Daily Task Panel

Daily Task Panel

A daily-notes task manager for Obsidian. Jot tasks in today's daily note as they come up; the panel gathers them into one sidebar list — what's on today, what slipped, what's coming, and each project's backlog — with one-tap ways to schedule, file into a project, and finish them.

Your markdown is the database; the panel is a projection of it. Daily Task Panel keeps no task store of its own, mints no IDs, and edits a task line only when you act on it. Every action is a plain text edit you could have made yourself, and every panel action has an undo.

Install

In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins → Browse, search for Daily Task Panel, then Install and Enable.

Other ways in:

• BRAT, for pre-release builds: install the BRAT plugin, then Add beta plugin → SeanYHan888/obsidian-daily-task-panel.
• Manual: download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release, put them in <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/daily-task-panel/, reload Obsidian, and enable Daily Task Panel in Settings → Community plugins.

Requirements: Obsidian 1.7.2+ and the Tasks plugin in its default emoji format. Daily Task Panel reads tasks through Tasks and completes them through its API, so done-dates, recurrence, and any downstream sync keep working. Without it, the panel tells you what's missing instead of rendering. Works on desktop and mobile.

Set up with an AI agent

If you use an agent that can read and write files in your vault (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and the like), open it in your vault's folder and paste the prompt below. It looks before it changes anything, asks before each step, and never rewrites notes you already have. The layout it proposes is the one the plugin was built in: daily notes in dated subfolders with a capture heading, projects as notes with a status. If your vault already has its own layout, the agent keeps it and fills the settings in to match.

Set up the Daily Task Panel plugin in this Obsidian vault as a daily-notes task manager. Work from the vault root (the folder that contains .obsidian/). First inspect, then show me a short plan; the plan is not my approval. Ask before each step. Never delete, move, or rewrite my existing notes or tasks. The only edit allowed to an existing file is adding a missing capture heading to my daily-note template, with my OK.

RULES (the system; step 7 saves these for future sessions)
- Every task is one Markdown checkbox line in the Tasks plugin's emoji format.
  ⏳ YYYY-MM-DD = start: the day I plan to work on it.
  📅 YYYY-MM-DD = due: a real external deadline. Rare.
  Never write dataview-style fields such as [scheduled:: ] or [due:: ].
- Capture: new tasks go, undated, directly under the capture heading of today's daily note (the nearest heading above the task must be the capture heading; any heading level works). When I ask you to add a task, add it there, undated, unless I give a date. The panel shows captures in To-do for triage: give each a start date, move it into a project, or cancel it ([-]).
- Projects: a project is a note in the projects folder with frontmatter status: now | next | later, and optional start and deadline (ISO dates). A task belongs to a project because its line sits under that note's tasks heading. No project tags on task lines.
- The panel shows a task only if it has a date, sits under a daily note's capture heading, or lives in a project note. Anything else is invisible to it.
- Moving a task means cutting its line together with its indented subtasks and pasting them under the target heading. Never leave a copy behind.
- Completing: prefer the circle in the panel, so the Tasks plugin writes the ✅ done date. In text, mark the checkbox [x] and append ✅ with the date.
- A daily note's "# Events:" section holds calendar time blocks (Day Planner). Never treat those lines as tasks. (Keep this rule only if my daily notes have such a section.)
- Edit only the lines a request is about. No bulk rewrites of old notes.

