Our review
This skill defines conventions for managing tasks, ideas, and notes in Markdown files with YAML frontmatter, organized in a structured folder system.
Strengths
- Clear structure with dedicated folders (tasks, ideas, bugs, etc.)
- Support for recurring tasks with history logging
- Strict preservation of user's original formatting
- Separation of actionable and non-actionable items
Limitations
- Requires manual discipline to move files
- No native integration with calendar tools
- Priority management is not automated
Use this skill when you want to organize your notes, tasks, and ideas into a consistent and maintainable Markdown file system.
Avoid this skill if you prefer a dedicated task management app with sync and notifications.
Security analysis
SafeThe skill only uses Read, Edit, Write, Glob, Grep tools for managing markdown files. No destructive or exfiltrating actions are possible. It defines task management conventions without any risk of executing external commands or accessing sensitive data.
No concerns found
Examples
Create a task file for 'Finish quarterly report' due next Friday with tags [admin, reports]. Put it in the tasks folder.I have some notes in the import/ folder. Review them and move each to the correct folder based on their type (task, idea, etc.).Take the idea 'Build a portfolio site' from ideas/ and turn it into a task with due date 2025-06-01. Keep the original content.name: manage-tasks description: Task conventions and file organization for markdown-based task management. Use when creating or modifying task files. allowed-tools: Read, Edit, Write, Glob, Grep
Task Management Skill
File Structure
tasks/- Items with specific due dates that need to be completedideas/- Projects and ideas without due dates (someday/maybe)templates/- Reusable task templates (e.g., blog post checklist, event prep)memories/- Reference items and context (not actionable)bugs/- Issues and problems to fixcompleted/- Archived one-time tasks that have been finishedimport/- Temporary folder for reviewing imported items before moving to appropriate folders
Task File Format
Each task is a markdown file with YAML frontmatter:
---
type: task | idea | template | memory | bug
due: YYYY-MM-DD
tags: [tag1, tag2]
---
# Task Title
Task content here.
Required Fields
type- Categorizes the file for organization:task- Actionable item with due date (goes in tasks/)idea- Project or concept without deadline (goes in ideas/)template- Reusable checklist or structure (goes in templates/)memory- Reference/context item, not actionable (goes in memories/)bug- Issue or problem to fix (goes in bugs/)
Optional Fields
due: YYYY-MM-DD- Due date (required for tasks, optional for ideas)completed: YYYY-MM-DD- Completion date for finished one-time tasksrecurrence: monthly | quarterly | weekly | biweekly | yearly- For recurring tasksrecurrence_day: N- Day of month for recurring tasksstatus: in-progress | noodling | someday- For idea files only (not used in tasks/)tags: [tag1, tag2]- Categorization tags
File Organization Rules
tasks/
- One-time tasks: When completed, add
completed:date and move to completed/ - Recurring tasks: Stay in tasks/ permanently, update
due:date when complete (never move to completed/)
ideas/
- Use
statusfield to track progress:in-progress- Actively working on this, but no specific deadline yetnoodling- Thinking about it, exploring, might become in-progresssomeday- Parked for later, not active now
- When an idea gets a due date, move it to tasks/
templates/
- Copy template, add due date and specifics, save to tasks/
memories/
- No due dates, no action required
- Meeting notes, documentation, decisions made
bugs/
- Can have due dates or not
- Track technical issues, website problems, system bugs
- When fixed, add
completed:date and move to completed/
completed/
- Contains finished tasks with
completed:date - Keeps active tasks/ folder clean
- Never put recurring tasks here
import/
- Set
type:field during review - Move to appropriate folder based on type
Recurring Tasks
Recurring tasks include:
- Instructions section explaining how to update when complete
- History section to log completion dates
- Never move to completed/ - stay in tasks/ permanently
Example:
---
type: task
due: 2025-01-15
recurrence: monthly
recurrence_day: 15
tags: [admin]
---
# Monthly Report
## Instructions
When completing this task:
1. Update the `due:` date to next month
2. Add completion date to History section
## History
- 2024-12-15: Completed
- 2024-11-15: Completed
Task Creation Guidelines
CRITICAL: Preserve user's exact text formatting
When the user provides notes, content, or task details:
- Use their EXACT text - preserve capitalization, punctuation, line breaks exactly as given
- Do NOT capitalize the first letter if they didn't
- Do NOT add periods at the end if they didn't include them
- Do NOT add section headers like "## Notes" unless they provided them
- Do NOT reformat or "clean up" their text in any way
Simple tasks
Just the essentials:
- due date
- tags
- minimal notes
Complex tasks
Include:
- Checklist section
- Notes section
- Resources/links section (if needed)
Recurring tasks
Include:
- recurrence field
- Instructions section
- History section
Idea files
Include:
- status field (in-progress, noodling, or someday)
- tags
- notes/description
- No due date (if it gets a due date, move to tasks/)
Tagging Conventions
- Use semantic tags that describe the task category, context, or project
- Keep tags lowercase and hyphenated for multi-word tags
- Be consistent with existing tags in the project
Task Prioritizer
Productivity
Prioritizes your tasks using Eisenhower, ICE, and RICE frameworks.
Weekly Status Report Generator
Productivity
Generate structured and concise weekly status reports.
Daily Standup Report
Productivity
Generates structured and concise daily standup reports.