Task List Kanban

Task List Kanban is a free, open source Obsidian plugin that turns Markdown tasks from your vault into a kanban board. Tasks stay in their original files, and changes made from the board are written back to Markdown.

Use it to:

• collect tasks from one folder, selected folders, or the whole vault
• move tasks between columns matched by tags, text, status, or priority
• manage multiple boards from a dashboard and board rail
• edit, complete, cancel, archive, duplicate, and bulk-update tasks
• filter by content, tag, file, or date with a single search query
• save reusable views that combine filters, sorting, grouping, layout, and width
• group tasks into swimlanes by folder, file, tag, text, or property, then flip group order to put the lanes you need first
• sort tasks by file order, parsed task properties, or manual pinned order
• display, sort, group, and edit Tasks Plugin or Dataview date metadata
• keep nested Markdown blocks attached to their parent cards when you want subtasks

Getting Started

Create a Board

Click the New Kanban board ribbon icon, run Create new kanban board from the command palette, or open the dashboard and choose New board. Each flow lets you choose the destination folder.

You can also right-click the folder where you want the board file, then choose New kanban.

Dashboard And Board Rail

Open the dashboard from the board rail or run Show board dashboard while a kanban view is focused. The dashboard lists every board in the vault, shows task counts plus updated/opened timestamps, and lets you create or switch boards without hunting through files.

Cards show open/done totals and an expandable per-column count breakdown. Boards with a due-date property schema also show overdue and due-today badges, independent of the board's current filter.

From the dashboard, right-click a board card to rename, hide, show, or delete that board. Delete asks for confirmation and moves the board file through Obsidian's trash flow. Drag cards to choose the dashboard order; hidden boards move under Other boards instead of becoming inaccessible.

When your vault has more than one board, the board rail gives one-click board switching. Drag rail items to reorder boards. In plugin settings, dock the rail on the left or across the top; the left rail can also be resized.

Add Tasks

Create Markdown tasks in any included file:

- [ ] Write release notes #this-week

Task List Kanban supports the standard Markdown task bullets -, *, and +.

With the default name-matched columns, tasks without a column tag appear in Uncategorized. Add the column tag in Markdown or drag the task to that column on the board. You can also configure columns to match text, status markers, or priority. Placement tags are hidden from task cards; matching text stays visible.

Click Add new at the bottom of a column to create a task from the board. If a default or recently used task file is available, the input opens immediately; otherwise, choose a file first.

In board settings, New tasks groups the Default task file, Daily note path, optional Heading, and Insert at top controls. Turn Insert at top on to insert at the top of that heading's section, or leave it off to insert at the bottom. Heading defaults to blank; “E.g., tasks” is only an example placeholder. Leave Heading blank to use the whole file. The same heading and position apply to every file you create tasks in, including file swimlanes, mobile creation, and Add card. Plugin-wide board defaults can supply the heading and position, with normal board overrides.

Headings match their exact text (without # marks), using the first matching ATX heading at any level. A missing heading is created as ## Heading at the selected end of the file. A section includes its deeper subsections. At top of the whole file means after YAML frontmatter. Existing boards continue to append to the file until you change these settings: Heading is blank and Insert at top is off by default. These preferences affect new tasks; duplicates, subtasks, and moved tasks keep their existing placement behavior.

Today's Daily Note

The file picker offers Today's daily note above the folder list, and Default task file can be set to Today's daily note instead of a specific file. Either way, each new task goes to the note for the day you add it, so a board left open overnight moves on to the next day's note by itself. If today's note doesn't exist yet, adding a task creates it (with any missing folders) and puts the task in it.

By default, the note's location comes from Obsidian's core Daily notes plugin. New notes use the core plugin's template when one is set. To use a different location, set Daily note path in New tasks to a path with the date in double braces, such as daily/{{YYYY-MM-DD}}.md or Journal/{{YYYY}}/{{YYYY-MM-DD}}.md. Dates use Moment.js format tokens. The core template still applies at that location. Like the heading and position, Daily note path can be set once in the plugin-wide board defaults. A daily note outside the board's scope is never offered or created.

