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Tasks

Tasks in iCalendar are represented using the VTODO component — a calendar component for action items and to-do entries. VTODO supports tracking task status, priority, due dates, completion percentage, and relationships between tasks.

VTODO vs VEVENT

While VEVENT represents a scheduled occurrence in time (a meeting, an appointment), VTODO represents an action item that may or may not have a fixed time. Tasks can have deadlines but do not block calendar time the way events do.

A minimal VTODO:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Example//TaskApp//EN
BEGIN:VTODO
UID:task-001@example.com
DTSTAMP:20250315T090000Z
SUMMARY:Review quarterly report
DUE:20250320T170000Z
STATUS:NEEDS-ACTION
END:VTODO
END:VCALENDAR

Task Lifecycle

  1. Created — STATUS:NEEDS-ACTION (or no STATUS). The task is pending.
  2. In progress — STATUS:IN-PROCESS. Work has begun. Optionally set PERCENT-COMPLETE to track progress.
  3. Completed — STATUS:COMPLETED with COMPLETED property set to the completion timestamp. PERCENT-COMPLETE should be 100.
  4. Cancelled — STATUS:CANCELLED. The task will not be completed.

Recurring Tasks

Tasks can recur using RRULE, just like events. A recurring task generates new instances as each one is completed. For example, a weekly status report:

BEGIN:VTODO
UID:weekly-report@example.com
DTSTAMP:20250315T090000Z
DTSTART:20250317T090000Z
DUE:20250321T170000Z
SUMMARY:Submit weekly status report
RRULE:FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=FR
STATUS:NEEDS-ACTION
END:VTODO

Tasks in CalDAV

CalDAV servers store VTODO components in calendar collections alongside VEVENT components. Clients can query for tasks using CalDAV’s calendar-query with a COMPONENT filter set to VTODO.

Not all CalDAV servers and clients support VTODO. When interoperability is critical, verify that both your server and client implementations handle task components.

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