Capture syntax

The inline tokens that turn a line of text into a task with dates, a repeat, a priority, tags and links, and every date thc can read.

Write a line the way you’d say it. thc reads the tokens in it once, when you write it, and turns them into fields. The same syntax works in the editor, in thc add, thc todo and thc remind, and in thc apply’s text.

$ thc parse 'Book the venue due:fri sched:mon #offsite !high every:2w [[Offsite]]'
→ [ ] Book the venue #offsite [[Offsite]] · sched 2026-10-05 · due 2026-10-09 · !high · ↻ every 2 weeks

thc parse previews a capture and writes nothing. With --json it shows the fields:

{"text":"Book the venue #offsite","kind":"task","status":"todo","scheduled":"2026-10-05",
 "due":"2026-10-09","priority":"high","tags":["offsite"],"links":[],"bad":[],"bad_why":[]}

Tokens

The tokens are taken out of the text (except tags and links, which stay), so the line reads cleanly: Book the venue #offsite [[Offsite]]. A date or a repeat makes the line a task; at: on its own makes an event.

Values with spaces go in quotes: due:"nov 1 9am", at:"tue 2pm". A ## Heading is a heading, not a tag.

Quoted text is never parsed

Inside “double quotes” or backticks, nothing is a token: not !high, not #tag, not due:, not [[…]]. That’s how you write about the syntax:

$ thc parse 'Write "due:fri" in quotes, `#tag` too'
→ Write "due:fri" in quotes, `#tag` too

A quoted value (due:"nov 1 9am") is still a token. To mention a token with a quoted value, put the whole token in backticks. Code blocks are never parsed either.

--plain keeps a capture exactly as written, with no tokens and no tags. Use it for notes that quote a lot of syntax:

$ thc add --plain 'The filter was #work !high due<=+3d and it matched nothing'

With --plain, [[…]] stays text too.

Two of the same token

One line can only have one priority, one due date, and so on. If it has two (!high … !low, due:fri … due:mon):

• On the command line, thc refuses and asks you to keep one, or quote them:

  $ thc add 'Ship it !high and !low'
  thc: invalid: two priorities (!high, !low) · keep one, or quote them to keep them as text

• While you write, the last one counts. The earlier one stays as plain words, and the hint says 2 priorities · using !low.

When a value doesn’t parse

On the command line, a token whose value can’t be read (due:fryday) is refused with a hint, and nothing is written:

thc: can't read "fryday" as a date · try fri, +3d or 2026-10-09

In the editor and the capture box, it stays in the line as plain text, and the right-hand column says what it couldn’t read. You never lose what you typed.

Dates

Times go after the date: fri 9am, nov 1 14:30, tomorrow at 2:30pm, fri noon. A time alone (9am) means today.

Minutes or months? A bare m is ambiguous, so thc won’t guess: write +30min for minutes and +2mo for months. On the command line, +30m is refused with that hint.

Repeats

Completing a repeating task doesn’t close it: its dates move to the next occurrence, its subtasks reopen, and the log keeps a record of each one you finished. thc skip <id> skips one occurrence. On the command line, --repeat "every 2w" does the same as the token.

Where a capture goes

A vault can send captures to a page instead of the journal ([capture] target = "¶ Issues" in its settings.toml). Naming a place still wins. See Vaults.

thc todo and thc remind take the same tokens, and flags for the same fields:

$ thc todo "Draft plan" --due fri --scheduled mon -t work -p high --repeat "every 2w"
$ thc remind "Pay rent" --at "nov 1 9am" --repeat "every month on the 1st"
$ thc alert add k7q2m --before 1d          # a reminder a day before it's due

A reminder is a task with a time and an alert at that time; --no-task makes it a plain dated note instead.