Board Configuration

Open board settings with the settings icon in the top-right corner, or run Open current board settings while a kanban view is focused.

Board settings inherit from plugin-wide board defaults unless the board has its own override. In the settings modal, inherited fields can be pinned to freeze the current board value, or reset so the board follows the defaults again. The command palette also includes Use current board settings as global defaults and Prune board settings that match the defaults for keeping older boards tidy.

Plugin settings include:

• Board rail: choose whether the board rail docks left or top.
• Board defaults: set default columns, status markers, scope, tag display, property behavior, new task placement and daily note path, and nested subtask behavior for boards that do not override those fields.
• Default view: set plugin-wide defaults for flow direction and card width.
• Global saved views: create reusable views available from every board.

Scope

Choose which files feed the board:

• Same as board folder: files beside the kanban file.
• Every folder: the whole vault.
• Selected paths: exact Markdown files and vault-relative folders. Folders include their Markdown descendants; the board folder is included only when you choose it.

Selected paths can follow a date-named daily note with a Moment-format template such as daily/{{YYYY-MM-DD}}.md. The board resolves it using your local date and refreshes at midnight. Existing boards configured with Selected folders retain that legacy behavior until you convert them. The first time you choose Selected paths, any saved Selected folders entries are copied in as a starting point. Converting directly from legacy Selected folders also keeps the board folder selected, preserving that mode's prior coverage; you can then edit the paths normally. Selected paths must include at least one file or folder; the board-folder toggle counts as one source.

Use Excluded paths to omit directories or files after scope is applied. Boards using their folder or legacy Selected folders keep that folder protected; in Selected paths, exclusions apply to every selected path, including this board's folder when you choose to include it.

Columns

Use the Columns section to rename, color, remove, and reorder custom columns. Uncategorized and Done stay fixed at the top and bottom of the settings list, with separate visibility and name controls.

Column matching options:

• Name matching: a column named In Progress matches tags such as #InProgress, #in-progress, and #In-Progress.
• Explicit tag matching: configure one or more required tags for a column. A column with status/active and project/alpha matches only tasks with both tags.
• Text matching: choose Text and enter the literal once as the column title, such as @office or [[Project A]]. Matching is case-sensitive and uses the trimmed title directly, without tag conversion or a separate matching-text field. A Text column titled office matches office, not #office. It must be a standalone token: @home does not match an email address, @homework, or @home-office. Moving a card adds, removes, or replaces the literal in its source line. The matching text stays visible in the task description, including in its own column, so intentionally inline context and links remain readable.
• Status marker matching: configure a column to match an active checkbox marker such as unchecked [ ], in-progress [/], or blocked [!]. Moving a task into that column updates the checkbox marker.
• Priority matching: configure a column to match Tasks Plugin or Dataview priority metadata when a property schema is enabled. Moving a task into that column writes the matching priority value.
• Updating changed match rules: settings can optionally update existing tasks when a name-matched column is renamed, an explicit tag mapping changes, a status marker mapping changes, a priority mapping changes, or a Text column is renamed. The Update existing tasks checkbox appears beneath the edited column. Leave it unchecked to change the matching rule without rewriting task text; affected cards may leave that column. Updates skip done tasks.

Column display options:

• Colors: add a hex color like #FF5733 to show a color bar on the column and its cards.
• Width: set all columns between 200px and 600px.
• Visibility: show Uncategorized and Done always, never, or only when non-empty.

Keep column metadata when completing, below Add column: leave a task's column tag in place when it is completed or archived, and its text column literal when archived, for example - [x] Write report #doing. Done and Archived still take priority over the kept metadata, so the task shows in Done or stays hidden. Unchecking the task returns it to that column, and dragging it to another column swaps the tag or literal as usual. Completing or moving to Done always preserves text literals and priority, regardless of this setting. Status-based columns cannot be kept, because completing a task changes its status. Off by default.