STEPS
1. Plugins. Tasks (folder .obsidian/plugins/obsidian-tasks-plugin/) and Daily Task Panel (.obsidian/plugins/daily-task-panel/) each count as installed only if the folder has a main.js and the plugin id is listed in .obsidian/community-plugins.json. If either is missing, ask me to install and enable it in Settings → Community plugins (search "Tasks", then "Daily Task Panel"), then check the folder again. Tasks must use its default "Tasks Emoji Format".
2. Daily notes. Ask me to switch on the "Daily notes" core plugin in Settings → Core plugins (don't edit core-plugins.json yourself). Read .obsidian/daily-notes.json. If it doesn't exist, propose folder "Daily Notes", date format "YYYY/MM/MM-DD, ddd" (one folder per year and month) and template "Templates/daily-notes" (Obsidian stores the template path without .md). Keep my settings if I already have them.
3. Daily note template. If the template file doesn't exist, create Templates/daily-notes.md with exactly these lines:
---
created: "{{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}"
---
# Tasks:

## TO-DO:

# Events:

# Notes:
The Daily notes plugin fills in {{date:...}}. If a template already exists, keep it; if it has no capture heading, ask before adding one, and tell me the heading's exact text.
4. Projects. Create Projects/Active/ and Projects/Archive/ if missing. If Templates/project-notes.md doesn't exist, create it with exactly these lines (the panel fills in {{title}} and {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} when it creates a project):
---
type: project
status: later
start:
deadline:
created: "{{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}"
---
# {{title}}

## Goal:

## Done when:

## Tasks:
5. Panel settings. Tell me what to enter in Settings → Daily Task Panel. Obsidian is usually open by now, and it overwrites .obsidian/plugins/daily-task-panel/data.json while running, so write that file directly only if I tell you Obsidian is closed (keys you leave out keep their defaults). A heading setting is the heading's text exactly as written, without the #s (keep a trailing colon if it has one). If steps 2–4 found my own folders, template or headings, use mine; for the layout above the values are:
dailyNotesFolder "Daily Notes"   (used only while the Daily notes plugin is off)
projectsFolder "Projects/Active"
archiveFolder "Projects/Archive"
inboxHeading "TO-DO:"
moveTargetHeading "Tasks:"
projectTemplatePath "Templates/project-notes.md"
pacingMode "hybrid", wipLimit 3, pressWindow 7
machineNotePath ""   (set it only if a sync tool rewrites one of my notes on its own)
6. Existing tasks. Find open checkbox lines (- [ ] or * [ ], indented ones included) that the panel won't show under the rules above, and lines that use [scheduled:: ] or [due:: ] fields, which the Tasks emoji format ignores. Report how many of each, where, and a few examples, and explain why they are invisible. Offer, don't apply, the fixes: turn [due:: DATE] into 📅 DATE and [scheduled:: DATE] into ⏳ DATE, and move undated tasks under today's capture heading or into a project.
7. Agent rules. Offer to save the RULES above to the vault root's AGENTS.md (or CLAUDE.md, whichever already exists; AGENTS.md if neither) under a "## Daily Task Panel" heading, with my real folders and headings filled in. Write any checkbox example inside backticks, so the rules file doesn't itself contain a task.
8. Test. Find today's daily note from the daily notes folder and date format. If it doesn't exist, create it from the template, filling any {{date}} placeholders with today's date yourself. Add "- [ ] try Daily Task Panel" directly under its capture heading. Ask me to run "Daily Task Panel: Open panel" from the command palette and check that the task shows in the To-do section. If it doesn't, check in this order: both plugins enabled, the Daily notes core plugin on, the heading text matching inboxHeading exactly, Tasks set to its emoji format.

Everyday use with an agent

Once the rules are saved in your vault's AGENTS.md, you can ask for help in plain words. The panel stays where you work; the agent is useful for the thinking around it. For a morning plan, paste:

Read the Daily Task Panel rules in AGENTS.md. Look at today's daily note, my undated captures from the last seven days, and the ## Tasks: sections of projects with status now. Propose today's list: at most five tasks, each with a one-line reason. Then propose a home for each undated capture: a start date, a project, or cancel. Show the exact line edits first. Apply them only after I say yes. Don't touch # Events:, completed tasks, or notes I didn't mention.

