Features Overview

Pensum is one plugin (desktop + mobile) plus a CLI and an MCP server that share the same data. This page is the index of what’s in the box. Every card links to the full how-and-why for that feature.

Capture

Get things out of your head and into your vault in one keystroke.

Quick Add

Cmd+Shift+A. Natural-language task entry: priorities, dates, projects, and tags parsed from one line. AI-enhanced when you toggle the AI checkbox.
Quick Add →

From selection

Cmd+Shift+T. Highlight any text, get a task with a wikilink back to the source. Works in meeting notes, daily notes, research notes — anywhere.
Capture from selection →

Wiki stubs

Cmd+Shift+W. Capture a concept you don’t have time to write up. The Curate view surfaces stubs for development; AI Stub Expansion drafts the first pass.
Wiki stubs →

Meeting recording

Cmd+Shift+R. Audio capture via the device microphone. Pensum creates the meeting note and starts recording in one step.
Recording →

Templates

Built-in templates for projects, meetings, and wiki stubs. Add your own — every .md file in .pensum/templates/ becomes a command in the palette.
Templates →

Quick complete

Cmd+Shift+X. Toggle the task on your cursor line, in any file. Recurring tasks auto-create their next occurrence.

Plan and execute

See what matters. Work through it. Keep everything moving.

Today

Overdue + due today + scheduled today + what you’ve already finished today. The single view that answers “what do I need to do right now?”
Today & Inbox →

Inbox

Unprocessed tasks in your inbox files. Triage manually or let Smart Triage suggest projects in one click.
Today & Inbox →

Forecast

1, 2, or 4 weeks ahead, grouped by day. See what’s coming before it arrives.
Forecast & Calendar →

Calendar

Month and week grid. Tasks on dates. Drag a task to a different day to reschedule.
Forecast & Calendar →

By Project

All open tasks grouped by project. Collapsible groups. Click any task to edit.
Projects →

Project Page

Auto-opens when you view a project file. Stats, open tasks, overdue, recently completed, frontmatter fields.
Projects →

Live full-text search across every task in your vault. Results update as you type.

Filters

Build and save custom queries: status, priority, project, tags, date ranges, text. Persisted between sessions.

Waiting

Dedicated view for [w] tasks — the GTD waiting-for list, excluded from your active planning views until the blocker clears.
Waiting →

Weekly Review

A five-zone digest (Inbox / Overdue / Waiting / Stalled projects / Wins) you can work through in fifteen minutes. The Home view nudges you when it’s been a week.
Weekly Review →

Activity

Completion history grouped by day, with streak tracking. Second tab shows the AI activity log: every AI call with its result.

Subtasks & recurrence

Indent for hierarchy with completion progress badges (2/5). Recur every N days/weeks/months, every weekday, every Monday, etc.
Subtasks & recurrence →

Drag to reschedule

Drag tasks onto calendar day cells. The due date is updated in the source file automatically.

Defer / Snooze

Push tasks out to a future start date — they vanish from planning views until then, no clutter. Works on a single task or a whole multi-selection.

Multi-select & bulk actions

Vim-style v to select, Shift+J/K to extend, * for all. Then complete / defer / reschedule / delete the whole batch in one write.
Bulk operations →

Calendar export (ICS)

Export your tasks as .ics for Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook — anything that subscribes to an iCalendar feed.
ICS export →

Task cleanup

Auto-remove completed tasks after a configurable retention period. Per-source defaults plus per-note and per-task overrides.
Task cleanup →

Meetings (Pro)

Every meeting becomes actionable in your vault.

Record

Audio capture via your device microphone, saved as .webm in your vault. Pensum creates the meeting note in the same step.
Recording →

Transcribe

Deepgram Nova-3 with speaker diarization (managed) or your own provider (BYO: Deepgram or OpenAI Whisper).
Transcription →

Summarize

AI-drafted overview, key topics, decisions, open questions. Inserted as an [!ai-generated] callout so it stays visually distinct.
Summarization →

Extract tasks

Pull commitments out of the transcript as real tasks (with owner, due date, source quote). They behave like any other Pensum task.
Task extraction →

Identify speakers

Map Speaker 0/1/2 labels to attendee names automatically using context from the first few minutes of the transcript.

Meeting Page panel

Auto-opens when you view a meeting note. Recording controls, transcript browser, AI action buttons in one panel.

AI features (Pro)

AI augments your workflow. You stay in control.

Smart Capture

Toggle AI in Quick Add. Resolves your projects, suggests tags from recent usage, parses relative dates from context.
Smart Capture →

Smart Triage

One click in the Inbox. AI suggests which project each task belongs to with a confidence level. Accept or skip per task.
Smart Triage →

Stub expansion

Drafts a first-pass explanation of a wiki stub, inserted as an [!ai-generated] callout above your sections. Doesn’t replace your thinking — gives you something to react to.
Wiki stubs →

Provenance

Every AI-generated callout is structurally marked. Configurable visual treatment in views (subtle / prominent / off).
Provenance →

Per-feature models

Pick a model per feature from the catalog (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Deepgram), or type a custom model ID. The dropdown filters by what your plan and configured keys support.
Settings → AI →

Activity log

Every AI call captured with feature, mode, model, status, tokens, and audio minutes. Status-bar dot signals recent success/failure at a glance.

Agents (Pro)

Your AI agents work alongside you, not just observe.

MCP server

39 tools across plan / capture / curate / project / meet / vault / system groups. Pagination, fragment snippets, structured queries, audit log, read-only mode. pensum mcp install --client claude-desktop prints the install bundle.
MCP server →

CLI

pensum task today. TTY-aware output (rich tables for humans, JSON for scripts). Multi-vault aware. Result cache for #N positional refs.
CLI →

Agent Captures view

Tasks captured by agents land here with agent-suggested-pending provenance. Review and accept before they join your normal task list.
Provenance →

Permission guardrails

PENSUM_MCP_MODE=read-only for sensitive sessions. .pensumignore to fence off paths from agents. .pensum/mcp-audit.jsonl records every write.
MCP guardrails →

Configuration and operations

Settings

Six-section sub-navigation: General, AI, Meetings, Agents, Cleanup, Account.
Settings reference →

Hotkeys

No shortcuts pre-bound; recommended combinations documented for self-assignment under Obsidian’s Hotkeys panel.
Hotkey reference →

Plans & licensing

Free, Pro BYO ($9/mo), Pro All-in-One ($29/mo with 40 hours managed transcription). 14-day trial, no credit card.
Plans and licensing →

Templates

Built-in: project, meeting, wiki-stub. Customize freely. Add your own with prompt_for variables.
Templates guide →

API keys

Stored in Obsidian’s OS-backed keychain via SecretStorage. Settings hold only the secret name, never the key value.

Status bar

“3 today, 2 overdue” always visible. Click to jump to Today. Second indicator dot for AI activity health.

Cross-cutting principles

The vault is the source of truth. Everything Pensum does is reads or writes on plain markdown files.
AI augments, doesn’t replace. Every AI-generated piece is visible as such; nothing runs without you pressing a button.
Plan-driven AI mode. Pro BYO uses your keys; Pro All-in-One routes through Pensum’s managed proxy. No silent mode-swapping.
One codebase, desktop + mobile. The same plugin runs in Obsidian Mobile. Some surfaces (transcription) defer to desktop because of mobile constraints, but capture and triage are first-class on mobile.
Agent-friendly by design. The CLI and MCP server share the engine. JSON output, structured errors, stable schemas.