diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index b6b00fb..b57e5bb 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -35,6 +35,12 @@ <h1>TaskForge</h1>
           autocomplete="off"
           required
         />
+        <textarea
+          id="task-description"
+          name="description"
+          placeholder="Description with optional markdown"
+          rows="3"
+        ></textarea>
         <button type="submit">Add</button>
       </form>
 
diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index 695407f..86de0a0 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -261,6 +261,7 @@ function sanitizeTasks(tasks) {
     .map((task) => ({
       id: normalizeString(task.id).slice(0, 128),
       title: normalizeString(task.title).slice(0, 500),
+      description: normalizeString(task.description).slice(0, 5000),
       done: Boolean(task.done),
       createdAt: Number.isFinite(task.createdAt) ? task.createdAt : Date.now(),
     }))
diff --git a/src/app.js b/src/app.js
index 46dd724..4dde7c0 100644
--- a/src/app.js
+++ b/src/app.js
@@ -5,10 +5,12 @@ import {
   startGitHubSignIn,
 } from "./auth.js";
 import { load, loadLocal, save } from "./storage.js";
+import { renderMarkdown } from "./markdown.js";
 import { createTask, toggleTask, removeTask } from "./tasks.js";
 
 const form = document.getElementById("task-form");
 const input = document.getElementById("task-input");
+const description = document.getElementById("task-description");
 const list = document.getElementById("task-list");
 const emptyState = document.getElementById("empty-state");
 const authStatus = document.getElementById("auth-status");
@@ -65,9 +67,20 @@ function render() {
       render();
     });
 
+    const content = document.createElement("div");
+    content.className = "task-content";
+
     const label = document.createElement("span");
     label.className = "task-title";
     label.textContent = task.title;
+    content.append(label);
+
+    if (task.description) {
+      const descriptionEl = document.createElement("div");
+      descriptionEl.className = "task-description";
+      descriptionEl.innerHTML = renderMarkdown(task.description);
+      content.append(descriptionEl);
+    }
 
     const del = document.createElement("button");
     del.type = "button";
@@ -80,7 +93,7 @@ function render() {
       render();
     });
 
-    li.append(checkbox, label, del);
+    li.append(checkbox, content, del);
     list.appendChild(li);
   }
 }
@@ -89,9 +102,10 @@ form.addEventListener("submit", async (e) => {
   e.preventDefault();
   const title = input.value.trim();
   if (!title) return;
-  tasks = [createTask(title), ...tasks];
+  tasks = [createTask(title, description.value), ...tasks];
   await save(tasks, user);
   input.value = "";
+  description.value = "";
   input.focus();
   render();
 });
diff --git a/src/markdown.js b/src/markdown.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f6810d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/markdown.js
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+const LINK_PATTERN = /\[([^\]]+)]\(([^)\s]+)\)/g;
+const CODE_PATTERN = /`([^`]+)`/g;
+const BOLD_PATTERN = /\*\*([^*]+)\*\*/g;
+const ITALIC_PATTERN = /(^|[^*])\*([^*\n]+)\*/g;
+
+export function renderMarkdown(markdown) {
+  const lines = markdown
+    .trim()
+    .split(/\r?\n/)
+    .map((line) => renderInline(line));
+
+  return lines.join("<br>");
+}
+
+function renderInline(line) {
+  return escapeHtml(line)
+    .replace(CODE_PATTERN, "<code>$1</code>")
+    .replace(BOLD_PATTERN, "<strong>$1</strong>")
+    .replace(ITALIC_PATTERN, "$1<em>$2</em>")
+    .replace(LINK_PATTERN, renderLink);
+}
+
+function renderLink(match, label, href) {
+  const safeHref = safeUrl(href);
+  if (!safeHref) return label;
+
+  return `<a href="${safeHref}" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">${label}</a>`;
+}
+
+function safeUrl(href) {
+  try {
+    const url = new URL(href, window.location.href);
+    if (!["http:", "https:", "mailto:"].includes(url.protocol)) {
+      return "";
+    }
+    return escapeAttribute(url.href);
+  } catch {
+    return "";
+  }
+}
+
+function escapeHtml(value) {
+  return value
+    .replace(/&/g, "&amp;")
+    .replace(/</g, "&lt;")
+    .replace(/>/g, "&gt;")
+    .replace(/"/g, "&quot;")
+    .replace(/'/g, "&#39;");
+}
+
+function escapeAttribute(value) {
+  return value.replace(/"/g, "&quot;");
+}
diff --git a/src/tasks.js b/src/tasks.js
index a54af4a..83a521d 100644
--- a/src/tasks.js
+++ b/src/tasks.js
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-export function createTask(title) {
+export function createTask(title, description = "") {
   return {
     id: cryptoRandomId(),
     title: title.trim(),
+    description: description.trim(),
     done: false,
     createdAt: Date.now(),
   };
diff --git a/styles.css b/styles.css
index a6c7afc..838cbb0 100644
--- a/styles.css
+++ b/styles.css
@@ -97,11 +97,13 @@ body {
 
