fix(write): preserve wiki links and inline code when updating task metadata

- Improved metadata detection to avoid matching content inside wiki links [[...]], markdown links [text](url), and inline code blocks
- Fixed issue where links in task content could be incorrectly treated as metadata markers
- Added comprehensive test to verify links and code blocks are preserved during metadata updates
- Ensures task content remains intact when only metadata is being modified

src/__tests__/writeapi-links-preserve.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+import { App, MetadataCache } from "obsidian";
+import { WriteAPI } from "@/dataflow/api/WriteAPI";
+import type { Task } from "@/types/task";
+
+/**
+ * Ensures updateTask preserves wiki/markdown links and inline code in task content
+ * while replacing/rewriting trailing metadata.
+ */
+describe("WriteAPI.updateTask preserves links in content when regenerating metadata", () => {
+	it("keeps [[wiki#section|alias]] and [text](url#anchor) and `code` intact and replaces metadata", async () => {
+		// In-memory vault mock
+		let fileContent =
+			"- [ ] Do [[Page#Heading|alias]] and [text](https://ex.com/a#b) `inline` #oldtag 🔁 every day 🛫 2024-12-01";
+		const filePath = "Test.md";
+
+		const fakeVault: any = {
+			getAbstractFileByPath: (path: string) => ({ path }),
+			read: async (_file: any) => fileContent,
+			modify: async (_file: any, newContent: string) => {
+				fileContent = newContent;
+			},
+		};
+
+		// Minimal app and metadataCache mocks
+		const app = new App();
+		const metadataCache = new MetadataCache();
+
+		// Ensure workspace has trigger/on for Events.emit compatibility
+		(app as any).workspace = {
+			...(app as any).workspace,
+			trigger: jest.fn(),
+			on: jest.fn(() => ({ unload: () => {} })),
+		};
+
+		// Minimal plugin settings used by generateMetadata
+		const plugin: any = {
+			settings: {
+				preferMetadataFormat: "tasks", // use emoji/tokens format
+				projectTagPrefix: { tasks: "project", dataview: "project" },
+				contextTagPrefix: { tasks: "@", dataview: "context" },
+				taskStatuses: { completed: "x" },
+				autoDateManager: {
+					manageStartDate: false,
+					manageCancelledDate: false,
+				},
+			},
+		};
+
+		// getTaskById returns a task pointing to line 0 in file
+		const getTaskById = async (id: string): Promise<Task | null> => {
+			if (id !== "1") return null;
+			return {
+				id: "1",
+				content:
+					"Do [[Page#Heading|alias]] and [text](https://ex.com/a#b) `inline`",
+				filePath,
+				line: 0,
+				completed: false,
+				status: " ",
+				originalMarkdown: fileContent,
+				metadata: {
+					tags: ["oldtag"],
+					children: [],
+				} as any,
+			} as Task;
+		};
+
+		const writeAPI = new WriteAPI(
+			app as any,
+			fakeVault,
+			metadataCache as any,
+			plugin,
+			getTaskById
+		);
+
+		// Act: update metadata only (do not touch content/status)
+		const due = new Date("2025-01-15").valueOf();
+		const res = await writeAPI.updateTask({
+			taskId: "1",
+			updates: {
+				metadata: { tags: ["newtag"], dueDate: due } as any,
+			},
+		});
+
+		expect(res.success).toBe(true);
+
+		// Assert: links and inline code remain; old metadata removed; new metadata appended
+		// Expect tags first then due date (emoji 📅) in tasks format
+		expect(fileContent).toContain(
+			"- [ ] Do [[Page#Heading|alias]] and [text](https://ex.com/a#b) `inline` #newtag 📅 2025-01-15"
+		);
+
+		// Ensure no remnants of old metadata tokens
+		expect(fileContent).not.toMatch(
+			/#oldtag|🔁\s+every day|🛫\s+2024-12-01/
+		);
+	});
+});

src/dataflow/api/WriteAPI.ts

@@ -482,11 +482,41 @@ export class WriteAPI {
 					}
 				} else {
 					// Remove existing metadata and regenerate from merged values
-					const prefixMatch = taskLine.match(
-						/^(\s*[-*+]\s*\[[^\]]*\]\s*[^🔺⏫🔼🔽⏬🛫⏳📅✅🔁\[#@+]*)/
+					// First, extract the checkbox prefix
+					const checkboxMatch = taskLine.match(
+						/^(\s*[-*+]\s*\[[^\]]*\]\s*)/
 					);
-					if (prefixMatch) {
-						const taskPrefix = prefixMatch[0];
+					if (checkboxMatch) {
+						const checkboxPrefix = checkboxMatch[1];
+						const afterCheckbox = taskLine.substring(
+							checkboxPrefix.length
+						);
+
+						// Find where metadata starts (look for emoji markers or dataview fields)
+						// Updated pattern to avoid matching wiki links [[...]] or markdown links [text](url)
+						// To avoid false positives, sanitize out wiki links [[...]], markdown links [text](url), and inline code `...`
+						const sanitized = afterCheckbox
+							// Use non-whitespace placeholders to prevent \s+ from consuming across links/code
+							.replace(/\[\[[^\]]*\]\]/g, (m) =>
+								"x".repeat(m.length)
+							)
+							.replace(/\[[^\]]*\]\([^\)]*\)/g, (m) =>
+								"x".repeat(m.length)
+							)
+							.replace(/`[^`]*`/g, (m) => "x".repeat(m.length));
+
+						const metadataMatch = sanitized.match(
+							/([\s]+(🔺|⏫|🔼|🔽|⏬|🛫|⏳|📅|✅|🔁|\[(?!\[\])[^\[\]\r\n:]+::|#[A-Za-z][\w/-]*|@[A-Za-z][\w/-]*|\+[A-Za-z][\w/-]*).*)?$/
+						);
+
+						// Extract the task content (everything before metadata)
+						const taskContent =
+							metadataMatch && metadataMatch.index !== undefined
+								? afterCheckbox
+										.substring(0, metadataMatch.index)
+										.trim()
+								: afterCheckbox.trim();
+
 						const mergedMd = {
 							...originalTask.metadata,
 							...args.updates.metadata,
@@ -510,7 +540,7 @@ export class WriteAPI {
 							dependsOn: mergedMd.dependsOn,
 							id: mergedMd.id,
 						});
-						taskLine = `${taskPrefix}${
+						taskLine = `${checkboxPrefix}${taskContent}${
 							newMetadata ? ` ${newMetadata}` : ""
 						}`;
 					}