Other requests that work well:

• "Triage my inbox: for each undated task in this week's daily notes, suggest a start date, a project, or cancel."
• "What has slipped more than twice? Suggest which to drop and which to move to a project."
• "Weekly review: which projects should be now next week? Keep it to three, and tell me what that pushes out."
• "Break the project website-redesign into tasks I can finish in a day each, under its ## Tasks: heading."
• "Start a project called conference-talk from my project template, with a deadline of 2026-11-02, and move today's talk-related captures into it."

60-second start

1. Install and enable Tasks, then Daily Task Panel. The panel opens in the right sidebar (or run the Open panel command).
2. Put - [ ] try the panel ⏳ YYYY-MM-DD, with today's date, in any note → it appears in To-do.
3. Enable the core Daily Notes plugin and add an # Inbox heading to today's note. Any task you jot under it shows up at the tail of To-do, waiting for triage.
4. When you're ready for projects: create a Projects/Active folder and give each project note a status: now|next|later frontmatter field. (Or skip this — Daily Task Panel works fine as a pure daily-note panel, and the Projects section will explain the workflow when you want it.)

The model

Tasks are checkbox lines in the Tasks emoji format:

• ⏳ scheduled — the day you plan to work on it. Slideable without guilt; the only date most tasks ever need.
• 📅 due — a real external deadline. Rare, and always a debt once it arrives.
• A task belongs to a project because its line lives in that project's note. No project tags.
• Triage means emptying the inbox: give each capture a date, a project, or a cancellation.

The panel is four projections of that model:

Sections are disjoint views of one thing — the date on the line. Tasks never "move" between them except by date edits or the passage of days.

Working the panel

Rows. The circle completes a task (through the Tasks API, so ✅ done-dates are written). Clicking the text jumps to the task's line in its note — Cmd/Ctrl+click opens in a new tab, middle-click too. Right-click any row (long-press on mobile) for everything at once: Open note, Edit text, Complete task, the Start and Due groups, Move to project, Select multiple, and Cancel task. Every visible button is a shortcut to something in that menu, never the only way to do it.

Two dates, one chip. A task has a start (⏳, the day it enters To-do, slideable without guilt) and, rarely, a due (📅, a real deadline). A row shows one chip, the date that matters next: the start while it is ahead, then the due once started, else the start. Click the chip (or the small calendar button on an undated row) to edit that field. The start menu reads Today · Tomorrow · Weekend · Next week, then +1 day · +1 week when there is a start to nudge, Set / Change start date, and Clear start; the due menu reads Set / Change due date and Clear due, no quick dates, since a deadline is picked, never guessed. A start chip is blue and a due chip orange; either turns red once its day has passed (a due, from its day on). The row menu edits whichever field the chip isn't showing.

Repairing slipped tasks. Rows in Overdue & slipped carry one-tap actions: today, tomorrow, pick a date, or cancel. Start all today in the section's … menu sweeps everything slipped onto today's list — the morning zero ritual. Re-dating an overdue task moves its deadline rather than stacking a new date beside the stale one.

Drag and drop (desktop). Drag any row onto the To-do section to schedule it today, onto Upcoming to pick a future date, or onto a project to move the line (with its subtasks) into that note. Only targets whose drop would actually do something light up.

Bulk triage. Choose Select tasks in the To-do or Projects … menu, or Select multiple on any row's menu to start with that task in hand — checkboxes appear across the working list and the backlogs. A bar at the panel's foot shows the count with move to project and set start (folded into one … on a narrow panel). Esc or the ✕ exits.

Move to project physically cuts the task lines — subtask children included — out of their source and appends them under your project note's ## Tasks heading (configurable). Choose + New project in the picker and Daily Task Panel creates the note for you, from your template if you set one, from a minimal built-in scaffold if not. Send back to To-do (on a backlog task's menu) is the inverse: the line returns to today's daily note under your inbox heading. The row menu also carries Edit text (the words change, dates and tags stay) and Complete task.

