Dependencies¶
(Companion mode only — dependencies come from TaskNotes' blockedBy; standalone
Bases has no dependency model, so arrows never appear.)
The Gantt draws the dependency relationships TaskNotes records on each task's
blockedBy list, following the iCalendar RFC 9253 model.
The four relationship types¶
Every blockedBy edge has a relationship type and an optional gap/lag. The Gantt
renders all four:
| Type | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Finish-to-Start (FS) | The successor can't start until the predecessor finishes. The default and most common. |
| Finish-to-Finish (FF) | The successor can't finish until the predecessor finishes. |
| Start-to-Start (SS) | The successor can't start until the predecessor starts. |
| Start-to-Finish (SF) | The successor can't finish until the predecessor starts. |
Gap/lag is shown on the arrow where present.
Reading vs. authoring
The Gantt reads and renders all four types. Today you can create and delete Finish-to-Start dependencies directly on the chart by dragging between bars. Authoring the other three types and editing an edge's reltype/gap is not yet available on the chart — set those in TaskNotes for now.
Create and delete a dependency¶
(Companion mode; Finish-to-Start only — see the note above.)
- To create a link: hover the predecessor bar until its link handle (a
small connector dot on the bar) appears, then drag from that handle onto the
successor bar and release. A Finish-to-Start arrow is drawn and written to the
successor's TaskNotes
blockedBy. If the drag would produce any other type, the Gantt refuses it with a notice — "Only Finish-to-Start links can be created for now." - To delete a link: click the arrow to select it, then press
Delete(orBackspace). The edge is removed from TaskNotes'blockedBy.
📷 Demo image pending
A GIF of drawing and deleting a dependency will be added in a later documentation pass.
Arrow display: Primary vs. All instances¶
A task that has more than one parent is duplicated in the tree — it appears once under each parent. The Dependency Arrows setting decides how arrows are drawn across those duplicate rows:
- Primary instance only (default) — arrows connect only the task's first/primary row. Cleaner; arrows don't multiply when a task appears in several places.
- All instances — arrows are drawn to every duplicated row of the task. Complete, but a heavily-shared task can produce many arrows.
Consequence
Choose All instances only when you genuinely need to see a dependency on every copy of a multi-parent task. In large charts it can add a lot of arrows. If arrows look noisy, switch back to Primary instance only.