Analog Kanban

A digital replication of the Ugmonk Analog productivity system for Obsidian.

Bring the clarity of physical index cards into your Obsidian vault. Analog Kanban renders any markdown file as a three-column Kanban board -- Today, Next, Someday -- with visual task signals, drag-and-drop organization, and full markdown persistence.

No frameworks. No external dependencies. Just your notes, rendered as a board.

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Table of Contents

• Philosophy
• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• Markdown Format Reference
• Settings
• Project Structure
• Building from Source
• Contributing
• License

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Philosophy

The Ugmonk Analog system is a physical productivity method built around a simple premise: constrain your focus to what matters today, keep a short list of what comes next, and let everything else live in someday.

It uses index cards with hand-drawn status markers -- empty circles, half-filled circles, completed circles, and delegation arrows -- to give you a tactile, intentional relationship with your tasks.

Analog Kanban brings that same philosophy into Obsidian:

• Three columns, not ten. Today, Next, Someday. That is the entire system.
• Visual status signals. Cycle through Not Started, In Progress, Completed, and Delegated with a single click -- just like marking up a physical card.
• Markdown-first. Every board is a plain .md file in your vault. Edit it in the board view or in the text editor. The file is the source of truth.
• No lock-in. Your tasks are readable markdown. If you stop using this plugin, your data is still there, fully intact and human-readable.

The goal is not to be a full-featured project management tool. It is to be a focused, minimal task board that respects the Analog workflow.

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Features

Three-Column Kanban Board

Tasks are organized across three columns that mirror the Analog card system:

Column	Purpose
Today	Tasks you are committed to finishing today
Next	Tasks queued up for the near future
Someday	Ideas, backlog items, and longer-term tasks

Task Status Cycling

Click the circle icon on any task to cycle through four states:

Icon	Status	Marker
Empty circle	Not Started	[ ]
Half-filled circle	In Progress	[/]
Filled circle	Completed	[x]
Arrow circle	Delegated	[>]

Progress Tracking

In-progress tasks display a clickable progress bar. Each click increments by a configurable step (default: 25%). Progress is stored inline as (50%) in the markdown.

Drag and Drop

Move tasks between columns and reorder within columns using native HTML5 drag-and-drop. No external libraries required.

Inline Editing

• Add tasks via the inline input at the bottom of each column.
• Edit task text by double-clicking on any task title.

Context Menu

Right-click any task to access:

• Edit title
• Add or edit description
• Add notes
• Add subtask
• Set due date
• Set effort estimate
• Set priority level
• Add tags
• Delegate to a person
• Move to another column
• Delete task

Priority Levels

Four priority tiers, displayed as a colored left border and badge on each task card:

Priority	Label	Color
{p0}	Critical	Red
{p1}	High	Orange
{p2}	Medium	Blue
{p3}	Low	Gray

Due Dates

Set due dates through a date picker. Dates render as relative labels:

• Today, Tomorrow, In 5d, Feb 15
• Overdue tasks display as 3d overdue

Time Effort Estimates

Assign effort to any task from preset options:

5m | 10m | 15m | 20m | 25m | 30m | 45m | 1h | 2h | 3h | 4h | Custom

Stored in markdown as ~30m, ~1h, or ~1.5h.

Tags

Add custom tags to any task. Tags receive auto-generated colors and are stored as #tag-name in the markdown. Click a tag to remove it. Define a reusable tag library in the plugin settings.

Delegation

Mark a task as delegated to a specific person with @person syntax. The task status changes to the Delegated state (arrow circle). Remove delegation through the context menu.

Subtasks

Any task can have nested subtasks with their own:

• Three-state status cycling (Not Started / In Progress / Completed)
• Priority level
• Effort estimate
• Delegation

Add subtasks via the context menu or inline input. Double-click to edit. Subtasks appear as indented items in the markdown.

Task Notes and Descriptions

• Descriptions: Multi-line text displayed beneath the task title. Click to edit.
• Notes: Expandable section per task for longer-form context.

Daily Reset

Optional automatic behavior: when a new day begins, incomplete tasks in the Today column are moved back to Next. Enable this in settings to start each day with a clean slate.

Multi-Board Support

Any .md file in your vault with type: analog-board in its YAML frontmatter becomes a board. Create as many boards as you need:

• Duplicate an existing board file
• Use the "Create new board" command from the command palette

External Edit Sync

Edit the underlying markdown file directly in Obsidian's text editor (or any external tool), and the board view updates live through a file watcher.

Dark Mode

Full integration with Obsidian's light and dark themes. The board adapts automatically.

Command Palette

Available commands:

Command	Action
Open board	Open the default Analog board
Add task to Today	Create a new task in the Today column
Add task to Next	Create a new task in the Next column
Add task to Someday	Create a new task in the Someday column
Create new board	Create a new Analog board file

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Installation

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release files: main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css.
2. In your Obsidian vault, create the plugin folder:

   <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/ugmonk-obsidian/
   

3. Copy the three downloaded files into that folder.
4. Open Obsidian and navigate to Settings > Community Plugins.
5. Enable Analog.

From Source

See Building from Source below.

