Task Format

Basalt tasks live directly inside your Markdown files as standard checklist items enhanced with structured signifiers. Everything is parsed by a high-performance zero-AST Rust scanner during indexing—meaning zero overhead and full compatibility with existing Obsidian Tasks / Dataview vaults.

Basic Syntax

A task begins as a standard Markdown list item with a checklist bracket:

- [ ] Write documentation
- [ ] Review PR #42

When you add signifiers (dates, priority, recurrence, tags), Basalt parses them inline into structured metadata while leaving your note human-readable:

- [ ] Ship v1.0 release 🔺 📅 2026-10-15 🛫 2026-10-01 🔁 every month ➕ 2026-09-01 #release

Structure of a Task Line

A task line consists of five components:

1. List Marker: - , * , or a numbered prefix like 1.
2. Checkbox Bracket: [ ], [/], [?], [x], or [-]
3. Description: The human-readable text of the task before or around signifiers.
4. Signifiers: Inline emoji tokens indicating priority, dates, recurrence, dependencies, and identifiers.
5. Tags: Standard #tag tokens embedded anywhere in the task description.

:::tip Order Doesn't Matter Signifiers can appear in any order on the line. Basalt parses them greedily and preserves your formatting. If multiple identical signifiers appear, the first one takes precedence. :::

Checkbox Statuses

Basalt recognizes five distinct task statuses based on the character inside the bracket:

Markdown	Status	Category	Description
- [ ]	todo	Open	Default open task awaiting action
- [/]	in_progress	Open	Currently active or underway
- [?]	on_hold	Open	Paused or waiting on external input
- [x] or - [X]	done	Completed	Finished task; automatically appends ✅ YYYY-MM-DD if enabled
- [-]	cancelled	Completed	Dropped or obsolete task; automatically appends ❌ YYYY-MM-DD if enabled

Any unfamiliar character inside brackets (for example - [z]) is safely treated as an open todo task.

Priorities

Priority levels are indicated by an inline emoji:

Signifier	Priority Level	Score Boost	UI Badge
🔺	Highest	+25	Red badge
⏫	High	+15	Orange badge
🔼	Medium	+5	Yellow badge
(none)	None (Normal)	0	Default text
🔽	Low	-5	Blue badge
⏬	Lowest	-15	Muted badge

Example:

- [ ] Fix critical security bug 🔺
- [ ] Reorganize archive folder ⏬

Dates

Dates use standard ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD) preceded by their signifier emoji:

Signifier	Meaning	Description
📅 YYYY-MM-DD	Due Date	When the task must be completed
🛫 YYYY-MM-DD	Start Date	Earliest date work should begin
⏳ YYYY-MM-DD	Scheduled Date	The date allocated to work on the task
➕ YYYY-MM-DD	Created Date	When the task was initially created
✅ YYYY-MM-DD	Done Date	When the task was marked completed
❌ YYYY-MM-DD	Cancelled Date	When the task was cancelled

Example:

- [ ] Prepare quarterly budget 📅 2026-11-01 🛫 2026-10-20 ⏳ 2026-10-25

Recurrence Rules

Repeating tasks use the 🔁 signifier followed by natural English recurrence rules starting with every:

- [ ] Weekly sprint planning 🔁 every week on Monday 📅 2026-10-05
- [ ] Daily standup 🔁 every weekday ⏳ 2026-10-06
- [ ] Monthly account audit 🔁 every month on the 1st 📅 2026-11-01

Recurrence from Completion

By default, recurrence advances from the previous target date. You can add when done to calculate the next date from when you actually finished the task:

- [ ] Deep clean coffee machine 🔁 every 3 weeks when done 📅 2026-10-01

Task IDs & Dependencies

To track relationships between tasks:

• 🆔 <id> assigns a unique identifier to a task.
• ⛔ <id> declares that this task depends on another task being completed first.

- [ ] Order motherboard 🆔 mb-101
- [ ] Assemble workstation ⛔ mb-101 📅 2026-10-12

Next Steps

• Learn how to query and surface tasks with Querying Tasks
• Manage tasks visually in the Task Board
• Quick editing with the Task Modal
• Complete emoji syntax in the Task Signifiers Reference