual-context vault
• Summarize by status: active first, then waiting, then someday
• Highlight anything overdue (due date < today) or high priority
• Resolve wikilinks to provide context (e.g., "the budget review for Sarah, due Friday")

When user says "add a task" / "remind me to":

• Create a new note in tasks/ using the task note format
• Set status: active and created: [today]
• In dual-context vaults, set context based on the active session context
• Use [[wikilinks]] for any people, projects, or notes mentioned
• If a person is mentioned, link to their memory note in assigned-to
• Set priority based on urgency cues (default: medium)
• Set due if a deadline is mentioned
• Even simple tasks ("buy milk") get their own note — keep the body minimal if there's nothing to add

When user says "done with X" / "finished X":

• Find the task note in tasks/
• Update frontmatter: status: done, add completed: [today]
• Move the file from tasks/ to tasks/done/
• Confirm to the user what was completed

When user says "waiting on X for Y":

• Find or create the task note
• Update frontmatter: status: waiting, add waiting-on: "[[Person]]", add waiting-since: [today]
• Note in the body what you're waiting for

When user asks "what am I waiting on":

• Read all notes in tasks/ where status: waiting
• Show who you're waiting on and how long (days since waiting-since)

When user says "put X on the back burner" / "someday":

• Update frontmatter: status: someday
• Task stays in tasks/ but won't show in active views

Quick Capture

Even for tiny tasks, create a note. The note can be minimal:

---
title: Buy milk
tags:
  - task
context: personal
status: active
priority: low
created: 2026-03-10
---

# Buy milk

The overhead of a file is negligible. The benefit is that every task is searchable, filterable, and visible in Bases views — no task gets lost in a long list.

Extracting Tasks

When summarizing meetings or conversations, offer to create task notes for:

• Commitments the user made ("I'll send that over")
• Action items assigned to them
• Follow-ups mentioned

Ask before creating — don't auto-create without confirmation. When creating, link to the source note if one exists (e.g., add [[Meeting Notes 2026-03-10]] to the Related section).

Conventions

• One task per file, always in tasks/
• Completed tasks move to tasks/done/ (not deleted)
• tags: [task] is mandatory — this is what Bases filters on
• Use [[wikilinks]] for all people, projects, and related notes
• Keep filenames short and descriptive
• Subtasks live as checkboxes inside the task note body — they don't get their own files
• The ## Log section captures progress updates over time
• When a task is referenced from a daily note, use [[Task Name]] to create a backlink

Obsidian Bases Integration

Task notes are viewed through Bases files in bases/. The primary view is tasks.base, which shows all active tasks sorted by priority and due date. Context-filtered views (work-tasks.base, personal-tasks.base) show tasks scoped to a single context. See the vault-workflow skill for the full Bases definitions.