Background tasks
Long-running operations — deep research and image generation — run in the background so they never block your editing session. Results are saved to your vault automatically and you're notified when they're ready.
Status Bar Indicator
The status bar shows a single indicator for all background work. It reflects both active background tasks and the RAG indexing state in one place.
| Appearance | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Hidden | No background work running, RAG disabled, and no pending catch-up runs |
| Spinning loader icon + count | One or more background tasks running (takes visual priority over RAG) |
| Database icon + file count | No tasks running; RAG enabled and idle |
| Upload-cloud icon + percentage | RAG indexing in progress |
| Pause-circle icon | RAG indexing paused |
| Clock icon | No tasks running, RAG disabled, but missed scheduled-task runs are pending approval |
RAG error and rate_limited states don't change the icon (they fall back to the database icon) but surface a status message in the indicator's tooltip.
Click the indicator at any time to open the Background tasks panel.
Background tasks Panel
The panel (also available via Command Palette → View background tasks) shows:
- Running — tasks currently in progress, with a Cancel button for each
- Recent — the last 20 completed, failed, or cancelled tasks
Completed tasks with output files show an Open result link that opens the file in Obsidian.
How Tasks Are Created
Background tasks are created automatically when you trigger long-running operations:
- Deep Research — the agent is steered to run research in the background by default (via its system prompt), and when it does, the result is saved to
[state-folder]/Background-Tasks/YYYY-MM-DD <topic>.md(you can specify a custom path via theoutputFileparameter). This is a prompted default, not enforced by the tool itself — if the agent runs research in the foreground instead, no file is saved unlessoutputFileis set. - Image Generation — generates and saves an image; result path shown in the completion notice. The Generate image command palette entry also routes through the background system: it returns control immediately and inserts the wikilink at your captured cursor position when the task completes (or shows a Notice with the wikilink to copy if you've moved on from the source note).
Both operations fire a completion notice with a clickable vault link when done. If a task fails, a notice explains the error.
Cancellation
Click Cancel next to a running task in the panel. The task stops at the next safe checkpoint — it may not stop instantly if the underlying API call is already in flight.
Accessing Results
When a task completes you'll see a notice in the bottom-right corner with an Open result link. You can also find the result by:
- Clicking the status bar indicator → Open result in the Recent section
- Navigating directly to
[state-folder]/Background-Tasks/in the file explorer (unless you set a customoutputFilepath)
Troubleshooting
Task shows as failed Check the error shown in the Background tasks panel. Common causes:
- API key not configured or expired
- Network timeout on long-running research queries
- Vault path conflict for image output
Status bar indicator not visible The indicator is hidden only when there is nothing to show at all: no tasks running, RAG disabled, and no pending catch-up approvals. If RAG is enabled, the indicator stays visible (database icon) even when indexing is idle. Trigger a background task or enable RAG indexing in Settings.