Date Tags Automation
bobthearsonist35 downloadsMaintain creation and modification timestamps and daily date tags for notes edited in Obsidian.
- Overview
- Scorecard
- Updates5
Keep creation and modification timestamps and a daily date-tag history in your Markdown notes.
Requires Obsidian 1.5.0 or later. Templater and Linter are optional. The plugin works on desktop and mobile without network requests, accounts, or telemetry.
On this page
- Install
- What it changes
- Tracking behavior
- Settings
- Integrations
- Troubleshooting
- Development and releases
Install
Install and update Date Tags Automation from the Obsidian Community Plugins directory:
- In Obsidian, open Settings > Community plugins > Browse.
- Search for Date Tags Automation, then select Install and Enable.
- Open the plugin's settings to choose which folders and metadata to track.
Manual installation
- Download
main.jsandmanifest.jsonfrom the latest GitHub release. - Put both files in
.obsidian/plugins/date-tags/inside your vault. - Reload Obsidian, then enable Date Tags Automation in Settings > Community plugins.
The folder must match the plugin ID, date-tags; it does not need to match the GitHub repository name. If you already installed the plugin in a differently named folder, back up its settings and avoid enabling both copies.
Back up your vault before enabling automatic frontmatter changes.
What it changes
- Adds
created,modified, and an optionaltypeproperty to new, in-scope Markdown notes. - Adds a nested date tag such as
date/2026/11/03to notes after tracked edits. - Keeps the creation-date tag first and avoids adding the same day's tag twice.
- Limits tracking to selected folders and can exclude templates or other folders.
- Waits for Templater to finish creating notes, including with Templater 2.x.
- Lets you update
modifiedyourself or delegate that timestamp to Linter.
Tags are stored in the tags frontmatter property, not appended to the note body:
---
created: 2026-11-02 09:00:00
modified: 2026-11-03 10:30:00
type: note
tags:
- date/2026/11/02
- date/2026/11/03
---
For backdated notes, set created to the intended creation date. Template-completion processing preserves that date's tag and adds today's tag without overwriting template timestamps.
Tracking behavior
| Change | What happens |
|---|---|
| A new, in-scope Markdown note is created | Adds initial frontmatter and today's date tag. If a matching Templater creation rule is enabled, waits for Templater to finish first. |
| An existing note is edited in Obsidian | Processes the edit after the configured idle/debounce checks. Depending on settings, updates modified and adds today's tag. |
| A note is edited with Obsidian CLI on desktop | Tracks supported CLI edits after the command finishes, then applies the same checks as an editor change. Turn this off with Tag notes edited by the CLI. |
| A note changes through sync, the filesystem, or another plugin | Does not treat the change as a user edit, so it does not add today's tag. |
The default idle threshold is five seconds and the processing debounce is three seconds. Optional checks can process an edit when you switch files or move focus away from the editor. An actively open note may wait until you switch away before a check can safely update it.
The command Date Tags Automation: Add today's date tag adds a tag to the active note. It does not update the note's modified timestamp.
Settings
- Scope folders: comma-separated folders to track. Empty means the whole vault.
- Exclude folders: folders to skip; defaults to
Templates,copilot-custom-prompts, andcopilot-conversations. - Base tag: parent tag for dates; defaults to
date. - Preserve creation tag: keeps the creation-date tag first.
- Update frontmatter modified / Delegate modified to Linter: choose how tracked edits update the
modifiedtimestamp. - Add type if missing / Default type value: control the initial
typeproperty. - Enable idle updates, Update on file switch, and Update on editor blur: choose when tracked edits are processed.
- Debounce delay and Idle time: adjust processing timing.
- Tag notes edited by the CLI: track Obsidian CLI edits; enabled by default on desktop.
- Templater detection delay: time to wait after a template-completion event; defaults to 300 milliseconds.
Integrations
Templater
The plugin waits for Templater's completion event when a matching folder or regex creation rule is enabled. Templater's creation trigger is device-local in current versions, so enable it on each device where you use those templates.
Linter
If Linter manages modified timestamps, enable Delegate modified to Linter and configure Linter separately.
Obsidian CLI
On desktop, edits made while commands such as append, prepend, property:set, daily:append, or eval run are tracked when the command finishes. If you are actively typing in the same note, normal idle checks still apply.
Plugin API
Other plugins can read the date-tag convention:
const api = app.plugins.plugins['date-tags']?.api;
const tag = api?.buildDateTag('2026-11-03'); // date/2026/11/03 by default
API version 1 exposes buildDateTag(date) and getBaseTag(). Dates may be a Date, YYYY-MM-DD, or YYYYMMDD. This read-only API does not mark notes as edited.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | What to check |
|---|---|
| A note is not tagged | Confirm it is in scope and not in an excluded folder. Existing-note edits must come through Obsidian's editor or the supported desktop CLI. |
| A template-created note has unexpected frontmatter | Enable Templater's creation trigger on this device and confirm the folder or regex rule matches. |
modified is not changing |
Check Update frontmatter modified or configure Linter and enable Delegate modified to Linter. |
| The plugin reports malformed frontmatter | Repair the YAML before retrying. The plugin reports the problem rather than silently replacing malformed data. |
Development and releases
npm ci
npm test
npm run build
main.source.js is the plugin entry point. The build bundles browser-compatible dependencies and their license notices into main.js. Release tags must exactly match manifest.json's version, without a v prefix. Each release includes only main.js and manifest.json; GitHub Actions verifies these assets against the build and creates artifact attestations.
See the release guide for the full release and Obsidian directory update process.
License and support
Copyright (C) 2025 bobthearsonist.
Date Tags Automation is distributed under GPL-3.0-or-later, without warranty. Bundled third-party packages retain their own licenses; their complete notices are included in main.js.