Move open tasks between notes¶

bob task move moves selected open #task blocks into an area or eligible project note. It keeps task content and review metadata intact while repairing references and dependency identities across the Markdown vault. Capture inbox routing reuses this engine inside the capture batch: an --inbox-route answer moves the candidate exactly as a move would (see capture.md).

Command¶

bob task move [OPTIONS] <SOURCE> <DEST> (-b ID | -m TEXT)...
  -b, --block ID               Select by trailing block id without ^; repeatable
  -d, --dry-run                Plan and print only
  -f, --format human|json      Default: human
  -h, --help                   Show help
  -m, --match TEXT             Select by literal task-line substring; repeatable
  -o, --offline                Skip both sync cycles; commit locally
  -r, --retry-timeout SECONDS  Lock wait and re-plan budget; default 60, 0 fails fast

SOURCE and DEST accept a note stem or vault-relative path, with or without .md. Paths must resolve uniquely inside BOB_DIR. A bare stem that matches more than one note is ambiguous and lists every candidate; an explicit root filename (source.md) or directory path (folder/source) selects one of them. A missing explicit path such as missing/source fails; it does not fall back to another note with the same basename.

Selectors can be combined (-b and -m together). Each one must identify exactly one top-level open task line with checkbox [ ], [*], [/], or [?]. --match is literal and case-sensitive. Repeated and overlapping selectors are deduplicated, and selected blocks move in source order. A match can select a task without an Obsidian block id; the command does not create one.

bob task move --dry-run -f json inbox projects/launch -b draft -m 'Check readiness'
bob task move inbox projects/launch -b draft -o

Refusals and placement¶

The command validates every selector and destination before writing. It refuses missing or ambiguous notes, absolute or escaping paths, unsupported filesystem objects, identical source and destination, and either note under done/. It also refuses closed, nested, non-task, and ^prj selections; an ambiguous block identity; a non-canonical existing [id::], including a stale extra field on the same task; an encoded identity that collides with another live note (a/b.md#^x and a__b.md#^x both encode a__b__x); an unrepresentable required identity such as a path that cannot be encoded; and a selected task whose managed Depends-On child targets the destination's ^prj. Code fences, frontmatter, and inline code are not live identities.

The destination must be an area, or a project with frontmatter status wip or waiting. A project needs an existing ## Tasks section. An area without one gets ## Tasks appended. Moved tasks are inserted at the end of the unfenced ## Tasks intake, after existing tasks, trailing prose, and the badge strip, and before the first real ### status-group heading or the next ## section. Fenced example tasks and headings do not count as intake. Deeper-indented children, nested tasks, managed child blocks, and child anchors travel with the selected task.

When the destination ^prj is Blocked ([?] or #prj_is_blocked), only [?] tasks can move there. For Ready, Next, and Pending tasks, use Ctrl+Shift+M when the move also needs its interactive promotion and today's Task Link pruning. The command does not reconcile status or project blocking automatically; run bob task reconcile when the report says reconciliation is pending.

Identity and reference repair¶

Existing task status, title, priority, schedule, [fresh::], [keeps::], [unblocked::], tags, and authored children are preserved. The command does not stamp freshness, change lanes, promote prerequisites, consume ledger links, or run reconcile. A task without [id::] remains without it.

If an incoming block id collides with an anchor already in the destination, the moved block gets the next available suffix. The report lists every rename. Existing canonical [id::] fields and exact matching [dependsOn::] tokens are updated to the destination path and final block id. Links to moved blocks are repaired across Markdown notes, including done/, daily notes, and ref/: wikilinks, embeds, aliases, Markdown block links, and applicable pathless links. Pathless links are resolved using the original note context so co-moved targets and destination links retain their intended meanings.

Preview, writes, and Git¶

--dry-run uses the live planner without acquiring the lock, syncing, probing Git, creating recovery state, writing notes, or committing. Its output marks the result as a plan. A live invocation acquires the shared bob_sync.lock maintenance lock with bounded waiting, pre-syncs a Git vault, then scans and plans the synchronized snapshot. Guarded writes validate the complete Markdown read-set and membership, stage each replacement, wait through the structural quiet period, and retry a fresh scan and plan after concurrent-change, quiet-period, or unstable-read failures while budget remains.

The destination is written first, repaired link-only notes next, and the source last. Replacements are atomic per file; a multi-file move is not one atomic transaction. If a write stops partway through, the command does not replay the selectors. It reports exactly which paths were applied and deferred, preserves the writer's recovery directory, and requires inspection before another move attempt.

After a successful write, a Git vault commits exactly the changed paths in one bob task move … commit and runs a post-sync cycle. Pre-sync changes are committed separately by vault-sync. --offline keeps the lock and scoped local commit but skips both sync cycles. A non-Git vault is written safely with a warning and no commit or sync. Commit or post-sync errors leave the local write in place and are reported. If a write already stopped partway through, a later commit or sync failure is added as a warning on that same report; the primary partial-apply error stays in error, the exit status stays nonzero, and the command does not imply the move completed.

Output¶

Human output lists each task, source line and destination, block-id renames, per-file link and dependency-token counts, the commit SHA when present, and the reconcile hint when needed. Set NO_COLOR to disable color.

-f json writes exactly one JSON object to stdout; progress and warnings go to stderr. Schema version 1 contains:

• ok, dry_run, moves[], renamed_block_ids[], repaired_files[], needs_reconcile, and warnings[].
• git.mode (sync, offline, not_a_worktree, or dry_run) and nullable git.pre_sync, git.commit, and git.post_sync stage records. Stages not run are null.
• applied_paths[], deferred_paths[], and recovery_directory for write outcomes.
• error as null on success or {stage, message, hint} on failure. Usage errors are handled by clap and exit 2; operational errors exit 1.

moves[] records source and destination paths, source line, title, nullable old and new block ids, and nullable old and new dependency ids. Rename records include destination path and old/new block ids. Repaired-file records include path, link_count, and dependency_token_count. The Git commit record contains sha, subject, and the exact paths; pre-sync contains ok, files_committed, and error; post-sync contains ok, pushed, conflicts, and error.