Tag Display

Enable Consolidate tags in settings to move non-column tags to the card footer.

The Excluded tags setting hides configured tags from cards, tag grouping, and consolidated tag footers. A settings button can automatically exclude all tags mapped to active columns.

Layout

Board flow controls the desktop arrangement and the leading hierarchy on mobile:

• Column dominant ascending (LTR): columns lead the board in normal workflow order. Desktop uses the horizontal matrix; mobile lists columns first.
• Column dominant descending (RTL): columns lead the board in reverse workflow order. Desktop uses the reversed horizontal matrix; mobile lists columns first in reverse order.
• Group dominant ascending (TTB): desktop uses the transposed matrix. On a grouped mobile board, groups lead and columns appear within each group in normal workflow order.
• Group dominant descending (BTT): desktop uses the transposed matrix with reversed workflow columns. On a grouped mobile board, groups still lead while columns within each group use reverse workflow order.

For an ungrouped mobile board, the group-dominant options naturally render as a simple column list. Group order remains controlled by the grouping direction setting.

Card width can be adjusted from the view controls between 200px and 600px.

On mobile, boards use full-width task rows with column-colored left edges. View and Search sit together on the left of the toolbar; source-file options and Settings sit on the right. Search expands when needed and stays visible while a filter is applied. Tap the folder icon to choose and open source files.

Each expanded section that supports task creation has its own floating + button. It stays within that section while scrolling, so creation retains the column and group destination, including Uncategorized. New and existing tasks use the same keyboard-aware editing sheet with explicit Create/Save and Cancel buttons. The destination file appears in the creation sheet instead of a repeated row on the board. View settings and source-file options open as full-height panels on mobile.

Obsidian Tasks plugin / Dataview integration

Enable a Property schema in settings to read and write task metadata from the Obsidian Tasks plugin or Dataview inline fields.

Task List Kanban can display, sort, group, and edit metadata from either integration while keeping each task in its source Markdown format.

• Obsidian Tasks plugin: due, scheduled, start, done, created, priority, and recurrence metadata.
• Dataview: due, scheduled, start, done, completion, created, priority, repeat, and arbitrary inline fields.

The Show properties setting controls whether parsed metadata appears on task cards:

• None: leave parsed properties inline as task text.
• Pretty: show formatted property values, with Tasks plugin dates and priorities using familiar labels and icons.
• Debug (JSON): show the raw parsed data for troubleshooting schemas and unusual task lines.

When the schema is Tasks Plugin or Dataview, task cards show a compact + Date control. Use it to set or clear due, scheduled, and start dates directly from the board. New tasks created from the board can include the same dates.

Date writes use the selected integration's native format:

- [ ] Send invoice 📅 2026-06-15 ⏳ 2026-06-16 🛫 2026-06-17
- [ ] Send invoice [due:: 2026-06-15] [scheduled:: 2026-06-16] [start:: 2026-06-17]

Completing an open task from the board adds a completion date when the selected schema supports it and the task does not already have one:

- [x] Send invoice ✅ 2026-06-15
- [x] Send invoice [completion:: 2026-06-15]

Existing completion dates are preserved. Reopening, moving, cancelling, archiving, or editing a task does not remove or rewrite historical completion metadata.

Nested Tasks And Source Blocks

Enable Treat nested tasks as subtasks to show only the root task as a card while keeping nested tasks and notes inside that card. Nested rows can be edited, status-cycled, added, deleted, and reordered from the card without turning each child task into its own board card. Cards with subtasks show a completion count, percentage, and progress bar.

When this mode is on, source-block actions stay together: moving, duplicating, deleting, or archiving the parent card operates on the owned nested Markdown block instead of only the first task line.

Task Status Settings

Task status visuals come from your active Obsidian theme or plugin CSS.

