Deadline Tracking
The problem
Contract deadlines are scattered across hundreds of documents. Renewal dates, payment due dates, delivery milestones — nobody knows what's coming up next week without manually searching every file.
The solution
Use deadline: in every document. Query them to see every upcoming deadline across the organization.
Deadlines in documents
Contracts have renewal dates:
deadline: Contract renewal | due: 2027-03-31 | status: pending
deadline: Payment due | due: 2026-04-15 | status: pending
Projects have milestones:
deadline: Phase 1 complete | due: 2026-06-01 | status: in-progress
deadline: Beta launch | due: 2026-07-15 | status: pending
HR has review cycles:
deadline: Q2 performance reviews | due: 2026-06-30 | status: pending
deadline: Annual compensation review | due: 2026-12-01 | status: pending
Query upcoming deadlines
# All deadlines across the company
intenttext query ./company --type deadline --format table
File Type Content Due Status
contracts/acme.it deadline Payment due 2026-04-15 pending
contracts/globaltech.it deadline Contract renewal 2027-03-31 pending
projects/cloud-migration.it deadline Phase 1 complete 2026-06-01 in-progress
hr/reviews/q2.it deadline Q2 performance reviews 2026-06-30 pending
Natural language
intenttext ask ./company "What deadlines are coming up in April?" --format text
Two deadlines in April 2026:
- Payment due for the Acme contract (April 15, pending)
- Q1 report submission (April 7, pending)
Filter by status
# Only pending deadlines
intenttext query ./company --type deadline --status pending --format table
# Overdue deadlines
intenttext ask ./company "What deadlines are overdue?" --format text
Export for calendar integration
intenttext query ./company --type deadline --format csv > deadlines.csv
Import into Google Calendar, Outlook, or any project management tool.
Proximity color coding
When deadline: blocks are rendered, they're color-coded by proximity:
| Time remaining | Display |
|---|---|
| > 30 days | Green — plenty of time |
| 7–30 days | Yellow — approaching |
| < 7 days | Orange — imminent |
| Overdue | Red — past due |
This applies to both HTML and print rendering.
# Render a document with color-coded deadlines
intenttext project.it --html --theme corporate
The pattern
Same as the Contact Directory — you're not building a deadline tracker as a separate project. You're querying deadlines that already exist in your documents.
Every deadline: in every contract, project plan, and review cycle is automatically tracked. Add the keyword to documents you already write. The tracker builds itself.
Next steps
- Contact Directory — the same pattern for contacts
- Querying Documents — query syntax reference
- Invoice — invoice with payment deadlines