> [!info] This is the latest & greatest version of [[My (Old) Obsidian-Based Personal Operating System]], as of January 2026.
After years of iteration, I've arrived on an Obsidian-based project management system that I enjoy using, with no asterisks necessary.
# Overview
## Capabilities
- **Project management**
- With tasks & project notes
- Housing resources used by projects
- Housing templates
- **Getting Things Done**
- `Projects` list
- `Next Actions` list - automatically derived from in-progress tasks in projects
- Housing & facilitating my weekly review
### Features
- **Almost zero overhead** - I don't spend time managing things for the sake of the system, it works with how I manage things naturally
- **Templates & resources** - don't repeat yourself
- **Reusable modules** - don't repeat yourself
- **Weekly notes** - Daily notes go by too quickly, weekly notes work better for my brain
- **Folder-based project lifecycle management** - Projects are `active`, `backlog`, or `maybe` depending on which folder they're in
# Vault Structure
Those familiar with Tiago Forte's PARA method will recognize the basic structure.
- **📁 Projects** - for _active_ projects
- **📁 Backlog** - for things I know I want to do, but am not actively working
- **📁 Maybe** - for things I _might_ want to do
- **📁 Areas** - for notes about the high-level areas of my life (e.g. health, home, family, etc)
- **📁 Resources**
- **📁 Assets** - where images & non-markdown files go
- **📁 Templates** - for projects, resources, weekly notes
- **📁 Inventory** - for housing notes about things I own (warranties, etc)
- **📁 Drawings** - for housing Excalidraw drawings (and the `svg` exports)
- **📁 Modules** - for reused modules across my notes (task queries, bases, etc)
- **📁 Archives** - don't delete things, but also don't let clutter build up in the main folders
- **📁 Archived Projects**
- **📁 Archived Resources**
- **📁 Archived Areas** - e.g. "school"
- **📁 Periods**
- **📁 Weeks** - for my weekly note
- **📁 Years** - for annual reviews & goals
- _**📄 Home**_ - a Markdown file, not a folder, the only markdown file in the top-level of the vault
# Plug-ins
This is why I like the system the most - it's **not** using a ton of stitched-together plugins. In particular, I **avoid** the Dataview & Templater plugins, which are both incredibly powerful and awesome, but not necessary for how I do things.
- Core
- **Tasks** - I _only_ use tasks to gain access to the `task` _query_ functionality
- **Auto-properties** - for promoting in-progress tasks to a `next` property automatically
- Optional
- **QuickAdd** - more easily creating project/resource/weekly notes, in the right folder, with the right template
- **Excalidraw** - drawings are good, I set this up in a specific way (more [[#Excalidraw|below]])
- **Calendar** - the calendar sidebar is an easy way to jump to a given weekly note
- Optional - purely aesthetic
- **Linter** - I like having some consistent formatting applied to notes & this manages the `created` and `modified` properties
- **Iconize** - adding little icons to notes, similar-ish to Notion
- **Style Settings** - I've dabbled with CSS snippets before, but this is easier
# Key Notes
> [!example]
> ![[creations-obsidian-projects-1.png]]
## Home
```markdown
# [🗓️ Daily Note Link](obsidian://daily)
![[Tasks Not in Projects]]
### Active Projects
![[Active Projects.base]]
### Backlog
![[Backlog.base]]
```
## Tasks Not in Projects
NOTE: to make this render properly I had to take out a backtick. The "tasks" query embed requires **triple backticks** in reality.
```markdown
``tasks
not done
(due on or before next week) OR ((path does not include Projects) AND (status.type is IN_PROGRESS))
``
```
## Active Projects.base
```plaintext
filters:
or:
- file.folder == "Projects"
- deadline <= today() + "1 week"
views:
- type: list
name: Active Project List
groupBy:
property: deadline
direction: ASC
order:
- file.name
- next
indentProperties: true
- type: table
name: Table
groupBy:
property: deadline
direction: ASC
order:
- file.name
- next
sort:
- property: file.mtime
direction: DESC
columnSize:
file.name: 332
file.mtime: 205
```
## Backlog.base
```plaintext
filters:
and:
- file.folder.contains("Projects")
formulas:
Untitled: ""
views:
- type: table
name: Backlog
filters:
and:
- file.folder != "Projects"
groupBy:
property: file.folder
direction: ASC
order:
- file.name
- next
sort:
- property: file.mtime
direction: DESC
columnSize:
file.name: 332
file.mtime: 100
```
## newProject (template)
```markdown
---
created:
modified:
areas:
resources:
image: ""
todos: 0
deadline:
next: ""
---
<span style="font-size: 1.15em; color:orange; padding:0px; margin:0px;">Scope</span>
-
> [!check] Open Tasks
>
> ```tasks
> path includes {{query.file.path}}
> not done
> hide backlink
> ```
---
```
# Misc Tips
In lieu of writing a full-blown "how to...", which maybe I'll do someday, here are a smattering of tips that made it work well.
## Auto-properties
- Key: "next"
- Rule: Pull all lines starting with "- [/]"
- Key: "image"
- Rule: Pull first line starting with "![["
- Key: "todos"
- Rule: Count all lines starting with "- [ ]"
## Daily Notes
- Set the "Daily Notes" plugin option date format to `YYYY-[W]WW` - this makes it function as _weekly_ notes
- The obsidian URLs for daily notes still work, they now just point to your weekly note
## Excalidraw
- If you, like me, are really particular about using only **durable file formats**, you can configure Excalidraw to auto-generate and embed SVGs (or PNGs) in your notes.
- For more, see: https://gillespedia.com/Excalidraw+in+Obsidian
## Task Management
- Use **Obsidian-native** in-line tasks (i.e. just a regular checkbox)
- Mark your **next** tasks as "in-work" by changing `- [ ]` into `- [/]`. This is what makes the auto-property (and thus: bases) work nicely
- This is easier if you change the options in the Tasks plugin to change the task statuses such that tapping an empty checkbox first moves it to "in progress" before moving to "complete"
****
# More
## Source
- [[Myself]]