Status marker settings control how checkbox characters behave:

• Status marker order: controls how status markers sort and group when using status as a parsed property.
• Done markers: characters treated as complete. Default: xX.
• Ignored markers: characters hidden from the board entirely. Default: empty.
• Cancelled markers: characters used by cancel/restore. Default: -.
• Status cycle sequence: characters used to advance the task status when clicking the checkbox on the board.
• Replace #archived with status: use one or more archive status markers instead of the archive tag. The first configured marker is written by Archive; all configured markers are hidden as archived. Archive markers cannot overlap other status roles. Existing #archived tags are left intact but ignored by boards using archive statuses, so another board can still use tag-based archiving.

For example, with archive markers set to dD, archiving - [/] Review notes writes - [d] Review notes. Both [d] and [D] are then treated as archived and hidden. Changing an archived marker to a non-archive status makes the task visible again.

Examples:

• xX recognizes [x] and [X] as done.
• xX✓ also recognizes [✓].
• ignored marker - hides [-] tasks.

Cancel and restore only change checkbox markers. If a cancelled marker is also configured as ignored or done, that marker setting determines whether the task is hidden or treated as complete.

Board Controls

Column Controls

• Collapse: collapse columns from the board header; collapse state is saved. In a grouped board, a swimlane that has cards only in collapsed columns is hidden until a column containing one of its cards is expanded. Empty configured swimlanes remain visible.

Task Actions

• Edit: click task text, edit inline, then click away or press Enter.
• Move: drag a task to another column, or choose a column from the task menu.
• Complete / Cycle Status: in Done mode, click the task checkbox to mark a task done and move it to Done. If a status cycle sequence is configured, clicking the checkbox will instead advance the task status through the specified sequence.
• Advance: choose Advance from the card action mode selector beside the total task count above the board, then click a card's arrow to move it to the next configured column. The workflow runs from Uncategorized through custom columns to Done, then Archived, regardless of the board's visual direction or hidden columns.
• Cancel or restore: use the task menu to switch between cancelled and active.
• Archive: archive tasks from the task menu or bulk menu. By default this marks open tasks done and adds the #archived tag. Boards configured to replace the tag with an archive status write their first archive marker instead. Completing or archiving a task never removes its priority.
• Duplicate: duplicate a task directly below the original source line.
• Open source file: click the file path or arrow icon on a card.
• Open matching source files: use Open files beside the filter bar to open the persistently selected source notes represented by the current applied filter in new tabs. Its chevron lets you change that subset for the board and optionally skip Markdown files already open elsewhere in the workspace.
• Add card: run Add card from the command palette to create a card on a visible board without first opening that board.

Archived Tasks

Enable Show archived column in View to browse archived tasks beside the board. This view option is saved per board and can be included in saved views. The separate pane stays on the right in every layout, with its own scrolling and controls at the top.

Archived tasks appear in file order, 50 per page, using the board's scope, filter, and tag or status archive settings. Previous, Next, and Refresh browse one page at a time without loading the whole archive. Collapsing or hiding the pane stops archive scans. Active task counts exclude the archive.

Archive changes refresh the first page; newly archived tasks may sort onto later pages. Open source file opens the original note. Restore to Done verifies the source row before editing it and preserves existing completion dates and nested content. On status-based boards, restoring preserves any #archived tag, so tag-based boards may still treat that task as archived.

Sorting

Use the Sort dropdown in the board header to order tasks within each column:

• File order: use natural order from Markdown files.
• Task name: sort by task text, ordering embedded numbers naturally (for example, Task 2 before Task 10).
• Property sorting: sort by parsed task properties such as dates or priorities when a property schema is enabled.
• Manual: drag one task within a column to pin a custom order.

Manual sorting keeps pinned tasks together at the top of the column. Pinned cards show a pin marker; click it to unpin the task and return it to the file-order tail. When a task is first pinned, the plugin will add an Obsidian block link like ^abc123 to the source line unless one already exists, so the order survives text edits and reloads.

Manual drag reordering is available when the board is not grouped. When grouping is active, saved manual order still displays, but the Manual sort option is readonly until grouping is turned off because relative order would not be stable across different groupings.

