For Obsidian users
Your Obsidian Tasks as a Gantt timeline, in a native Mac app.
nokko is a native Mac app that reads the Obsidian Tasks dates in your vault and draws them as a Gantt timeline you can drag. Each project is a row, its tasks sit on it, and moving a bar rewrites the dates in the Markdown file. We built it for our own agency's client work, on a vault we also keep open in Obsidian.
There are three ways to get a Gantt chart from an Obsidian vault.
Obsidian renders Mermaid diagrams, and Mermaid has a gantt block. You type the tasks and their dates into the code block and Obsidian draws the chart. It needs nothing installed. The catch is that the chart keeps its own copy of the dates, so when a due date changes on the task, the chart does not follow.
Several community plugins draw a timeline from the Tasks emoji dates instead, inside Obsidian. If you want the chart in the same window as your notes, start there. They differ in what they can edit and where they run, so read each plugin's page.
The third way is a separate app on the same folder, which is what nokko is. It reads the files Obsidian reads, draws the timeline natively on the Mac, and writes any date you drag back into the task line.
The timeline reads the π« start, β³ scheduled and π due dates on your tasks.
A project's bar runs from the start and due dates in the file's frontmatter. When a file has neither, the bar spans the dates of its open tasks, so a vault that never had project dates still gets a timeline. Expand a project and each task gets its own sub-row, from its π« or β³ date to its π date.
Milestones are tasks marked π― and are drawn as diamonds. That one mark is ours: the Tasks plugin does not use it, and Obsidian shows it as a plain character. Dependencies use the Tasks plugin's own π and β fields, drawn as arrows for the row you hover over or select.
---
type: project
client: Halden Coffee
start: 2026-10-01
due: 2026-11-19
---
## Build
- [ ] Design sign-off π― π
2026-10-09
- [/] Homepage hero π hero π« 2026-10-05 π
2026-10-16
- [ ] Product grid β hero π« 2026-10-17 π
2026-10-28Dragging a bar rewrites the dates in the file and nothing else.
Drag a project's bar and its start and due dates move together. Drag either end to change just that one. Drag a task's tick to change its π date. Nothing is written until you let go, and the rest of the line, the notes around it and any syntax nokko does not know stay exactly as they were.
Dependency arrows are drawn and never enforced. Moving one bar does not shift the others, because a chain of automatic date changes is a diff you did not ask for. Overdue work turns a warning colour, and the today line is always there.
Zoom has four levels: Week, Month, Quarter and Year, which fit four weeks, three months, four quarters or three years across the window.
If you want the chart inside Obsidian, or on Windows or an iPad, use a plugin.
nokko is a Mac app that sits beside Obsidian. If you want the timeline in an Obsidian pane, or on Windows, Android or an iPad, a community plugin or a Mermaid block is the right tool. The timeline is not in our iPhone app either. The phone shows Today, each project's progress against the calendar, and the timer.
It is also a timeline for client projects, sized for a few people. It does not do resource levelling, critical paths or baselines.
Three ways to a Gantt chart, side by side.
Plugins differ a lot from one another, so where the answer depends on which one you install, the table says so.
| Capability | nokko | Mermaid gantt block | Community plugins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reads the dates already on your tasks | Yes | No, dates are typed into the block | Depends on the plugin |
| Drag a bar to change a date | Yes | No | Depends on the plugin |
| Milestones and dependency arrows | π― milestones, π and β arrows | In Mermaid's own syntax | Depends on the plugin |
| Runs inside Obsidian | No | Yes | Yes |
| Works on Windows, Android and iPad | No | Yes | Depends on the plugin |
| Native Mac app | Yes | No | No |
| Time tracking and invoices from the same tasks | Yes | No | No |
Swipe sideways for the other columns.
The things people ask.
How do I make a Gantt chart in Obsidian?
Can Obsidian Tasks show a timeline view?
Does nokko change my task lines when I drag a bar?
Does nokko understand Obsidian Tasks dependencies?
Is the Gantt timeline on the iPhone?
How much does nokko cost?
Free to read, on your Mac and your iPhone.
Download it, open a folder, and read everything your studio has planned. Subscribe when you are ready to edit; the first 14 days are free, and one subscription covers both.