Four Layer Todo for Obsidian

中文说明

Four-Layer Todo is a local-first task workspace for Obsidian. It keeps the current task in a whiteboard while moving less immediate work through a workbench, task pools, and long-term objects.

Demo Video

Watch the subtitled Four Layer Todo demo

Features

• A whiteboard for the one to three tasks currently in focus.
• A reversible workbench with an inbox, to-do list, and cache list.
• Expandable Kanban-style task pools.
• Long-term objects with related tasks.
• Task connections, text notes, card movement, archiving, deletion, and completion.
• Markdown files and folders as the single source of task content and layers.
• Links to notes outside the task folder without moving the original file.
• Import and export through Obsidian's official Canvas format.

The plugin is local-first. It does not send task content to a network service. The AI buttons are interface placeholders only.

Interface Languages

Four Layer Todo includes complete English and Chinese interfaces. By default, the plugin follows Obsidian's language. You can also choose Automatic, English, or Chinese under Settings → Community plugins → Four Layer Todo.

Changing the interface language never renames existing notes, task folders, or frontmatter values. This keeps existing Chinese vaults compatible while making the full interface usable for English-speaking users. New sample content is created in the active interface language.

Install From Source

npm install
npm run build

To install the development build into the current vault:

npm run install:local

Then enable Four-Layer Todo in Obsidian's Community Plugins settings and run Open Four-Layer Todo from the command palette.

Markdown / Canvas Source of Truth

Set the task-notes folder in the plugin settings. The default is 待办 ("Todo") for compatibility with existing vaults. There is no synchronization toggle: the plugin always reads and writes the files in this folder.

Before the first 0.1.11 startup, let Obsidian Sync finish and disable or update older plugin builds on other devices. The one-time migration rewrites managed frontmatter; any duplicate IDs received from Sync are isolated for manual review instead of being guessed or deleted.

• Only Markdown with fourLayerTodo: true is indexed; ordinary notes in the same folders are untouched.
• The file name is the title, the body is the detail, and frontmatter stores only the stable ID, priority, completion, order, long-term-object ID, and linked-note path.
• The directory is the only task-layer source. Moving or renaming a managed note updates the UI; Vault events never move a file from an in-memory copy.
• Each direct child folder under 任务存储器/ is a task pool. Its _任务池.md stores the pool description, color, and order.
• The Load tasks button in settings manually rebuilds the task index from the configured task folder and refreshes the plugin view. This operation is read-only: it never writes, moves, copies, or deletes files.
• 白板/任务白板.canvas stores file nodes, coordinates, colors, connections, and text notes only. Missing or invalid Canvas data cannot change a task's directory.
• data.json stores only the task root, language, transparent-interface preference, and file-schema migration version. It contains no task body or workspace snapshot.
• Active duplicate IDs are excluded from the normal index and listed with all conflicting paths in plugin settings. Resolve them manually before editing or moving those tasks.
• Deleting a managed note removes its task card.
• Linking a note inside the task folder moves it to the selected task area. Linking a note outside the task folder creates a backlink-style task card and leaves the original file in place.

The synchronized folder layout is:

待办/
├── 白板/
├── 缓存工作台/
│   ├── 收集箱/
│   ├── 待办列表/
│   └── 缓存列表/
├── 任务存储器/
│   └── <task-pool>/
├── 归档/
│   └── YYYY-MM-DD/
└── 长期对象/

Archiving moves the managed note into the dated archive folder. Deleting sends the managed Markdown note to Obsidian's trash.

Development Checks

npm run build
npm test
npm run lint
node --check main.js

License

MIT