home / skills / nweii / agent-stuff / sync-things-tasks

sync-things-tasks skill

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This skill syncs tasks between Obsidian and Things 3, extracting action items and adding them via the things CLI for quick execution.

npx playbooks add skill nweii/agent-stuff --skill sync-things-tasks

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

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SKILL.md

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---
name: sync-things-tasks
description: "Syncs tasks between Obsidian vault and Things 3. Adds tasks from notes, extracts action items from projects, reviews existing tasks. Use when managing todos from vault content."
metadata:
  author: nweii
  version: "1.1.0"
---

# Sync Things Tasks

Bridge thinking (Obsidian) and doing (Things 3) using the `things` CLI.

## Core Concepts

- **Thinking vs. Doing**: Use Obsidian for drafting ideas and planning. Use Things 3 for actionable todos with dates/deadlines.
- **CLI-First**: Use the `things` command to add tasks without leaving the chat.
- **Contextual Tasks**: When summarizing notes, proactively identify action items and offer to send them to Things.

## Auth Token

The CLI requires an auth token for update operations. The user should have `THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN` set in their shell profile.

## Common Workflows

### Adding Tasks from Notes

```bash
# Add to Today with Obsidian link
things add "Follow up with [Name]" --notes "Context: [Note Title](obsidian://open?vault=MyVault&file=Path%2FTo%2FNote)" --when today
```

### Project Task Extraction

When working on project notes, extract action items:

```bash
things add "Draft initial spec" --list "Project Name" --notes "Reference: [Project](obsidian://open?vault=MyVault&file=...)"
```

### Reviewing Tasks

```bash
things today              # What's on today
things areas             # Existing Areas
things projects          # Existing Projects
things show "Area Name"  # Contents of Area
things tasks --project "Project Name"  # Tasks in project
things search "query"    # Search for existing tasks
```

## Integration Principles

- **Discovery First**: Use `things areas` and `things projects` before creating new containers
- **Obsidian URIs**: Include clickable Obsidian links in Things notes: `[Note](obsidian://open?vault=MyVault&file=URL_ENCODED_PATH)`
- **Dry Run First**: Use `things --dry-run add "..."` for complex tasks
- **Things as Truth**: Things is the source of truth for "doing"; don't necessarily update Obsidian when tasks complete

Overview

This skill syncs tasks between an Obsidian vault and Things 3, turning notes and project outlines into actionable todos. It uses the Things CLI to add, review, and organize tasks while preserving Obsidian context links. Use it to keep thinking in Obsidian and doing in Things without manual copying.

How this skill works

The skill inspects selected notes or project outlines in your vault, extracts action items and contextual lines, and formats them for the Things CLI. It builds Things commands that include titles, notes (with clickable Obsidian URIs), lists/projects, and scheduling flags, and can run them directly or as a dry run. For write operations the Things CLI requires the THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN environment variable to be set in the shell profile.

When to use it

When you finish drafting meeting notes and want follow-ups in Things
When a project note contains action items that should become project tasks
During weekly reviews to reconcile Obsidian todos with Things
When you need to add a note-backed task to Today, Upcoming, or a Project
Before creating new Areas or Projects to discover existing containers first

Best practices

Set THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN in your shell before running add/update commands
Run things --dry-run add "..." for complex or bulk imports first
Query existing areas and projects (things areas, things projects) before creating
Include obsidian:// URIs in the Things notes field for quick context access
Treat Things as the source of truth for task status to avoid duplication

Example use cases

Add a follow-up from a meeting note to Today with an obsidian:// link in notes
Extract action items from a project outline and add them to a Things project list
Search Things for potential duplicates before creating new tasks from notes
Run a weekly review: list things today and reconcile with vaulted todos
Bulk import a set of tasks from a project note using dry-run, then commit

FAQ

Do I need to authenticate to Things?

Yes. Set THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN in your shell profile so the Things CLI can perform update operations.

Will this change my notes in Obsidian?

No. The skill sends tasks to Things and keeps Obsidian as the thinking space; it does not modify notes by default.