[FR] Subtasks support

[TheSnakePolyglot]

System for setting subtasks, which should include some features like automatically completing all subtasks if I complete the parent task. Also, it should be potentially "infinite" (a task can contain a subtask which itself contains subtasks and so on)

[callumalpass]

I've though a bit about adding subtasks, but I'm not really sure how to go about it. My main concern is how to represent the relationship in the lists views. One thing I like about the note-per-task approach is the atomicity of the tasks, and the ease with which they can appear in different contexts/in lots of different notes. Each task can have lots of relationships.

I'd consider adding a like property like "children" to the tasks; when the "parent" task has its status changed, the children might inherit that status--but I want to keep the frontmatter schema as simple as possible; while I'm open to adding properties, I'm not sure that the functionality that this unlocks is worth the complexity that it might add.

I'm open to being persuaded otherwise, though!

[TheSnakePolyglot]

I think that a "subtasks" functionality is virtually ubiquitous in all task management systems (Todoist, Google Tasks, Microsoft ToDo, Jira, Asana, etc). Even the Task Genius plugin supports it.

Also, this would play nicely with the Bases plugin and the new formulas that are coming in. Want to count all the subtasks? Just add a formula that counts them. Whats the subtask with the earliest Due date? There is a formula for it. How many subtasks are past their Due date? Another formula! So hopefully a lot of the heavy lifting doesnt have to come from the plugin, just the basic scaffolding

[callumalpass]

I'm still not quite sure how to implement this in a way that feels native to the plugin. For the moment, I will be adding a new variable that can be used in body templates, and can be added to the frontmatter of new notes. This variable will be {{parentNote}}, and will resolve to the name of the note in which a task was converted to a TaskNote.

For example, you might have the following template

---
parent: "{{parentNote}}"
---

# {{title}} 

{{date}}

{{details}}

It will resolve to something like:

---
title: New Note
status: open
priority: normal
due: 2025-06-16
scheduled: 2025-06-15
contexts:
  - test
dateCreated: 2025-06-15T22:21:51.252+10:00
dateModified: 2025-06-15T22:21:51.252+10:00
tags:
  - task
parent: "parent"
---

# New Note 

2025-06-15

This will mean that for every note that is converted from a checkbox, a parent note will be automatically defined.

So a task like:

---
title: Project
status: in-progress
priority: urgent
due: 2025-06-16
scheduled: 2025-06-15
contexts:
  - test
  - project
timeEstimate: 600
dateCreated: 2025-06-15T22:49:33.990+10:00
dateModified: 2025-06-15T22:49:33.990+10:00
tags:
  - task
parent: ""
---

# Project 

2025-06-15

- [[subtask]]
- [[subtask-2]]
- [[subtask-3]]
- [[subtask-4]]

contains links to 4 subtasks, which (if they were converted to tasks from with the project note) will have

parent: Project

in their frontmatter.

This should enable the Bases workflow that you are looking for (presumably, it will be possible to create queries searching for notes whose parent is a particular other note). It will, unfortunately, not yet enable the automatic status updates that you described in your first comment here. I'll be interested to hear what you think of this solution. Are there any other features in a subtasking system that you feel are important and missing?

[slepsl]

For integrating subtasks into the different views, it would be neat if they appeared under and to the right of their parent task, and could be expanded or collapsed similarly to folders. This is an example of what it may look like, although the expand/collapse gets a little crowded with the other circular buttons, so it may have to be tinkered with.

Other ways to integrate it would be the option to right click a task and create a subtask, which would automatically make the created subtask the "child" task of the original task. For views like kanban where tasks are dragged, it would be cool if you could choose to make a task a subtask of another task by either placing it under its existing subtasks or dragging and holding one task over another for a certain amount of time. Also, having a button to automatically expand or collapse all subtasks would be nice, similar to the button for folders in obsidian.

I'm not a programmer, so these are just some ideas, Loving this plugin!

[callumalpass]

Hi @slepsl . This is implemented in 3.17.0. I'll be looking into adding drag and drop support for it in a future release.

[jasonshanks]

I shared this on Discord the other day but with this simple filter it achieves only display subtasks (of a Project) nested under the parent task and not additionally duplicated outside of it. Maybe this makes more sense as a plugin preference if using Subtasks?

[renatomen]

@jasonshanks Thanks for sharing. That's a very helpful tip.

I can see how a plugin setting would make life more convenient for that use case. However, every new setting introduces more complexity to the development process (and testing). With a small dev team, the plugin can quicly become hard to maintain.

Since there's a way to achieve it via filter. I'd avoid introducing that setting. Having in mind that part of the users prefer to see the subtasks appearing independently in some cases. (I like to hide them in some cases, and to show duplicated in other filters).

[jasonshanks]

Indeed @renatomen , settings bloat is definitely something to avoid. Perhaps if there is larger demand for it down the track as it's definitely a typical filter setting in larger commercial PM systems (JIra, ClickUp, etc), per list as you prefer yourself.

In the interim perhaps we have a User Gallery of config settings at the end of the Documentation that people can contribute suggestions like this as they come up.