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Tasks CalDAV Sync

by josecoelho
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Description

This plugin has not been manually reviewed by Obsidian staff. Bidirectional sync between tasks and CalDAV servers.

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Latest Version

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Changelog

See all version on GitHub

README file from

Github

Tasks CalDAV Sync

Bidirectional sync between obsidian-tasks and any CalDAV server (Nextcloud, Radicale, Baïkal, Fastmail, etc.).

Works with the obsidian-tasks plugin — syncs task status, dates, priorities, recurrence, tags, and notes as standard VTODO items.

Demo

Features

  • Multi-calendar support — sync different tags to different calendars and servers, with independent identifiers per side (Obsidian tag and CalDAV category)
  • Bidirectional sync — push tasks to CalDAV servers and pull changes back
  • Auto-sync — configurable interval (default: 5 minutes)
  • Dry-run mode — preview what will sync before committing changes
  • Conflict detection — manual resolution or auto-resolve with Obsidian wins
  • Task notes — indented bullet points below a task round-trip as VTODO DESCRIPTION
  • Recurrence — RRULE round-trips between CalDAV and obsidian-tasks format
  • Delete detection — three-way diff detects deletions on either side
  • Reconciliation — automatically matches identical tasks when switching calendars or after lost sync data, preventing duplicates

Requirements

  • Obsidian v0.15.0+
  • obsidian-tasks plugin (must be installed and enabled)
  • A CalDAV server with VTODO support

Installation

From Community Plugins (recommended)

Available in the Obsidian community plugin directory:

  1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse
  2. Search for "Tasks CalDAV Sync"
  3. Click Install, then Enable

Using BRAT (for beta releases)

  1. Install the BRAT plugin
  2. Open BRAT settings → Add Beta Plugin
  3. Enter josecoelho/obsidian-tasks-caldav and click Add Plugin
  4. Enable "Tasks CalDAV Sync" in Settings → Community Plugins

BRAT will also handle future updates automatically.

Manual

  1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css (if present) from the latest release
  2. Create VaultFolder/.obsidian/plugins/obsidian-tasks-caldav/
  3. Copy the downloaded files into that folder
  4. Restart Obsidian and enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins

Configuration

Open Settings → Tasks CalDAV Sync. Add one or more calendars, each with:

Setting Description
Obsidian tag Only Obsidian tasks with this tag are pushed to the server. Leave empty to push every task.
Server category Only server tasks with this CATEGORIES value are pulled into Obsidian. Leave empty to pull every task (useful when some clients — such as the iOS Reminders app — can't set categories).
Calendar name Name of the calendar on the server
Server URL CalDAV server endpoint
Username / Password CalDAV credentials

The two fields are independent. Set them to the same value for a symmetric sync (every synced task has that identifier on both sides), or use different values when your Obsidian tag and server category naming conventions differ. Leaving either side empty disables filtering on that side only.

Global settings:

Setting Description Default
Sync interval Auto-sync period in minutes 5
New tasks destination File where incoming CalDAV tasks are created Inbox.md
New tasks section Optional heading within the destination file —
Sync completed tasks Include completed tasks in sync off
Delete behavior What happens when a task is deleted on one side ask

Conflict resolution

Two modes:

  • Manual (default) — sync pauses when conflicts are detected, requiring review
  • Auto-resolve Obsidian wins — automatically keeps the Obsidian version on conflict

Usage

Commands

Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) to access:

Command Description
Sync with CalDAV now Run an immediate sync
Preview sync (dry run) See what would change without applying
View sync status Show last sync time and any conflicts
Inject task IDs Add unique IDs to selected tasks
Validate task IDs Check document for valid/invalid task IDs

Task IDs

Each synced task needs a unique ID. The plugin uses the obsidian-tasks native format:

- [ ] Buy groceries 🆔 20260213-a1b

Use the "Inject task IDs" command to add IDs to existing tasks, or the plugin will assign them automatically during sync.

Metadata mapping

Obsidian CalDAV Direction
Task text SUMMARY ↔
Indented bullets DESCRIPTION ↔
📅 due date DUE ↔
🛫 start date DTSTART ↔
✅ done date COMPLETED ↔
🔁 recurrence RRULE ↔
Priority emoji PRIORITY (1-9) ↔
Tags CATEGORIES ↔
Status (done/cancelled) STATUS ↔

Task notes

Indented bullet points below a task are synced as the VTODO DESCRIPTION field:

- [ ] Plan vacation 🆔 20260213-x2c
    - Research flights
    - Book hotel
    - Pack list

These notes round-trip to/from CalDAV clients like Thunderbird or Tasks.org.

Troubleshooting

Sync reports success but nothing changes

The Obsidian tag and Server category settings are hard filters, not just routing — each side independently decides what gets sent across:

  • Obsidian → CalDAV — only tasks carrying the Obsidian tag are pushed (skipped if Obsidian tag is empty: every task is pushed).
  • CalDAV → Obsidian — only server VTODOs whose CATEGORIES include the configured category are pulled (skipped if Server category is empty: every task is pulled).

If your server tasks have no matching CATEGORIES (for example, tasks created from the iOS Reminders app, which can't set categories), leave Server category empty to pull them anyway.

Known limitations

  • Priority round-trip is lossy — obsidian-tasks uses emoji-based priorities (⏫🔼🔽) while CalDAV uses numeric PRIORITY (1-9). Obsidian→CalDAV maps correctly, but CalDAV→Obsidian does not write priority emojis back into the task markdown.
  • Internal obsidian-tasks API — This plugin accesses obsidian-tasks' internal getTasks() method, which is not part of the official public API. Future obsidian-tasks updates could break this integration.

Tested CalDAV servers

Server Coverage
Radicale Automated E2E suite
Nextcloud Automated E2E suite
Vikunja Automated E2E suite
Baïkal (SabreDAV) Automated E2E suite
Fastmail Manually verified

Should work with any CalDAV server that supports VTODO, such as Synology.

iCloud

iCloud Reminders is not supported directly — Apple does not expose it as a standard CalDAV/VTODO backend, so sync fails at later steps even with the correct server URL (#74).

Workaround: sync Obsidian with a standards-compliant CalDAV account (e.g. fruux) and add that same account to the iOS Reminders app. Reported working by @Jane2100117.

Development

npm i            # install dependencies
npm run dev      # watch mode
npm run build    # production build with type checking
npm test         # run all tests (unit + E2E, requires Docker for Radicale)
npm run test:wdio  # run Obsidian smoke tests (requires Docker + downloads Obsidian binary on first run)

See CLAUDE.md for architecture details and testing guidelines.

License

MIT

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