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Space Command for Obsidian

Space Command for Obsidian is a plugin for writing tasks, ideas, and principles in Obsidian, with the same tag rules Space Command reads. It suggests tags, dates, and handles as you type, keeps a checkbox and its tag in step, and adds commands for tags, for blocks under tagged headings, and for moving lines between notes. It also switches to Space Command at the line you're on, and back.

You don't need it. Space Command reads your vaults the same way with or without the plugin, and Obsidian stays an ordinary editor for your notes. The plugin is handy if you write tasks in Obsidian: fewer tags to type, fewer to get wrong, and notes that open at the right line.

The plugin doesn't scan your vault or keep a list of tasks. It only writes when you act in the editor, never in the background.

You need Obsidian 1.14 or later, on a Mac.

Download

Download Space Command for Obsidian 1.1.1 (zip, 31 KB)

Its SHA-256 checksum is c977c7f18391d3b4c16f55b890653a64a270ce46379ddf15908f8d3a72aebc9e.

Install the plugin

The .obsidian folder is hidden in Finder. Press ⇧⌘. to show it.

Writing tasks

The plugin uses Space Command's tags (see Tasks and ideas for all of them). Put one on any line:

- [ ] Review the API spec #todo
- [ ] Ship the release notes #todo #focus #p1
A lighter onboarding flow for repeat users #idea
Prefer plain text over clever formats #principle

To tag a group of tasks once, tag the heading. Every list item under it, up to the next heading, belongs to it:

### Standup notes #todos
- [ ] Check the token refresh logic @sam #p1
- [ ] Write a regression test once the fix lands

Press Return at the end of a tagged heading to start a checklist item under it.

Quick Add

Press ⇧⌘A on an empty line to start a task:

- [ ] #todo

On a line with text, it adds #todo to the end instead.

Ticking a box

Click a task's box and its tag changes with it, the way Space Command writes it:

• A box under a tagged heading only ticks. The heading carries the tag, so there's nothing else to change.
• Unticking a box reverses it, #todone back to #todo.
• No date is stamped.
• The box and the tag change in one edit, so ⌘Z takes back both.

Ideas and principles are finished by striking them through. Mark done / reopen does that for you (see Tag commands).

Suggestions as you type

/ at the start of a line

@ anywhere

A handle that isn't in your team note yet offers Add @handle to team. An email address, or @2026-10-17, isn't read as a handle.

Custom… takes any moment.js format.

# at the start of a line or after a space

Space Command's tags come first, each with a short hint, such as "priority" or "snooze". The other tags in your vault follow, most used first.

In Live Preview and Reading view, priority, idea, and snooze tags are coloured as they are in Space Command.

Tag commands

Right-click in a note, or use the command palette (⌘P). Each command works on:

• The line at the cursor.
• Every task or idea in a selection.
• Every item under a tagged heading, when the cursor is on the heading.

⌘Z takes back the whole command.

New tags go at the end of the line. Tags already there are changed where they are.

For example, Convert to tasks on these lines:

Book the venue
- Send the invites

gives:

- [ ] Book the venue #todo
- [ ] Send the invites #todo

Under a tagged heading, they become plain - [ ] items instead, since the heading carries the tag.

Tidy tags orders them by kind, priority, focus or snooze, projects, then handles:

Tags inside the sentence, or in backticks, stay where they are.

Blocks under a heading

A tagged heading and the lines under it make a block. Here the 2/5 is the plugin's progress count, shown beside the heading, not text in the file:

### Launch prep #todos  2/5
- [x] Book the domain
- [ ] Fix the crash on open #p0
- [ ] Write the release notes #focus
- [x] Pick a name
- [ ] Draft the blog post
- [ ] A dark icon, maybe #idea

Progress

In Live Preview, the heading shows how many of its tasks are done, such as 2/5. Ideas and snoozed tasks don't count.

Sort

To sort a block, click the sort button beside its heading, or run Sort block at cursor. The items go in this order:

The block above sorts to:

### Launch prep #todos  2/5
- [ ] Write the release notes #focus
- [ ] Fix the crash on open #p0
- [ ] Draft the blog post
- [ ] A dark icon, maybe #idea
- [x] Book the domain
- [x] Pick a name

Sub-items move with their parent. Sorting only happens when you ask.

In Space Command's task files, such as PLAN.md, TODO.md, BUGS.md, and TESTING.md, any heading with checkboxes under it gets the sort button, tag or not.

Complete all under heading

Complete all under heading ticks every open task in the block. Ideas and principles are left alone.

Move TODO to another file

Move TODO to another file moves a task, with its sub-items, or a whole tagged block, to the end of a note you pick. Nothing is left behind.

A line moved out from under a tagged heading takes the heading's tag with it, so it's still a task. Moving - [ ] Draft the blog post out of the block above writes this in the other note:

- [ ] Draft the blog post #todos

Switching between the apps

To show the task under your cursor in Space Command, do one of these:

• Right-click and choose Open in Space Command.
• Run Open in Space Command from the command palette.
• Click its icon in the ribbon, once you've turned that on in the plugin's settings.

Going the other way, when Space Command opens a note in Obsidian, the plugin lands on the item's line and flashes it. It finds the item even if it has moved a few lines since Space Command last read the file.

Without the plugin, Obsidian opens the note at its top. The first time that happens, a card at the top of Tasks or Posts suggests the plugin, with Not Now and Get Plugin. Either one puts the card away for good, until Settings › Advanced › Reset panel state brings it back.

Neither direction writes anything. If you don't use Space Command, turn off Show Open in Space Command in the plugin's settings to hide the command and menu item.

Check which vaults have it

Settings › Advanced › Space Command for Obsidian, in Space Command, shows where the plugin is on:

Get Plugin… opens this page. Space Command only reads your vaults to fill in this row. It never installs or updates the plugin for you.

Team note

The @ suggestions come from a note listing your team, team.md by default:

- @bruce — Bruce Alderson (me)
- @sam — Sam Ortiz
- @dana — Dana Park

Mark yourself with (me). That's who @me means.

The plugin reads the note when Obsidian opens and whenever you edit it. It writes to it only when you ask:

• Add @handle to team, in the @ suggestions, adds one handle.
• Update team note, from the command palette, adds every handle used on a task in the vault that isn't listed yet.

It makes a starter note with your username. To keep it somewhere else, set Team file path.

Other features

Tab lock

Tab lock adds a padlock to Obsidian's tab headers. A locked tab opens the links you click in a new tab, so the note you're reading stays put. Turn it on with Show tab lock buttons, under Editor in the plugin's settings.

Title links in a Hugo site

If your vault is a Hugo site whose pages link by title, the plugin finds each page by the title in its front matter. A link like this:

[[Cherry tomato and garlic spaghetti]]

opens cherry-tomato-and-garlic-spaghetti.md, and hover previews, backlinks, and the graph follow it too. Your files aren't changed. Turn it off with Resolve wiki links by page title.

Help note

Settings › Space Command for Obsidian › Help › Create help note makes Space Command Help.md in your vault, a note of live examples to try. It's made only when you ask, and never rewritten.

Commands

Every command is in the command palette (⌘P):

• Quick Add TODO (⇧⌘A)
• Mark done / reopen
• Toggle focus
• Toggle snooze
• Set priority: P0 to P4
• Remove priority
• Make task from idea
• Convert to tasks
• Tidy tags
• Complete all under heading
• Sort block at cursor
• Move TODO to another file
• Open in Space Command
• Update team note

Only Quick Add has a key to start with. To give another one a key:

Settings