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Usage

Creating a Board

Option A -- Command palette: Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) and run Analog: Create new board. This generates a new markdown file with the correct frontmatter.

Option B -- Manual: Create any .md file and add this frontmatter:

---
type: analog-board
date: 2026-02-17
---

Add column headers (## Today, ## Next, ## Someday) and the file will render as a board.

Working with Tasks

Action	How
Add a task	Type in the input field at the bottom of any column and press Enter
Edit a task title	Double-click the task text
Cycle task status	Click the circle icon to the left of the task
Increment progress	Click the progress bar on an in-progress task
Move a task	Drag and drop between columns or within a column
Access all options	Right-click a task to open the context menu
Add a subtask	Right-click a task and select "Add subtask"
Edit a subtask	Double-click the subtask text
Delete a task	Right-click and select "Delete"

Editing the Markdown Directly

Because every board is a standard markdown file, you can switch to Obsidian's source editor at any time to make bulk edits, reorganize tasks, or add metadata by hand. The board view will pick up your changes automatically.

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Markdown Format Reference

A board file is a standard markdown document with YAML frontmatter and three second-level headings.

Full Example

---
type: analog-board
date: 2026-02-15
---

## Today
- [ ] Write project proposal
- [/] Review pull requests (50%) #work
  This is a description line
  - [ ] Check frontend changes
  - [x] Check backend changes
- [x] Team standup meeting
- [>] Update docs (delegated to @sarah)

## Next
- [ ] Prepare quarterly report {p1} @due(2026-02-20) ~2h

## Someday
- [ ] Learn Rust {p3}

Status Markers

Marker	Status
- [ ]	Not Started
- [/]	In Progress
- [x]	Completed
- [>]	Delegated

Inline Metadata

All metadata is stored inline within the task line:

Syntax	Meaning	Example
{p0} to {p3}	Priority level	{p1}
@due(YYYY-MM-DD)	Due date	@due(2026-02-20)
~<duration>	Effort estimate	~30m, ~1h, ~1.5h
(delegated to @person)	Delegation	(delegated to @sarah)
#tag-name	Tag	#work, #urgent
(N%)	Progress percentage	(50%)
{notes: text}	Task notes	{notes: Follow up Friday}

Subtasks

Subtasks are indented list items directly below a parent task:

- [/] Parent task (50%)
  - [ ] Subtask one {p2} ~15m
  - [x] Subtask two
  - [/] Subtask three (delegated to @alex)

Subtasks support status markers ([ ], [/], [x]), priority, effort, and delegation.

Descriptions

A non-list line indented beneath a task is treated as its description:

- [ ] Design new landing page
  Mockups are in Figma. Focus on mobile-first layout.

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Settings

Access plugin settings via Settings > Community Plugins > Analog.

Setting	Description	Default
Default board path	File path to the board opened by the "Open board" command	--
Daily reset	Automatically move incomplete Today tasks to Next at the start of each day	Off
Progress increment	Percentage step for progress bar clicks	25%
Show completed tasks	Toggle visibility of completed tasks on the board	On
Tag library	Define a set of reusable tags available across all boards	--

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Project Structure

ugmonk-obsidian/
  manifest.json            Plugin metadata (name, version, description)
  package.json             Dependencies and build scripts
  tsconfig.json            TypeScript compiler configuration
  esbuild.config.mjs       esbuild bundler configuration
  styles.css               Ugmonk-inspired visual styling
  src/
    types.ts               Type definitions for tasks, columns, settings
    constants.ts           View type ID, defaults, status markers
    utils.ts               Parsing, serialization, date and effort helpers
    TaskStore.ts           Data layer: markdown parsing, serialization, state management
    AnalogView.ts          Board UI: columns, cards, drag-drop, inline editing
    SettingsTab.ts         Plugin settings panel
    main.ts                Plugin entry point and registration

Architecture Notes

• No frameworks. The UI is built with vanilla DOM manipulation using Obsidian's createDiv, createEl, and setIcon utilities.
• Pub/sub state management. TaskStore holds the board state and notifies subscribers on change. The view performs a full re-render on each state update.
• Single-file persistence. Each board is one markdown file. TaskStore handles parsing markdown into state and serializing state back to markdown.
• HTML5 Drag and Drop. Native browser DnD API with no external drag libraries.
• File watcher. External edits to the markdown file trigger a re-parse and re-render.

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Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or later recommended)
• npm

Steps

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rhutikcodes/ugmonk-obsidian.git
cd ugmonk-obsidian

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build for production (outputs main.js)
npm run build

# Or start development mode with file watching
npm run dev

Installing the Build

After building, copy (or symlink) the following files into your vault's plugin directory:

cp main.js manifest.json styles.css <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/ugmonk-obsidian/

Then enable the plugin in Obsidian's settings.

For active development, you can symlink the entire project directory:

ln -s /path/to/ugmonk-obsidian <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/ugmonk-obsidian

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue to discuss significant changes before submitting a pull request.

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/your-feature).
3. Make your changes and test them in an Obsidian vault.
4. Submit a pull request with a clear description of the change.

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

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Analog Kanban is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ugmonk. The Analog system is a product of Ugmonk.