How to create a task with Task Creator
The Task Creator is one of the surfaces you will use most, so it is worth knowing its flow well. The reference for the dialog is Task Creator; this page is the how-to: how you actually write a task and add fields through pickers, step by step. The flow feels close to writing an inline task, with one difference: there is no free-text parsing here, so you name a field and pick its value rather than hoping the text is read for you.
MEDIA-DOCS-094-1: The Task Creator with a description being typed and a field suggestion list open.
Open the creator and pick a shape
Run Create New Operon Task to open the dialog, and choose whether the task is an inline task or a file task. You can change everything else as you go.
If you usually create file tasks, set Default to File Task in Task Creator in Settings → Operon → Tasks → File Tasks → New File Task Creation Defaults. Then this dialog opens with File selected instead of Inline. You can also set Default file task template there, so your usual template is already selected when the creator is in File mode.
Choose a template and review its fields
Use the bottom template selector before creating the task. Inline and File have independent defaults; an Inline task can also be created without a template. The selected template's supported properties appear in the draft, whether empty or filled. You can fill an empty date, change an amount, or remove a field before saving.
If you change templates, untouched template values update, but deliberate edits and removals are preserved. Switching modes selects that mode's default without discarding deliberate field edits. See Using inline task templates for the complete example and Use last used template as default behavior.
Step 1: Write the description
Type the task itself in the description field. This text is the task's words, the part you read later to know what to do. Write it as plainly as you would write a note to yourself.
Step 2: Trigger a field by naming it
When you want to add a field, start typing its name inside the description. After two letters that begin a field's name, a suggestion list appears with the fields that match, plus tags. Move with the arrow keys and press Enter, or click, to choose one.
The name the suggestion matches is the field's property name, the one you see, not its canonical key. By default a field's property name is the same as its canonical key, so out of the box you type the start of the canonical name:
| Type the start of | Field | Picker that opens |
|---|---|---|
status |
status | Status and priority picker |
priority |
priority | Status and priority picker |
repeat |
repeat (recurrence) | Recurrence picker |
assignees |
assignees | Task link and list pickers |
date |
a date field, such as dateDue or dateScheduled | Date and time picker |
A short token is enough, so stat is plenty for status. Typing date lists the date fields so you can pick the one you mean.
If you renamed a field, type its new name
This is the part that surprises people. The suggestion matches your property name only, never the canonical key. So if you renamed a field through key mappings, the canonical key no longer triggers the picker; you type the name you gave the field.
| Canonical key | If you renamed its property to | Type the start of |
|---|---|---|
| priority | Importance | imp |
| dateDue | Deadline | dead |
| status | Stage | sta |
So after renaming priority to Importance, typing pri brings up nothing for it; you type imp. The canonical key still lives in the stored data and on inline task lines, but in the creator you reach a field by the name you actually see. See Key mappings.
Step 3: Pick the value
Choosing a field opens the shared picker appropriate to its type, as explained in Field pickers overview. Text and List fields can suggest existing Inline Task and frontmatter values, including values you have already seen in a chip or Table picker. Choose a suggestion or enter a supported new value; the result stays in the Creator draft until you submit.
This is where the no-parsing point matters: you do not write "next friday" into the description and expect a due date. You name the date field, its date picker opens, and you set the date there. The picker itself can accept natural-language input, but the description text is never parsed on its own.
MEDIA-DOCS-094-2: A picker open over the Task Creator, with the toolbar of field buttons below the description.
Step 4: The value is set on the field
When you pick a value, it is stored on that field. The description text stays as the task's words; the value does not get written into it. Below the description, Task Creator Chips provides your configured controls and the prepared draft fields. Template-supplied fields can appear even when they are not permanently enabled, and their indicators distinguish set and empty fields. Open a field again to change or clear it.
On desktop, a filled field’s icon stays visible when you move away from the toolbar. Empty fields keep their hover behavior, so the icons left visible help you review what you have set.
The toolbar is also a second way to add fields: instead of typing a name, you can click a field's button to open its picker directly. Typing the name and clicking the button reach the same pickers.
