Obsidian Task Feature Library

Keep nested task lists in sync and make scheduled tasks easier to scan in Obsidian. This TypeScript plugin adds automatic parent checkboxes and start-time highlighting, with an independent toggle for each feature.

Install · Design · Development · Report an issue

Features

Automatic parent checkboxes

Task hierarchy is derived from standard Markdown indentation. A checkbox task becomes a parent when the checkbox tasks that follow it have a greater indent:

- [ ] Prepare the release
  - [x] Verify the build
  - [ ] Write the changelog

Complete Write the changelog, and Prepare the release becomes [x] automatically. Reopen either child, and its parent becomes [ ] again.

• The parent becomes [x] when all of its direct and nested child tasks are complete.
• Reopening any child changes its parent back to [ ].
• Any number of nesting levels is supported.
• Tasks with the same indentation remain siblings.
• No custom checkbox appearance, commands, or HTML markers are added.

Standard Markdown [ ] and [x] states remain the source of truth. Legacy markers created by version 0.1.0 are removed when a note is synchronized.

Start-time highlighting

A task is recognized as a scheduled item when its text starts with a valid 24-hour time in HH:MM format:

- [ ] 09:30 Team call
- [ ] 14:05 Doctor appointment

Only a single start time is supported. Time ranges such as 09:30-10:30 and 09:30 - 10:30 are intentionally ignored. The plugin changes only the color of the HH:MM token; it does not add row backgrounds, borders, stripes, animations, or custom completion effects.

Settings

Open Settings → Task Feature Library. Each feature has its own toggle:

• Automatic parent checkboxes controls parent-state synchronization.
• Start-time highlighting controls recognition and highlighting of HH:MM task prefixes.

Both features are enabled by default. Changes take effect without restarting Obsidian.

Design

The plugin separates Markdown parsing, feature behavior, and Obsidian lifecycle management so the task rules can be tested independently of the app.

Area	Implementation
Task hierarchy	src/core/task-tree.ts builds a tree from indentation and derives parent completion from its leaf tasks. It skips frontmatter and fenced code examples.
Focused edits	The same core computes source ranges for checkbox changes, checks that edits are still valid, and applies them from the bottom up. Tests cover stale edits and preserved CRLF line endings.
Feature composition	TaskFeature defines editor extensions, Reading View decoration, and cleanup. A shared registry drives both feature lifecycle and settings.
App integration	src/main.ts activates features and refreshes views when settings change. Parent synchronization uses editor transactions for open notes and vault processing for other modified Markdown files.
Time highlighting	src/features/timed-tasks/ shares parsing rules between CodeMirror decorations and Reading View processing. Cleanup restores the original text when the feature is disabled.

Task state stays in standard Markdown. Parent synchronization updates checkbox characters in the note; time highlighting changes the rendered time token. Obsidian's native checkbox styling is preserved.

Installation

Requires Obsidian 1.5.0 or later, as declared in the plugin manifest.

From a release

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest GitHub release.

2. Create this directory inside your vault:

   <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/task-feature-library/
   

3. Place the three downloaded files in that directory.

4. Open Settings → Community plugins and enable Task Feature Library.

From source

Use Node.js 20 to match the CI environment.

git clone https://github.com/philsyr/obsidian-task-feature-library.git
cd obsidian-task-feature-library
npm ci
npm run build

Copy the generated main.js together with manifest.json and styles.css to the plugin directory shown above, then reload Obsidian.

Development

npm ci
npm run dev

npm run dev rebuilds main.js when source files change. Load the generated plugin in an Obsidian vault to try changes in the app.

Run the same checks as CI:

npm run format:check
npm test
npm run build

The build runs TypeScript checking before bundling with esbuild. To check types on their own, run npm run typecheck.

The Vitest suite covers task-tree parsing and updates, legacy-marker migration, valid and invalid time prefixes, feature composition, Reading View decoration and cleanup with jsdom, and CSS behavior. These are automated checks; changes to editor interaction should also be tried in Obsidian.

To add a feature, implement TaskFeature, register it in src/features/registry.ts, and add tests for its rules and cleanup behavior. For bug reports, include the Obsidian and plugin versions, a minimal Markdown example, and whether the issue happens in the editor or Reading View.

License

MIT