Bullet-time

Minimal timelines from a simple bullet list in Obsidian.

You write a list, add duration estimate {Days}, and Bullet-time reads it top-to-bottom, chains each task after the one before it, and transforms it into a clean monospace text art timeline.

Features

• Auto-scheduling — siblings chain automatically: each task starts where the previous one ended. Only pin the dates that actually matter.
• Work-day math — schedule in calendar days or workdays mode, which skips weekends.
• Duration shorthands — days, weeks, or hours (3d, 2w, 4h).
• Overtime highlighting — when a project's children run past its planned total, the overflow is flagged in a warning color.
• Nesting — lanes → projects → subtasks, driven purely by list indentation.
• Per-task colors and a nice palette.
• Two entry points — a fenced ```bullet-time code block, or a plain bullet list tagged with a hidden %% bullet-time %% comment.
• Errors render inline — bad input never breaks your note; problems show up in a small box under the timeline.

Installation

Community plugin store

Install it from_ Settings → Community plugins → Browse by searching for "Bullet-time".

Manual

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Copy them into your vault at <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/bullet-time/.
3. Reload Obsidian, then enable Bullet-time under Settings → Community plugins.

Usage

Add a fenced code block with the bullet-time language:

```bullet-time
title: Q3 Launch
mode: workdays

- Design {2w}
  - Wireframes {4d}
  - Visual design {6d}
- Build {3w} | #98c379
- QA {1w}
- Launch {2026-09-01, 2d}
```

The first bullet starts today (unless pinned). Each following sibling starts when the previous one ends. Indented bullets become children of the bullet above them.

From a plain bullet list

Prefer a normal Markdown list? Tag it with a hidden comment as the first item (Reading view only):

- %% bullet-time %% mode:workdays title:Roadmap
- Research {1w}
- Prototype {2w}
- Ship {3d}

Syntax reference

Header lines

Placed before the first bullet, one per line, as key: value:

Key	Values	Description
title	text	Heading shown above the timeline.
mode / days	calendar, workdays	Count every day, or skip weekends.
weekstart	mon, sun	First day of the week for axis ticks.
hoursperday	positive number	Hours in a work day (used to convert Nh durations).
wide	—	Break out to full pane width (also usable as a bare flag).
center	—	Center the timeline in its block (also usable as a bare flag).

Lines starting with # are comments.

Task syntax

Each bullet is a task. Its content can carry an optional {...} scheduling group and a trailing | color:

- Label {start, duration} | color

• {start, duration} — either part is optional: {2w} is duration-only, {2026-07-01} pins a start, {2026-07-01, 3d} sets both.
• Start accepts today, an ISO date YYYY-MM-DD, or a relative offset like +5 / -2 (days from today).
• Duration accepts a bare number or Nd (days), Nw (weeks — 5 work days or 7 calendar days), or Nh (hours, converted via hoursperday). Fractions allowed (e.g. 1.5d).
• Color — any CSS color after a trailing | (e.g. | #e06c75, | tomato). Unsafe values are ignored.

Tasks with no explicit start chain after their previous sibling. A pinned start runs in parallel from that date.

Settings

Configure global defaults under Settings → Bullet-time (any block can override the schedule-related ones via header lines):

• Day model — calendar or workdays
• Week start, hours per day
• Appearance — cells per day (zoom), font size, month/week ruler toggle
• Palette — lane colors assigned in order when none is specified, plus the overtime color

Development

npm install
npm run dev     # esbuild watch mode → rebuilds main.js on save
npm run build   # typecheck + minified production build
npm test        # headless parser + scheduler checks
npm run deploy  # build, then copy into a vault (set BULLETTIME_VAULT)

The core is a strict, Obsidian-free pipeline — parse → schedule → layout — so it can be unit-tested headlessly; only the render stage touches the DOM. See CLAUDE.md for a fuller architecture tour.

License

MIT