Tasks Backlink Shortener

An Obsidian plugin that shortens the backlink the Tasks plugin displays under each task. By default it shows just the note name instead of the full path, heading, and .md extension — and a setting lets you choose from four display modes (see Display modes below).

This was built with Claude Code to scratch a personal itch, not to become a feature-rich plugin — it does exactly one small thing, and I released it in case someone else was looking for the same solution.

Example

Before:

☐ Feed the sourdough starter before it files a complaint
    (/Kitchen/Bread Diaries/2026/2026-03-14 (Sat).md > Evening Chores)

After:

☐ Feed the sourdough starter before it files a complaint
    (2026-03-14 (Sat))

Display modes

Under Settings → Community plugins → Tasks Backlink Shortener, pick how backlinks are shown. Only one mode is active at a time. Each example below shortens the same task from the Example above.

Filename + header — path and .md removed, name and heading kept:

☐ Feed the sourdough starter before it files a complaint
    (2026-03-14 (Sat) > Evening Chores)

Header only — everything except the heading removed (falls back to the filename when a task has no heading):

☐ Feed the sourdough starter before it files a complaint
    (Evening Chores)

Filename only (default) — path, heading, and .md removed. The original behaviour, and what you get on a fresh install or after upgrading:

☐ Feed the sourdough starter before it files a complaint
    (2026-03-14 (Sat))

Custom text — every backlink is replaced with a fixed string you type in (here, 📓 recipe notes). This replaces all backlink text, including Tasks' short-mode link — if you want an emoji, add it to your custom text:

☐ Feed the sourdough starter before it files a complaint
    (📓 recipe notes)

Requirements

• The Tasks plugin, installed and enabled. This plugin only shortens backlinks that Tasks itself renders (e.g. in a tasks query block) — it has no effect on its own.

Installation

From Obsidian (recommended): Go to Settings → Community plugins → Browse, search for "Tasks Backlink Shortener", install, and enable it.

Manually:

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Create a folder named tasks-backlink-shortener inside your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ folder.
3. Copy those three files into it.
4. In Obsidian, go to Settings → Community plugins, refresh the list, and enable "Tasks Backlink Shortener".

Known limitations

• If a note's name genuinely contains the text " > " (space, greater-than, space), it'll get shortened incorrectly — there's no reliable way to tell that apart from Tasks' own path/heading separator using only the rendered text. This is expected to be rare enough not to worry about.
• Relies on Tasks' current backlink markup (.tasks-backlink a.internal-link), so a future Tasks update could change this. Verified working against Tasks 8.2.2.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.