Filters

The search bar above the board filters tasks with a single query. A query is a space-separated list of tokens, and a task must match every token:

Details:

• Separate conditions are AND-ed: fix tag:home file:projects due:<$TODAY keeps tasks containing "fix", tagged home, in a file path containing "projects", due before today.
• Prefix a content term, tag, or file condition with - to exclude it: "Paul Krugman" -Keynes, -tag:archived, or -file:archive. Date comparisons cannot be negated. Quote a literal content term beginning with -.
• Use a parenthesized OR group for alternatives, including mixed types: (Krugman OR Friedman) -Keynes or (tag:reading OR file:essays). Groups cannot nest, and - applies only to one condition. Outside parentheses, OR remains a literal content word.
• Repeated tag: tokens AND together, so tag:home tag:errand requires both tags, while tag:home,errand matches either. Repeated file: tokens merge into one "any of" list.
• Quote values containing spaces: file:"weekly notes".
• Date tokens use a date-typed property key from the active property schema (such as due, scheduled, start, done, created) with an operator (<, <=, =, >=, >) and either a YYYY-MM-DD date or $TODAY, which re-evaluates at midnight. Tasks without the referenced property are never hidden by a date token.
• Property tokens use a double colon and work with any property the active schema parses: priority, status (the checkbox marker, with status::todo for a space), and any Dataview inline field such as [project:: website]. Values match whole and ignore case (project::web does not match website). Priorities compare as highest > high > medium > none > low > lowest, and a task without a priority counts as none. Negate with -, as in -owner::* for tasks with no owner. Property tokens read only the task's own line, not nested subtasks. Date properties support only due::*; compare dates with due:<….
• A token that doesn't parse as a filter (an unknown single-colon prefix like note: or a bad date value) is treated as plain content text.

Filtering applies when you press Enter. Invalid boolean syntax shows an error only then and keeps the last applied filter; the draft stays available to correct. As you type, suggestions appear for the token under the caret — tag names, file paths, date keys and operators, property keys and their values, and query-only saved view names. The sliders icon expands a structured editor under the bar; it and the bar are two views of the same query, so edits in either stay in sync. Filters persist per board.

Saved views live in the expanded view controls. A saved view can capture the current filter, sort, grouping, flow direction, and card width. Save one with an optional name, click it to apply its stored view properties, or delete a board-local saved view with the × control. Query-only saved views also appear as search bar suggestions, so the older saved-filter workflow is still there in a more general form. Global saved views are read-only from the board and can be edited from plugin settings.

Bulk Actions

The gutter above the board shows a Done / Advance / Select card action mode selector to the left of the total task count. The icon matches the action shown on cards: square for Done, arrow for Advance, and circle for Select. Open its menu for mode names and descriptions. The chosen mode applies to every column and is saved separately for each board.

• Done mode: cards complete tasks.
• Advance mode: card arrows move tasks to the next workflow step.
• Select mode: cards select tasks for bulk actions.

After selecting tasks, use each column's bulk menu to move, complete, cancel, restore, archive, duplicate, or delete them. Selected-card command palette actions are also available for marking done, cancelling, archiving, duplicating, and deleting. Dragging one selected task moves all selected tasks in that column.

Grouping And Swimlanes

Use Group by in the board header to split tasks into swimlanes.

• In horizontal layouts, groups appear as board-wide swimlane rows.
• In vertical layouts, groups appear as columns across the top of the transposed grid.
• Use the group direction control to switch grouped boards between ascending and descending group order.
• Dragging tasks between file, tag, or property swimlanes updates the relevant file, tag, or property. Moving a card onto a folder swimlane changes only its column, because a folder lane can contain tasks from multiple source files.

Group and column headers stay visible while scrolling grouped boards, making large swimlane views easier to scan.

Use a swimlane header's collapse control to fold or expand that lane. Collapsed lanes retain their header and task count, and can still receive dragged tasks. Collapse state is saved per board and shared between desktop and mobile.

Group By File

Tasks are grouped by source Markdown file.

Group By Folder

Tasks are grouped by their source file's immediate parent folder. Tasks in the vault root appear in a Root swimlane.

