Template Variables Reference¶

TaskNotes supports template variables for dynamic content generation in body templates, folder paths, and filenames. Variables use the {{variableName}} syntax and are replaced with actual values when content is created.

Overview¶

Template variables are available in three contexts:

Body templates - Content templates for task and note files
Folder templates - Dynamic folder paths for file organization
Filename templates - Dynamic filename generation

Not all variables are available in every context. The tables below indicate where each variable can be used.

Task Properties¶

Variables for task-specific data.

Variable	Description	Body	Folder	Example
`{{title}}`	Task title	Yes	Yes	`My Task`
`{{titleLower}}`	Title in lowercase	Yes	Yes	`my task`
`{{titleUpper}}`	Title in uppercase	Yes	Yes	`MY TASK`
`{{titleSnake}}`	Title in snake_case	Yes	Yes	`my_task`
`{{titleKebab}}`	Title in kebab-case	Yes	Yes	`my-task`
`{{titleCamel}}`	Title in camelCase	Yes	Yes	`myTask`
`{{titlePascal}}`	Title in PascalCase	Yes	Yes	`MyTask`
`{{priority}}`	Task priority value	Yes	Yes	`high`
`{{priorityShort}}`	First character of priority (uppercase)	Yes	Yes	`H`
`{{status}}`	Task status value	Yes	Yes	`active`
`{{statusShort}}`	First character of status (uppercase)	Yes	Yes	`A`
`{{context}}`	First context from contexts array	No	Yes	`work`
`{{contexts}}`	All contexts (comma-separated in body, `/` in folder)	Yes	Yes	`work, home` or `work/home`
`{{project}}`	First project from projects array	No	Yes	`ProjectA`
`{{projects}}`	All projects joined by `/`	No	Yes	`ProjectA/ProjectB`
`{{dueDate}}`	Task due date	Yes	Yes	`2025-01-15`
`{{scheduledDate}}`	Task scheduled date	Yes	Yes	`2025-01-10`

Body Template Only¶

Variables available only in body templates (not folder templates).

Variable	Description	Example
`{{details}}`	User-provided details/description	`Task description text`
`{{parentNote}}`	Parent note name/path where task was created	`Projects/MyNote`
`{{tags}}`	Task tags (comma-separated)	`urgent, review`
`{{hashtags}}`	Task tags as space-separated hashtags	`#urgent #review`
`{{timeEstimate}}`	Time estimate in minutes	`30`

Date and Time¶

Variables for current date and time values.

Variable	Description	Format	Example
`{{date}}`	Full current date	`YYYY-MM-DD`	`2025-01-07`
`{{year}}`	Current year	`YYYY`	`2025`
`{{shortYear}}`	Short year	`YY`	`25`
`{{month}}`	Current month	`MM`	`01`
`{{day}}`	Current day	`DD`	`07`
`{{monthName}}`	Full month name	-	`January`
`{{monthNameShort}}`	Abbreviated month name	-	`Jan`
`{{dayName}}`	Full day name	-	`Tuesday`
`{{dayNameShort}}`	Abbreviated day name	-	`Tue`
`{{week}}`	Week number of year	`WW`	`02`
`{{quarter}}`	Quarter of year	`Q`	`1`
`{{shortDate}}`	Compact date	`YYMMDD`	`250107`

Time Variables¶

Variable	Description	Format	Example
`{{time}}`	Current time (compact)	`HHmmss`	`143052`
`{{time24}}`	24-hour time	`HH:mm`	`14:30`
`{{time12}}`	12-hour time with AM/PM	`hh:mm a`	`02:30 PM`
`{{hour}}`	Current hour (24-hour)	`HH`	`14`
`{{hourPadded}}`	Hour with leading zero	`HH`	`14`
`{{hour12}}`	Hour in 12-hour format	`hh`	`02`
`{{minute}}`	Current minute	`mm`	`30`
`{{second}}`	Current second	`ss`	`52`
`{{ampm}}`	AM/PM indicator	`a`	`PM`