Undo. Every line edit — reschedules, cancels, moves, bulk sweeps — shows a notice with an Undo link, and the Undo last panel action command walks back through the session's last 50 actions. Undo verifies each line still reads what the action left before restoring it; anything you've edited since is skipped, never guessed at. A move is undone on both sides: the lines return to where they came from and leave the note they landed in.

Projects and pacing

A project is a note in your projects folder with frontmatter:

---
status: next        # now | next | later
start: 2026-08-19     # optional, ISO date — the project waits until then
deadline: 2026-08-26  # optional, ISO date
---

Fold a project group by clicking its header; Cmd/Ctrl+click (or middle-click) jumps to the note. Right-click the header (or the … button) for the lifecycle menu: rename, set status, set or clear the start and the deadline, and Mark done / dropped & archive, which stamps the terminal status and moves the note to your archive folder — task lines untouched, links intact.

Pick your pacing in settings:

• Capacity — a now n/limit badge counts projects in now against your work-in-progress limit. Red past the limit; warns, never blocks.

• Deadlines — projects carry deadline chips and sort soonest-first; the badge stays out of the way.

• Hybrid (default) — both signals, plus the pressing loop: when a project's deadline is within the attention window (7 days by default) but the project isn't in now, its header offers a one-tap → now (on hover on desktop, always on mobile). Your calendar and your commitments disagree — one tap answers, ignoring it is also an answer. Promoting past your limit goes through, and the notice names it — from the button or the status menu alike: "conference-talk → now — now is full (4/3)".

In every mode you can also arrange the list by hand: the project header's menu has Move to top / up / down / to bottom, or on desktop drag a header onto another (stored as an order number in the note's frontmatter), setting a project to now lifts it to the top, and the Backlogs menu's Organize by status regroups everything now → next → later. The same menu creates a project (New project) and folds or unfolds every group at once. A deadline that has arrived always leads.

Starting later. Give a project a start date (the header menu's Set start date) and it waits: until that day it sits folded at the tail of the list — below every ranked and unranked project, soonest start first — with a neutral starts MM-DD chip in place of its deadline chip, and it never presses, whatever its deadline. From the start day it opens, rejoins the list, and in hybrid mode presses for → now — a project with a start presses from that day instead of from the attention window. Setting it to now starts it early by declaration. A start after the deadline is written as asked, with a notice naming the contradiction. This is how a long effort split into parts (week 1 → part 1, week 2 → part 2) shows one part at a time.

Switching modes is lossless: statuses, starts, and deadlines live in your notes' frontmatter, not in the plugin.

Settings

Machine-managed note: if some tool rewrites a note in your vault on its own schedule (an Apple Reminders sync, for example), point this setting at it. Its dated reminders appear and nag like any task, its scheduled time-blocks stay hidden (they're calendar, not tasks), and its rows allow check-off only — so the next sync never clobbers a panel edit.

Playing well with others

Daily Task Panel interoperates through shared markdown, not APIs:

• Tasks owns parsing and completion side effects — Daily Task Panel never invents its own task format.
• Day Planner owns time: daily-note # Events: sections are never read or written.
• Kanban: the move-target heading is configurable, so a project note that becomes a board keeps receiving triaged tasks.
• Sync tools: the machine-managed note setting is the generic contract for any note-rewriting tool.
• Your vault's pace: the panel does no background work. It reprojects only when a task or a project note changes, not when you type in any other note, and not at all while the panel is hidden. The plugin's code is about 120 kB.

Upgrading from Taskflow

This plugin was called Taskflow until September 2026. The new name comes with a new plugin id, so it installs into a new folder. Enable Daily Task Panel first: on its first start it copies your Taskflow settings. Then disable Taskflow and delete its folder. Hotkeys you had bound to Taskflow's commands need binding again.

Feedback

Bugs and ideas are welcome as GitHub issues.

Credits

Daily Task Panel (formerly Taskflow) began as a fork of obsidian-checklist-plugin by delashum, whose minimalist card-list look it keeps. MIT licensed; original license retained.