Repeat the loop as many times as you like: name a field (or click its button), choose it, and pick a value.
For template-heavy capture, enable a small permanent set under Interface → Task Chips → Task Creator Chips. Keep controls you often need outside templates; let the selected template supply the rest. This changes the permanent control list, not which prepared template fields can be reviewed.
Set a parent to inherit its fields
If you give the task a parent, by naming the parentTask field and picking a task, the parent's inheritable fields apply to your new task at once, and you can see them take effect on the toolbar as those field buttons become active. This follows Operon's inheritance rules.
Two things make this safe to use:
- Your own choices are kept. A field you set yourself before choosing the parent is treated as explicit and is not overwritten by inheritance. Only the fields you had not set pick up the parent's value.
- Inherited values are still yours to change. An inherited value behaves like any other: open the field and pick a new value to replace it. Clearing the parent later removes the values that came only from inheritance, while the ones you set yourself stay.
So you can set a couple of fields deliberately, attach a parent for the rest, and adjust anything the parent brought in.
A parent can also decide where an inline task is saved. Configure Parent-Aware Inline Task Placement under Settings → Operon → Tasks → Task Router. A new inline task can be written below the parent’s checkbox block when the parent is inline, or inside the parent file when the parent is a File Task. Left at the default, the task goes to your normal destination and the parent link still holds. Ask Every Time opens the target picker instead, with Parent Location available as a choice. See Parent and sub-tasks and Task Router.
Step 5: Inline or file, and how each is saved
You finish by choosing the task's shape with the Inline and File buttons at the bottom, and the two save differently:
- Inline creates the task as an inline task with the fields you set, following your inline-task settings for where it is placed. With Ask Every Time, Creator closes while you choose a destination in the searchable target picker; cancelling returns you to the preserved draft.
- File creates a file task, a note of its own, from a file-task template. Review the selected template and its prepared fields before creation; choose a template if none is selected. The new note is created from that template and your edits. See Task templates.
If Default to File Task in Task Creator is enabled, the creator reaches this step with File already selected. If Default file task template is also set, that template is preselected; you can still change it for the current task before saving.
After a valid submission, Creator closes immediately while creation continues in the background. The normal completion notice still appears, and the task becomes available in your views after it is created and indexed. Operon writes the Inline metadata or File frontmatter for you; you do not need to keep the form open.
If creation fails, your draft remains available. Opening another Creator meanwhile is safe: the earlier result does not close it or replace its fields. For the full submission and draft-restoration behavior, see Task Creator.
Step 6: Choose whether to open the result
By default, Do Not Open leaves you in your current workspace after creation. You can change File and Inline behavior separately:
- In Tasks → File Tasks → New File Task Creation Defaults, set After Creating a File Task.
- In Tasks → Inline Tasks → New Inline Task Creation Defaults, set After Creating an Inline Task.
Each dropdown offers six choices: do not open, source lightbox, source plus Task Editor, Task Editor alone, a focused new source tab, or a background source tab. For example, choose Source File + Task Editor (Lightbox) to review the new task immediately, or the background-tab option to keep capturing without switching tabs.
For Inline Tasks, opening the source takes you to the task’s line in its containing note. These are Task Creator preferences; automatic creation and API/CLI behavior remain unchanged. See Task Creator for the exact labels and opening behavior.
Why the flow works this way
It keeps capture fast and deliberate. You stay in one place writing the task, and you reach for a field only when you mean to, without leaving the keyboard or memorizing syntax. Templates and supported field controls prepare structured values you can review before creation, keeping capture deliberate without hand-writing task syntax.
FAQ
Do I type {{key:: value}} here? No. The creator writes the syntax for you; you only name a field and pick its value.
Why did no suggestion appear? The field-name token needs at least two letters and must start an actual field name. Renamed fields use the name you gave them.
Can I type a date in words? Not in the description. Name the date field, and the date picker that opens accepts natural-language input there.
Can I skip choosing File and a template every time? Yes. Use Default to File Task in Task Creator and Default file task template in the File Tasks settings.