Timestamps¶

Variable	Description	Format	Example
`{{timestamp}}`	Date and time combined	`YYYY-MM-DD-HHmmss`	`2025-01-07-143052`
`{{dateTime}}`	Date and time (no seconds)	`YYYY-MM-DD-HHmm`	`2025-01-07-1430`
`{{unix}}`	Unix timestamp (seconds)	-	`1736264852`
`{{unixMs}}`	Unix timestamp (milliseconds)	-	`1736264852000`
`{{milliseconds}}`	Current milliseconds	`SSS`	`123`
`{{ms}}`	Milliseconds (alias)	`SSS`	`123`

Timezone¶

Variable	Description	Example
`{{timezone}}`	Timezone offset	`+01:00`
`{{timezoneShort}}`	Short timezone offset	`+0100`
`{{utcOffset}}`	UTC offset	`+01:00`
`{{utcOffsetShort}}`	Short UTC offset	`+0100`
`{{utcZ}}`	UTC Z indicator	`Z`

Unique Identifiers¶

Variable	Description	Example
`{{zettel}}`	Zettelkasten-style ID (date + seconds since midnight in base36)	`250107abc`
`{{nano}}`	Unique nano ID (timestamp + random string)	`1736264852000x7k2m`

ICS Calendar Event Variables¶

Variables for content created from ICS calendar events. Available when creating notes or tasks from calendar events.

Event Information¶

Variable	Description	Body	Folder
`{{icsEventTitle}}`	Event title	Yes	Yes
`{{icsEventTitleLower}}`	Event title lowercase	No	Yes
`{{icsEventTitleUpper}}`	Event title uppercase	No	Yes
`{{icsEventTitleSnake}}`	Event title in snake_case	No	Yes
`{{icsEventTitleKebab}}`	Event title in kebab-case	No	Yes
`{{icsEventTitleCamel}}`	Event title in camelCase	No	Yes
`{{icsEventTitlePascal}}`	Event title in PascalCase	No	Yes
`{{icsEventStart}}`	Event start time (ISO format)	Yes	No
`{{icsEventEnd}}`	Event end time (ISO format)	Yes	No
`{{icsEventLocation}}`	Event location	Yes	Yes
`{{icsEventDescription}}`	Event description	Yes	Yes
`{{icsEventUrl}}`	Event URL	Yes	No
`{{icsEventSubscription}}`	Calendar subscription name	Yes	No
`{{icsEventId}}`	Unique event identifier (UUID)	Yes	No

Inline Task Conversion Variables¶

Variables available when converting inline tasks to task files.

Variable	Description	Example
`{{currentNotePath}}`	Path to the current note's folder	`Projects/Notes`
`{{currentNoteTitle}}`	Title/name of the current note	`Meeting Notes`

Examples¶

Body Template¶

---
created: {{date}}
priority: {{priority}}
status: {{status}}
---

# {{title}}

{{details}}

Created from: {{parentNote}}
Tags: {{hashtags}}

Folder Template¶

Organize tasks by project and status:

Tasks/{{project}}/{{status}}

Result: Tasks/MyProject/active

Organize by date hierarchy:

Daily/{{year}}/{{month}}/{{day}}

Result: Daily/2025/01/07

Organize ICS events by year and title:

Events/{{year}}/{{icsEventTitleKebab}}

Result: Events/2025/team-meeting

Filename Template¶

Using Zettelkasten ID:

{{zettel}}-{{titleKebab}}

Result: 250107abc-my-task.md

Using timestamp:

{{shortDate}}-{{title}}

Result: 250107-My Task.md

Notes¶

YAML Safety¶

When used in YAML frontmatter, values containing special characters (colons, brackets, quotes) are automatically quoted to prevent parsing errors.

Folder Path Sanitization¶

In folder templates, title values have filesystem-unsafe characters (<>:"/\|?*) replaced with underscores to ensure valid paths.

Empty Values¶

If a variable references data that isn't available (e.g., {{project}} when no project is set), it resolves to an empty string.

Case Transformations¶

The case transformation variables work as follows:

Transform	Input	Output
`titleLower`	`My Task Name`	`my task name`
`titleUpper`	`My Task Name`	`MY TASK NAME`
`titleSnake`	`My Task Name`	`my_task_name`
`titleKebab`	`My Task Name`	`my-task-name`
`titleCamel`	`My Task Name`	`myTaskName`
`titlePascal`	`My Task Name`	`MyTaskName`