 .task-form {
   display: flex;
+  flex-direction: column;
   gap: 0.5rem;
   margin-bottom: 1.25rem;
 }
 
-.task-form input {
+.task-form input,
+.task-form textarea {
   flex: 1;
   padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem;
   font: inherit;
@@ -111,7 +113,13 @@ body {
   border-radius: var(--radius);
 }
 
-.task-form input:focus {
+.task-form textarea {
+  min-height: 5.5rem;
+  resize: vertical;
+}
+
+.task-form input:focus,
+.task-form textarea:focus {
   outline: 2px solid var(--accent);
   outline-offset: -1px;
   border-color: var(--accent);
@@ -155,10 +163,37 @@ body {
 }
 
 .task-title {
+  display: block;
+  font-weight: 600;
+  word-break: break-word;
+}
+
+.task-content {
   flex: 1;
+  min-width: 0;
+}
+
+.task-description {
+  margin-top: 0.25rem;
+  color: var(--muted);
+  font-size: 0.93rem;
   word-break: break-word;
 }
 
+.task-description p {
+  margin: 0;
+}
+
+.task-description a {
+  color: var(--accent);
+}
+
+.task-description code {
+  padding: 0.08rem 0.25rem;
+  background: rgba(175, 184, 193, 0.2);
+  border-radius: 4px;
+}
+
 .task-delete {
   appearance: none;
   background: transparent;
diff --git a/test/server.test.js b/test/server.test.js
index c3b9f65..febb8d0 100644
--- a/test/server.test.js
+++ b/test/server.test.js
@@ -10,12 +10,26 @@ const { SESSION_COOKIE, createServer, sanitizeTasks } = require("../server.js");
 test("sanitizeTasks drops malformed rows and trims persisted fields", () => {
   assert.deepEqual(
     sanitizeTasks([
-      { id: " a ", title: " Write tests ", done: 1, createdAt: 10 },
+      {
+        id: " a ",
+        title: " Write tests ",
+        description: " **Add assertions** ",
+        done: 1,
+        createdAt: 10,
+      },
       { id: "", title: "missing id" },
       { id: "missing-title", title: "" },
       null,
     ]),
-    [{ id: "a", title: "Write tests", done: true, createdAt: 10 }],
+    [
+      {
+        id: "a",
+        title: "Write tests",
+        description: "**Add assertions**",
+        done: true,
+        createdAt: 10,
+      },
+    ],
   );
 });
 
@@ -114,6 +128,7 @@ test("authenticated task API persists tasks by GitHub user id", async () => {
       {
         id: "task-1",
         title: "Ship OAuth",
+        description: "",
         done: false,
         createdAt: loaded.body.tasks[0].createdAt,
       },