Group By Tag

Tasks are grouped by tag, optionally limited to a configured prefix.

• Use the include list in the grouping controls to show only specific tag swimlanes. Included swimlanes keep the configured order, and tasks without an included grouping tag appear in Unassigned.

Group By Text

Choose Text in Group tasks, then add literals such as [[Project A]] and [[Project B]]. Reorder the list with its arrow buttons. Each listed literal gets a lane, including when empty, plus Unassigned. The first matching literal in list order decides a task's lane; reversing the displayed group direction does not change that decision.

Dragging between text lanes replaces the source literal in place; dragging to Unassigned removes it. A task with another listed literal then belongs to that lane. New cards inherit both their lane's literal and their column metadata. Column and lane literals both remain visible in task descriptions. The editor warns when a column and lane share a literal because lane moves can change column placement.

Text matching is literal and case-sensitive, with no regex or wildcards. For example, @office does not match @Office; differently cased column titles and lane literals are distinct. Case-only column renames also offer Update existing tasks, which skips done tasks. Literals cannot be blank, span lines, begin with # (use Tags instead), or repeat within the same list. A literal matches at the start of task content or after whitespace, (, [, or a quote, and ends before whitespace, punctuation, or the end of content. Letters, digits, _, -, /, and @ continue a token. Only the task's own line is searched. Renaming a linked note updates its task links in Obsidian; edit the corresponding column title or lane literal to follow the new name. Changing a lane list never rewrites tasks.

Group By Property

When a Tasks Plugin or Dataview property schema is enabled, tasks can also be grouped by parsed properties. Date groups support Combine past dates so overdue dates can collapse into one past bucket.

Tasks created within a property swimlane inherit that lane's property value.

When grouped by due, scheduled, or start, run Reschedule overdue tasks to today from the command palette, or use the calendar button on the combined Overdue swimlane, to set that date to today on every visible open task whose date has passed. Filtered-out, done, and cancelled tasks are left alone, and no other dates change.

Saved views replace the older saved grouping workflow and can reuse common grouping setups, including folder, file, tag-prefix, include-list, and property groups, group direction, and the surrounding layout.

Screenshot Refresh Candidates

The current README still uses older screenshots. Useful new or replacement screenshots would be:

• the main board screenshot, showing current card footers, properties, and the + Date control
• the board dashboard and rail, showing board counts, updated/opened metadata, and Other boards
• the saved views controls, showing combined filter/sort/group/flow/width saved views
• plugin settings, showing board defaults, default view, global saved views, and board rail dock
• the task date editor, showing due, scheduled, and start date inputs on a card
• a grouped Group dominant ascending (TTB) or Group dominant descending (BTT) board, showing the transposed grid with board columns as rows and groups across the top
• the Task properties settings section, showing Property schema and Show properties
• the Status markers settings section, showing status marker order alongside done, ignored, and cancelled markers

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js
• npm
• Obsidian for manual testing

Setup

npm install
npm run dev

Build output is written to the repository root for Obsidian plugin loading.

Quality Checks

npm run lint
npm run build
npm test

npm run lint runs ESLint (use npm run lint -- --fix for safe automatic fixes). npm run build runs TypeScript checking and a production ESBuild bundle. npm test runs the Vitest suite.

Manual Testing

Deploy to the vendored test vault:

./tools/deploy_for_manual_test.sh

This runs npm run build and npm test, then copies the built plugin into test-vault/obsidian-plugin-dev/.obsidian/plugins/task-list-kanban/. Pass --lint to also run npm run lint and npm run communitylint before the build. You can pass a target directory to deploy somewhere else; --lint works before or after it.

Release

1. Bump the version:

   npm run version
   

2. Commit the version changes, create an annotated tag, then push main and the tag.

3. Wait for GitHub Actions to create the draft release with built assets.

4. Edit and publish that draft from the releases page.

Do not create a release draft manually with gh release create or the GitHub UI; the automated draft is the one with the correct assets.