Taskwarrior is a time and task management tool (terminal) | Hacker News Reader

Taskwarrior is a time and task management tool (terminal)

taskwarrior.org

77 pointsadulau31 comments

I've been using Taskwarrior for a few weeks as my primary task manager, and I have to say it's a beautiful extension of the principles of Todo.[txt/sh]. The only thing missing for me is the ability to apply modifications to filters instead of needing to use explicit task ID lists. For example:

  task proj:Foo due:tomorrow

Instead of:

  task 1,2,3,7,10-12 due:tomorrow.

For oh-my-zsh users, I've got an open pull request for adding a Taskwarrior autocompletion plugin:

https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/pull/370

The intelligent completion lowers the barrier to task entry even further.

You may also want to try using a combination of Taskwarrior's shell mode and rlwrap, which has become my main usage method:

  `alias ts=rlwrap -i -r -C task task shell`

Combine this with a drop-down terminal like Guake or tilda, and you've got text-based-tasklist-anywhere nirvana.

I've used Taskwarrior (`task`) since last summer to manage my to-do list.

I'm a big fan of simple, console-based tools, so Taskwarrior was right up my alley. Best of all, since I have Taskwarrior on my Linode, I can SSH in to view, add or complete tasks from any computer or even my phone!

If you're looking to finally start doing your to-do list, Taskwarrior can be a great aid.

I use Task on my Linode too. I have the output of "task list" cronned to a text file under a virtual host. The file uses auth-based htaccess rules, and I have the unique user/pass saved in the URL bookmarked on my machine.

I usually have a terminal window open, but it's nice to be able to click the bookmark bar and have it right there. I also have a widget that pulls in text files, so I can see my tasks at a glance by moving the cursor to the top-left of my screen.

Taskwarrior is great. Like david_shaw said, if you're looking to finally start doing your to-do list, use Taskwarrior.

There is an excellent tutorial available on youtube:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-abs0s8uis Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuiSbMS0_5g

These are significantly easier to follow than the article. Thanks.

The calendar in the screenshot is misleading; the power of this tool comes from: (1) being always available (who doesn't have a terminal open?) and (2) having a powerful command language.

It's the only todo tool that I actually use. It removes the friction of having to have a web-based one open, find the window/tab, click on the appropriate textbox, etc.

The devs listen to comments, and think carefully new features. I was added to the list of contributors for 2.0 just because of an idea I suggested. Very active project. Cannot recommend enough. Our startup uses it instead of a whiteboard.

> It's the only todo tool that I actually use. It removes the friction of having to have a web-based one open, find the window/tab, click on the appropriate textbox, etc.

That is the same reason why I use org-mode in emacs. I dont even need to change the window. I just type in the minibuffer the todo item and voila, added to my plain text org file.

> (who doesn't have a terminal open?)

Really?

1. Every non programmer / IT guy in the world. 2. Some of the programmers (me included) who do not work with Linux environments or who abstracted the terminals using some other tool.

Well this tool is clearly not for you guys :) Actually guys who like the terminal try to abstract everything to use the terminal (taskwarrior is a perfect example of this). Of course all this is subjective and based on personal taste.

I had no idea what that thing was from reading the overview page. Reading some of the comments here I've got a better idea. Someone should let them know.

I had exactly the same reaction to the overview. Their introduction has a surprisingly of business-speak for a FOSS project: "Taskwarrior is an ambitious project bringing sophisticated capabilities to a simple and elegant productivity tool." It's a command-line todo list.

Despite the confusing overview, it looks highly polished and to be under active development. I wonder how well the device syncing works.

We changed it picking up your advice, please have a look.

Looking for a minimal time-sheet management software at work, I found taskwarrior. I was looking for something reasonable to use (not one of those "web 2.0" interfaces where you have to click on five different links to just stop/start a task).

Taskwarrior seems very handy especially when you are all day long in your terminal and don't want to interfere with your work for doing some "reporting". But there is a missing way to get the time spent on a task/project. It seems to be a recurring request: http://taskwarrior.org/boards/6/topics/79 but I haven't found any feature doing it. Beside that, it seems quite nifty.

You could try 'task X start' and 'task X stop', this is what we use to see how long things take. but yes, no reporting...

Nice one, for more on this see the Active Tasks section in the tutorial: http://taskwarrior.org/projects/taskwarrior/wiki/Tutorial

I feel as if I have tried near every to-do, GTD, or similar type app on the desktop and web and there is one feature that is always, without fail, missing and one that usually is.

The first is the ability to allot to a task how long it should take (E.g. Buy milk - 15m, Create wireframe for client x - 30m). The only place I have ever seen it, as far as I can recall, is Action Method.

The second is the one you mentioned.

Admittedly they are both quite similar though there is a distinct difference in usage.

Not to be "that guy", but have you tried org-mode? It has an "effort estimate"[1] feature, which lets you estimate how long you think a task will take. It's also got good time clocking features, so you can compare how close you were. I don't use it to estimate my effort, so not sure how effective or useful it is in practice.

[1] http://orgmode.org/manual/Effort-estimates.html

I've actually never heard of org-mode before. :) In order to use it, how well versed does one need to be in Emacs?

Hm. I'd have to say "somewhat well versed". org-mode was actually the catalyst that made me switch to using emacs, and the learning curve is on the steeper side. The time to overcome the learning curve may not be worth it only for org-mode, but if you were interested in checking out emacs in its own right, org-mode is a darn good reason to! :-)

www.toggl.com

Toggl looks cool but it is a separate time tracking app. Think there is a real desire for an app that does both the todo management and time tracking in one.

Edit: seems that Taskwarrior does do time tracking after all. See my other comment for more on this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2597117

Has anyone used both Taskwarrior and org-mode? Any words of wisdom?

Hi, I've been an user of both. I wrote about Taskwarrior here: http://www.mostlymaths.net/2011/03/using-taskwarrior-instead...

I am using it more often than org-mode, mainly because it works very well in my Ben Nanonote, and org mode does not work as well.

It is very good, but org-mode is more flexible (as everything in emacs is) and covers a wider range. Tw is more like the "do one thing and do it well" Linux command line style tools.

I'm a big fan of org-mode but mostly because emacs is great and it is useful for more than just todo lists. I end up using org-mode to organize lots of different things. It is great.

Here's a vi keys centric todo tool: http://cauterized.net/~meskio/tudu/

anyone knows if there is a way to sync this with the cloud so it can be used between computers?

The actual task information is stored in your home directory. I use it on a Linode and stay connected all day (cloud enough for me :) ) I've seen other people use it with Dropbox, which would fulfill the syncing requirement.

There's a guy on the forums that developed a RoR frontend for it too: https://github.com/theunraveler/taskwarrior-web

I'm using Dropbox. And then,

$ task config data.location /home/dir/Dropbox/tasks

seems good. but one of the best features of a console app is to simply copy/paste some sample session...

they only have one screenshot of the calendar...

i installed it in ubuntu and am still fiddling with the website looking for how to add tasks.

Also, as guy who sent some humble patches so that remind, pscal, can work with exchange file formats and pscal can download holidays from google calendar, I'm questioning if that shouldn't only be a front end for remind.

You want to add a task?

  task add "this is the task description"

i got that far with the help, but had a mind fart when trying to add a dead line... help just says:

task add [tags] [attrs] desc... Adds a new task.

anyway, my point was not asking for support. it was to remember people that create console apps, that the best feature the application have, is that you can do what the application is supposed to do (e.g. create one simple task, one complex one, show the calendar, mark one as done, show the calendar again) and simply copy and paste, not matter how long, on the first page of your project.

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