Task Signifiers Reference
This reference lists all inline signifier tokens recognized by Basalt's task scanner (basalt-task and basalt-parser).
Checkbox Markers
| Marker | Character | Status Enum | Wire Name | Semantics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
- [ ] | ' ' | TaskStatus::Todo | todo | Open task (default) |
- [/] | '/' | TaskStatus::InProgress | in_progress | Work in progress |
- [?] | '?' | TaskStatus::OnHold | on_hold | Paused / waiting |
- [x] / - [X] | 'x' | TaskStatus::Done | done | Completed task |
- [-] | '-' | TaskStatus::Cancelled | cancelled | Dropped / abandoned |
Note: Any non-standard character (e.g. [>], [!]) is treated as todo.
Priority Signifiers
| Emoji | Level | Numeric Rank | Urgency Score Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
🔺 | Highest | 0 | +25 points |
⏫ | High | 1 | +15 points |
🔼 | Medium | 2 | +5 points |
| (omitted) | None | 3 | 0 points |
🔽 | Low | 4 | -5 points |
⏬ | Lowest | 5 | -15 points |
Date Signifiers
Dates must strictly follow the ISO 8601 format: YYYY-MM-DD.
| Emoji | Name | Field | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
📅 | Due Date | due | Deadline for the task |
🛫 | Start Date | start | Earliest time work can begin |
⏳ | Scheduled Date | scheduled | Day allocated to execute the work |
➕ | Created Date | created | Date the task was created |
✅ | Done Date | done | Date the task was marked completed |
❌ | Cancelled Date | cancelled | Date the task was marked cancelled |
Recurrence Signifiers
The recurrence signifier starts with 🔁 followed by natural language intervals beginning with every:
| Expression | Pattern |
|---|---|
🔁 every day | Repeats daily |
🔁 every weekday | Repeats Monday through Friday |
🔁 every week on Monday | Repeats weekly on a specified day |
🔁 every 2 weeks | Bi-weekly interval |
🔁 every month on the 1st | Monthly on a fixed date |
🔁 every 3 months | Quarterly interval |
🔁 every year | Annual interval |
when done Modifier
Appended at the end of the rule:
🔁 every 2 weeks when done
Calculates next occurrence from the date marked complete rather than the prior target date.
Relationship & Workflow Signifiers
| Signifier | Syntax | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
🆔 | 🆔 <slug> | id | Unique task identifier |
⛔ | ⛔ <slug> | depends_on | Prerequisite task ID |
🏁 | 🏁 delete / 🏁 keep | on_completion | Post-completion action |
Parser Rules
- Greedy left-to-right matching: Signifiers are extracted and separated from the main task title automatically.
- First-wins collision: If duplicate signifiers of the same category exist on a single line (e.g. two due dates
📅 2026-10-01 📅 2026-10-05), the first occurrence takes precedence. - Leading/trailing whitespace: Cleaned automatically without distorting surrounding Markdown list indentation.