Obsidian Task Management

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when...	Use the alternative instead when...
Listing open `- [ ]` tasks across the vault, or toggling/completing them	Editing arbitrary note content rather than checklist lines — use `vault-files`
Filing a task on a daily note via the running Obsidian CLI	Tracking work in `taskwarrior` outside Obsidian — use a `taskwarrior-plugin` skill
Verifying which tasks Obsidian itself indexes as open	Searching for arbitrary text patterns including non-task content — use `search-discovery`

List, filter, and update tasks across the Obsidian vault using the official CLI.

Prerequisites

Obsidian desktop 1.12.7+ installer with CLI enabled
Obsidian must be running

The Two Commands

The CLI exposes exactly two task commands. There is no create command — tasks are content, so you add one by appending a - [ ] line with append / daily:append (see vault-files).

Command	Purpose
`tasks`	List / filter / count tasks
`task`	Show or update one task, addressed by location

List Tasks

# All tasks in the vault
obsidian tasks

# Incomplete only / completed only
obsidian tasks todo
obsidian tasks done

# Scope to a file
obsidian tasks file=Recipe
obsidian tasks path="Projects/Sprint.md"

# Scope to the active file or today's daily note
obsidian tasks active
obsidian tasks daily

# Counts instead of rows
obsidian tasks total
obsidian tasks daily total

# Group by file with line numbers (the agentic default —
# gives you the path:line that `task` needs to update)
obsidian tasks verbose

# Structured output (default format is plain text)
obsidian tasks format=json
obsidian tasks format=tsv
obsidian tasks format=csv

# Filter by a custom status character; quote shell-special ones
obsidian tasks 'status=?'
obsidian tasks status=-

Filters combine: obsidian tasks file=Recipe todo verbose.

Show or Update a Task

task addresses a single checklist line by location — either a combined ref=path:line, or file=/path=/daily plus line=.

# Show task info
obsidian task file=Recipe line=8
obsidian task ref="Recipe.md:8"

# Toggle completion
obsidian task ref="Recipe.md:8" toggle
obsidian task daily line=3 toggle

# Set an explicit state
obsidian task file=Recipe line=8 done      # → [x]
obsidian task file=Recipe line=8 todo      # → [ ]
obsidian task file=Recipe line=8 status=-  # → [-]
obsidian task daily line=3 done

done/todo/status= set a state outright; toggle flips whatever is there. Use status= for custom markers your theme or plugin renders (- cancelled, / in progress, ? question, etc.).

Workflow Patterns

Capture a task to today's daily note

obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] Review PR #42"

Find an open task, then complete it

# 1. Locate it — verbose gives path and line number
obsidian tasks todo verbose

# 2. Update by that location
obsidian task ref="Projects/Sprint.md:14" done

Close out every task in today's daily note

obsidian tasks daily todo verbose
# then, per reported line:
obsidian task daily line=<n> done

Count outstanding work

obsidian tasks todo total
obsidian tasks daily todo total

Agentic Optimizations

Context	Command
List tasks (structured)	`obsidian tasks format=json`
Open tasks only	`obsidian tasks todo`
Locate tasks (path + line)	`obsidian tasks verbose`
Tasks in one file	`obsidian tasks file=X`
Today's tasks	`obsidian tasks daily`
Outstanding count	`obsidian tasks todo total`
Complete a task	`obsidian task ref="path.md:N" done`
Toggle a task	`obsidian task ref="path.md:N" toggle`
Custom status	`obsidian task file=X line=N status=-`
Quick capture to daily	`obsidian daily:append content="- [ ] task"`

Related Skills

vault-files — Append task lines to notes and daily notes (there is no task create command)
search-discovery — Find notes containing tasks, or search task text
properties — Track task metadata in frontmatter instead of checklist lines