Operon is a GPL-3.0 Obsidian plugin that turns a vault's scattered checkboxes and notes into one indexed task system for humans and agents: tasks stay Markdown, every task carries a durable `operonId`, and agent writes land only through previewed, receipted plans issued by its own runtime. **The tracker inside the knowledge base is the differentiator, and the sealed preview-and-apply mutation gateway is the strongest agent-write contract in this category; nobody else here makes the agent's edit a verified plan with a receipt.** ## What it is An Obsidian plugin (TypeScript, 1,060 commits) with a companion CLI (`@stratejya/operon-cli`, also GPL-3.0) and a 133-guide documentation site at [operon.cc](https://operon.cc). Tasks remain Markdown in two forms: inline checkbox lines carrying `{{key:: value}}` containers, and file tasks with frontmatter, unified by one index keyed on `operonId` so the same task moves through Table, Calendar, Kanban, filters, recurrence, reminders, and time tracking without duplication. Agent access runs through the Agent Runtime: `operon-cli` with typed requests or persistent JSONL sessions for scripts and agents, an in-process Developer API for other Obsidian plugins, and a Property Catalog that exposes the vault's own field names so an agent uses your conventions instead of guessing them. Every write goes through the Mutation Gateway's preview-to-apply: the runtime computes what a change would do, seals that plan, applies only that plan, and returns receipts with postflight verification; direct Markdown editing stays supported as the unversioned path. The hasanyilmaz identity maintains it in ten interface languages. ## Status Active and shipping steadily. As of 2026-10-08: 250 stars, 24 forks, 4 watchers, 7 open issues, 1 open pull request, created 2026-05-19, pushed 2026-10-06, latest release 3.12.0 on 2026-10-06 (after 3.11.0 on 2026-10-01 and 3.10.2 on 2026-09-28), 362 npm downloads last month for `@stratejya/operon-cli`, GPL-3.0 on both plugin and CLI. Star History Chart **The community footprint is the weak signal: an HN search for Operon and Obsidian returns zero hits and this run's searches found no independent coverage, so the 250 stars rest on the project's own growth curve.** macOS is supported, native Linux and Windows 11 are public beta, WSL is unsupported, and the Runtime lives inside a running Obsidian process, so nothing works headless. ## Strengths - Tasks live where the human already works; the vault is the store and the notes are the context, with no second place to reconcile. - The sealed preview-and-apply write path with receipts and postflight verification is verification discipline the rest of this category leaves to agent discretion. - The Property Catalog and key mappings mean an agent reads the vault's canonical vocabulary, not guessed YAML conventions. - Inline and file tasks convert both ways with identity preserved, so a task can grow into a note and shrink back without losing its record. ## Cautions - GPL-3.0 on both plugin and CLI, which triggers the corporate policy reviews this category's MIT members do not. - No headless mode: the runtime requires a running Obsidian, so a server-side agent fleet cannot touch the tracker while the human is away. - One maintainer identity carries a 133-guide API surface, a bus-factor concentration It's a Plan shares and the repo-local tools do not. - The zero-coverage signal above: nothing independent corroborates the adoption numbers yet. ## Pricing Free and open source under GPL-3.0 (plugin and CLI). No paid tier or hosted service exists. ## Compared to - [Backlog.md](../backlog-md/index.md): both keep tasks as Markdown; Backlog.md lives in the project repository and gates on human review, Operon lives in the knowledge vault and gates on receipted plans. - [beads](../beads/index.md): repo-local graph state for coding agents sharing a queue, versus a vault-local task system for humans and agents working side by side. - [It's a Plan](../its-a-plan/index.md): both give agents structured slots; It's a Plan is a separate self-hosted server platform, Operon is inside the note-taking app. ## Bottom line **Recommended for Obsidian-based engineers who want agent work inside their vault and accept a single-maintainer plugin plus a running-Obsidian dependency.** Not for server-side fleets (no headless runtime) or teams that need a standalone tracker with a vendor to escalate to. My disagreeable claim: receipted, previewed writes are a bigger agent-safety advance than this category has credited, and most tracker integrations are prompt conventions by comparison. ## Changes - 2026-10-08 - Created after the entrant sweep; the sealed-plan agent runtime and the zero-HN footprint recorded. ## See also - [Backlog.md](../backlog-md/index.md) - the project-repository Markdown counterpart - [beads](../beads/index.md) - the shared-queue graph counterpoint for coding agents - [It's a Plan](../its-a-plan/index.md) - the platform-style agents-as-teammates entrant - [Task Management Feature Matrix](../task-management-feature-matrix/index.md) - the category comparison this note joins ## References - https://github.com/hasanyilmaz/operon - repository: README, surfaces, agent runtime introduction, topics (fetched 2026-10-08) - https://api.github.com/repos/hasanyilmaz/operon - stars, forks, dates, license as of 2026-10-08 - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hasanyilmaz/operon/main/README.md - inline and file tasks, operonId, the CLI and JSONL sessions, the 133 guides - https://operon.cc/docs/docs-118-operon-agent-runtime-overview/ - the sealed preview-and-apply mutation gateway, receipts, Property Catalog, platform support - https://api.npmjs.org/downloads/point/last-month/@stratejya/operon-cli - 362 downloads last month - https://api.github.com/repos/hasanyilmaz/operon-cli - the official CLI repository, GPL-3.0 - https://api.github.com/repos/hasanyilmaz/operon/releases - 3.12.0 (2026-10-06) and the release train