Plain Tasks Shortcuts

A keyboard-first Obsidian plugin for timed task records and an automatically derived Daily Timeline.

Features

• Create a task with the current start time.
• Stop a task without completing it.
• Complete, cancel, or restore a task while updating its end time.
• Keep task status and recorded time independent.
• Render overlapping task intervals as Timeline Segments.
• Include indented logs and memos in the timeline.
• Refresh the timeline while the note is being edited.
• Keep completed and cancelled tasks readable without full-line strikethroughs.

Task format

- [ ] 13:20 ~ --:--  Investigate login issue
- [ ] 13:20 ~ 14:00  Review deployment logs
- [x] 13:20 ~ 14:10  Fix token refresh ✅ 2026-08-28
- [-] 13:20 ~ 13:42  Try previous approach ❌ 2026-08-28

Indented Markdown stays attached to its parent task:

- [x] 13:20 ~ 14:10  Fix token refresh
  - Found the retry counter issue
  - Added a regression test

Commands

• New work item — inserts - [ ] HH:mm ~ --:-- .
• New work item with created date — also adds the Tasks created-date metadata.
• Stop work item without completing — writes the current time to end and keeps [ ].
• Complete or restore work item with time — updates end and toggles [x]/[ ].
• Cancel or restore work item with time — updates end and toggles [-]/[ ].
• Insert automatic Daily Timeline view — inserts the timeline section once.

Suggested macOS hotkeys:

⌘Enter   New work item
⌘⇧D      Stop work item
⌘D       Complete or restore
Ctrl-C   Cancel or restore cancellation
⌘⇧B      Insert Daily Timeline

Assign shortcuts in Settings → Hotkeys.

Daily Timeline

Insert this block into a Daily Note:

```daily-timeline
view: both
```

The timeline groups task intervals by strict overlap and renders each segment with its summary and task details:

13:20 ~ 14:25（1h05min）· 3 items
13:20 · start

- [x] 13:20 ~ 13:45  Fix login issue
- [ ] 13:30 ~ 14:00  Review deployment logs
- [-] 13:55 ~ 14:25  Try previous approach

14:25 · end

Available views:

view: both       # merged summary and details
view: horizontal # compact summaries
view: vertical   # detailed segments

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.0.0 or later.
• Tasks for completion/cancellation metadata and status commands.

Installation

BRAT

Add this repository to BRAT, then enable Plain Tasks Shortcuts in Obsidian.

Manual

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Place them in .obsidian/plugins/plain-tasks-shortcuts/ inside your vault.
3. Reload Obsidian.
4. Enable Plain Tasks Shortcuts under Community plugins.

Task status styling

The bundled styles.css removes full-line strikethroughs in Live Preview, Reading View, and Daily Timeline. Completed tasks use the normal text color; cancelled tasks use the muted text color.

Development

The plugin is plain JavaScript and has no build step.

node --check main.js

Copy main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into a test vault, then reload the plugin from Obsidian.

License

MIT