Recurring Tasks

Recurring tasks repeat on a schedule you define. Daylight tracks each occurrence as a separate instance, so you can complete Tuesday’s “Weekly review” without affecting next Tuesday’s.

Why it matters

• One definition, many instances. Create the task once; Daylight generates instances as needed.
• Instance-level tracking. Complete, skip, or reschedule individual occurrences without breaking the series.
• Plain-text rules. Uses iCalendar RRULE format—the same standard your calendar app uses.

Quick start

1. Create a new task or open an existing one
2. Tap the Edit button (pencil icon)
3. In the Recurrence section, choose a frequency (daily, weekly, monthly)
4. For weekly tasks, select which days
5. Save

Daylight adds a recurrence block to your task file:

---
title: Weekly review
status: active
created: 2026-01-28
recurrence:
  rule: FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=FR
  instances:
    - date: 2026-01-31
      status: active
---

How it works

The series vs. instances model

A recurring task has two parts:

1. The series — The task file itself, containing the recurrence rule
2. Instances — Individual occurrences tracked in recurrence.instances

When you view your task list, Daylight expands the series into separate rows for each upcoming instance. Each row represents a specific date.

Instance states

State	What it means
active	Not yet done; shows in your task list
completed	Done; moves to Wrapped for that day
skipped	Intentionally skipped; won’t show again

What happens when you complete an instance

1. Daylight marks that instance as completed in recurrence.instances
2. The instance moves to Wrapped (if completed today)
3. The next instance automatically appears based on the rule

The task file stays active—only the specific instance is marked done.

Common recurrence patterns

Daily

recurrence:
  rule: FREQ=DAILY

Weekly on specific days

# Every Monday
recurrence:
  rule: FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=MO

# Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday
recurrence:
  rule: FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=MO,WE,FR

Every N weeks

# Every 2 weeks on Friday
recurrence:
  rule: FREQ=WEEKLY;INTERVAL=2;BYDAY=FR

Monthly

# 15th of every month
recurrence:
  rule: FREQ=MONTHLY;BYMONTHDAY=15

# First Monday of every month
recurrence:
  rule: FREQ=MONTHLY;BYDAY=1MO

Actions and their effects

Action	What changes in the file
Complete	Instance status → completed
Skip	Instance status → skipped
Reschedule instance	Instance date changes; new instance may be created
Reschedule series	scheduled field changes; affects future instances
Delete series	Entire task file deleted

[!note] Rescheduling a recurring task to a future date hides past uncompleted instances. This prevents a backlog of “catch-up” tasks from accumulating.

Edge cases

Past instances piling up

If you haven’t opened Daylight in a while, you might see multiple past instances in the “Past” group. Options:

• Complete them if you actually did them
• Skip them if they’re no longer relevant
• Reschedule the series to today to reset

”Why did a new instance appear?”

Daylight generates instances based on the rule when it needs to display them. If you see an unexpected instance:

1. Check the recurrence.rule — does it match your intended schedule?
2. Check recurrence.instances — is there already an instance for that date?
3. Look at the scheduled field — instances only generate from this date forward

Moving a task with history

If you change a recurring task’s rule (e.g., from weekly to daily), existing instance history is preserved. New instances follow the new rule.

[!warning] Manually editing recurrence.instances can cause issues. If you need to clean up instance history, it’s safer to:

1. Note the task details
2. Delete the task
3. Create a fresh recurring task

Timezone and day boundaries

Daylight uses your device’s local date for all scheduling. If you travel across timezones:

• Instances are based on the calendar date, not a specific time
• A task scheduled for “Friday” means Friday in your current timezone
• Synced devices in different timezones may show different “today” tasks

Troubleshooting checklist

• Is the recurrence.rule valid RRULE syntax?
• Does the task have status: active?
• Is there a scheduled date? (Instances generate from this date)
• Check recurrence.instances for duplicate or conflicting entries
• Try restarting the app if instances seem stale

RRULE reference

Daylight uses standard iCalendar RRULE format. Key components:

Component	Example	Meaning
FREQ	FREQ=WEEKLY	Frequency: DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, YEARLY
INTERVAL	INTERVAL=2	Every N periods (default: 1)
BYDAY	BYDAY=MO,WE,FR	Which days of the week
BYMONTHDAY	BYMONTHDAY=15	Which day of the month
COUNT	COUNT=10	Stop after N occurrences
UNTIL	UNTIL=20261231	Stop after this date

For more complex rules, see the iCalendar RFC 5545 specification.

Related

• Task File Format — Full frontmatter reference
• Getting Started — Create your first task
• Limitations — What Daylight doesn’t do