Fast capture
The one-line quick-add grammar that turns a sentence into a fully filled-in task — from the web, Slack, or an AI agent.
The fastest way to create a task is to type one line. RyTask reads a tiny grammar out of that line and fills the fields in for you. The same grammar works everywhere capture happens:
- the quick-add box in the web app,
- the
/taskslash command in Slack, - the
quick_add_issuetool when an AI agent creates work over MCP.
The grammar
A marker only counts at the start of a word, so C# in a title or foo@bar.com are
left alone.
| Token | Sets | Example |
|---|---|---|
@handle | Assignee | @sam |
#label | Label | #bug |
!priority | Priority (urgent, high, medium, low, none — any case) | !high |
^date | Due date — ISO or natural language, up to four words | ^friday, ^2026-07-01, ^next Friday, ^in 3 days |
There is no estimate token today — set the estimate on the item after capture.
Worked examples
| You type | You get |
|---|---|
Fix login @sam #bug !high ^friday | "Fix login", assigned to Sam, labeled bug, high priority, due Friday |
Renew SSL cert ^in 3 days !urgent | "Renew SSL cert", urgent, due three days from now |
Ship the C# client #release | "Ship the C# client", labeled release — the C# stays in the title |
Email foo@bar.com about invoice | Title kept whole — @ mid-word is not a marker |
Post \#general update | "Post #general update" — \# escapes a literal # |
To put a literal marker at the start of a word, escape it with a backslash: \@, \#,
\!, \^.
When a token doesn't resolve
Capture never fails because of a token. If @sami matches nobody, !hgh isn't a
priority, or ^somday isn't a date, the task is still created instantly — and the
unresolved tokens are shown back to you so you know which fields to fix on the item. Speed
first, tidy after.
One nice touch: an unknown #label isn't an error at all — labels are created on the fly.
Where each capture lands
Every item remembers its capture source — Web, Slack, Agent, or API — and shows it as a badge on the item. The interruption ledger in Reporting uses this to show you where your unplanned work actually comes from.
For the formal token-by-token reference, see Capture syntax.