Plainlist
Love the vault.
Tired of building the planner yourself.
Obsidian's local markdown ownership is genuinely right — that's not the gap. The gap is day planning: combining Tasks, Dataview, and (if useful) a calendar or daily-note plugin into something that answers “what do I do today?” Plainlist ships that planner built in, over one plain-text file, with no plugin stack to maintain.
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Mac-only today, with Windows, iOS, and Android coming soon.
Today: - draft Q3 report @brain - reply to client emails @ai 14:00 Habits: - morning pages # No Tasks + Dataview + calendar-plugin stack to keep updated
Skip the Tasks + Dataview + optional calendar-plugin stack; Plainlist puts the day planner directly into the same outline grammar you would use in Obsidian. Obsidian is a fantastic notes app, and with Tasks, Dataview, plus a calendar or daily-note plugin if you need one, you can assemble a task system — if you enjoy maintaining it. That is the catch: you are building and debugging your own planner. Plainlist uses the same markdown-outline feel (TaskPaper-compatible grammar: projects end in a colon, tasks start with a dash, tags are plain @words) but the planning is native: Plan, Focus, Goals, Habits, Done — all derived from the file, no plugins, no queries to maintain. Obsidian still wins for note-taking depth, graph view, and its plugin ecosystem; Plainlist wins when what you actually want is a finished day planner that reads like a text file. If you already live in Obsidian for notes, Plainlist can sit next to it as the planner without replacing your vault.
Who this is for
The reason people leave Obsidian for planning isn't ownership — it's assembly.
Obsidian's ownership model is exactly right; what pushes people to a dedicated planner is the maintenance burden of the plugin stack. Obsidian is a fantastic notes app, and with Tasks, Dataview, plus a calendar or daily-note plugin if useful, you can build a real task system — if you enjoy building and maintaining one. Queries, plugins, and views require upkeep, and every fix is time spent on the system instead of the work. That's not a knock on Obsidian; it's what makes it powerful. But if what you want is “what do I do today?” answered instantly, a self-assembled planner is a job, not a tool. Plainlist keeps the same local-file philosophy and makes the planner the product instead of the project.
What you stop assembling
Three things a built-in planner gives you that a plugin stack can't.
A built-in planner gives you zero setup, consistent views, and a finished information hierarchy — the things you were assembling by hand in Obsidian.
No assembly, no maintenance
Plainlist opens straight into Plan, Focus, and Done. There's nothing to configure, no queries to debug, no plugins to update — the file is the system.
Views that match the file
In Obsidian, your Tasks/Dataview setup is separate from your notes; in Plainlist, the Plan grid, Focus view, and Done log are all derived from the same .todo file. What you see is what's in the text.
One grammar to learn
TaskPaper-compatible syntax (projects end in a colon, tasks start with -, tags are @words) is simpler than maintaining Dataview queries — and it still opens in any editor.
Moving over
Your checkboxes reshape into a slightly different grammar.
Your Obsidian - [ ] checkboxes become TaskPaper-style - task @tags lines — a small syntax change, same outline feel. If you've been using Obsidian's native task checkboxes, the shift is: tasks start with a dash (same as markdown lists), and metadata is written inline as @tags (@start, @due, @est, @p1) instead of Dataview fields. Indentation still means nesting. It's a modest reshape — your muscle memory for outlines carries over — and the payoff is that planning is just text, readable and editable anywhere.
Practical path
- Copy the active tasks from one note.
- Paste into a new
.todofile. - Turn
- [ ]into-and#tagsinto@tags.
Then plan
- Give today's tasks a
@start. - Switch to Focus for the next action.
- Let Done become your log.
# Obsidian checkbox tasks, reshaped Work: - draft launch copy @start(2026-07-18) @est(2h) - review with designer @due(Jul 22) Personal: - renew passport @every(10 years)
Supporting detail
Plainlist vs Obsidian (+ Tasks), feature by feature.
Obsidian wins as a notes app and for total flexibility; Plainlist wins when what you want is a finished day planner with zero assembly.
@every / @quota@spanWhere Obsidian still wins: notes, backlinks, graph view, and total flexibility. Plainlist isn't an Obsidian replacement for note-taking — it's the planner you run next to it, or instead of the plugin stack you were maintaining.
Which one is you
Plainlist is the right call if…
Switch to Plainlist if your Obsidian task setup has become something you maintain rather than something you use.
Pick Plainlist if
- You use Obsidian mostly for notes but built a task system out of plugins.
- You keep finding your Dataview queries broken or your views out of date.
- You want habits and goals without another plugin.
- You want to open a file and see today's plan — no assembly.
- The vault stays for notes; Plainlist takes over the planning.
The honest trade-off
Stay with Obsidian if the plugin-building is the part you enjoy, or if your tasks are deeply entangled with your notes. If maintaining your Tasks/Dataview setup is a hobby you enjoy, Plainlist removes the part you like. If your tasks live inside specific notes and you rely on backlinks between tasks and notes, moving them to a separate planner adds friction rather than removing it. Plainlist is for people who want the planner finished.
Honest cons
You should NOT switch if…
Obsidian does several things better than Plainlist. If any of these matter to you, staying is the right call — and that's fine.
Stay with Obsidian if…
Do I lose my notes, backlinks, or graph view if I switch to Plainlist?
Yes. Plainlist is a day planner, not a notes app — there's no backlinking, no graph view, and no long-form notes. If your vault is mostly notes with a few tasks in it, Obsidian still wins.
Can I keep using my Obsidian plugins alongside Plainlist?
No. Plainlist isn't a vault or a plugin host — it's a standalone planner that reads one .todo file. Your Tasks, Dataview, or Calendar plugin setup stays in Obsidian, separate from Plainlist.
Is Plainlist as extensible as Obsidian?
No. There's no plugin API and no community plugin ecosystem — Plainlist is a single opinionated app, not a platform you customize.
Will my Dataview queries or templates carry over?
No. Plainlist has no query language and no templating system. You reshape your task lines into the plain-text outline by hand, same as any migration.
Can I use Plainlist as a full knowledge base like my Obsidian vault?
No. Plainlist is one .todo file for tasks, habits, and goals — not a vault of linked notes. If you need a knowledge base, keep Obsidian for that and use Plainlist just for planning.