--- name: "todo" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "todoman" version: "4.7.0-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/todo" --- # todo(1) a simple, standards-based, cli todo manager ## NAME todo - a simple, standards-based, cli todo manager ## TODO Usage ``` todo [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]... ``` Options - **-v, --verbosity \** Either CRITICAL, ERROR, WARNING, INFO or DEBUG - **--colour, --color \** By default todoman will disable colored output if stdout is not a TTY (value *auto*). Set to *never* to disable colored output entirely, or *always* to enable it regardless. - **Options** always \| auto \| never - **--porcelain** Use a JSON format that will remain stable regardless of configuration or version. - **-h, --humanize** Format all dates and times in a human friendly way - **-c, --config \** The config file to use. - **--version** Show the version and exit. Environment variables - **TODOMAN\_CONFIG** Provide a default for **--config** Commands - **cancel** Cancel one or more tasks. - **copy** Copy tasks to another list. - **delete** Delete tasks. - **done** Mark one or more tasks as done. - **edit** Edit the task with id ID. - **flush** Delete done tasks. - **list** List tasks (default). - **lists** Returns all the lists - **move** Move tasks to another list. - **new** Create a new task with SUMMARY. - **path** Print the path to a task's file. - **repl** Start an interactive shell. - **show** Show details about a task. ## DESCRIPTION Todoman is a simple, standards-based, cli todo (aka: task) manager. Todos are stored into *icalendar* files, which means you can sync them via *CalDAV* using, for example, *vdirsyncer*. ## USAGE Todoman usage is CLI \ based (thought there are some TUI bits, and the intentions is to also provide a fully TUI \-based interface). The default action is **list**, which outputs all tasks for all calendars, each with a semi-permanent unique id: ``` 1 [ ] !!! 2015-04-30 Close bank account @work (0%) 2 [ ] ! Send minipimer back for warranty replacement @home (0%) 3 [X] 2015-03-29 Buy soy milk @home (100%) 4 [ ] !! Fix the iPad's screen @home (0%) 5 [ ] !! Fix the Touchpad battery @work (0%) ``` The columns, in order, are: - • An id. - • Whether the task has been completed or not. - • An **!!!** indicating high priority, **!!** indicating medium priority, **!** indicating low priority tasks. - • The due date. - • The task summary. - • The list the todo is from; it will be hidden when filtering by one list, or if the database only contains a single list. - • The completed percentage. The id is retained by **todoman** until the next time you run the **flush** command. To operate on a todo, the id is what's used to reference it. For example, to edit the *Buy soy milk* task from the example above, the proper command is **todo edit 3**, or **todo undo 3** to un-mark the task as done. Editing tasks can only be done via the TUI interface for now, and cannot be done via the command line yet. ## SYNCHRONIZATION If you want to synchronize your tasks, you'll need something that syncs via CalDAV. vdirsyncer \ is the recommended tool for this. ## INTERACTIVE SHELL If click-repl \ is installed, todoman supports the **repl** command, which launches an interactive shell with tab-completion. ## INTEGRATIONS When attempting to integrate **todoman** into other systems or parse its output, you're advised to use the **--porcelain** flag, which will print all output in a pre-defined format that will remain stable regardless of user configuration or version. The format is JSON, with a single array containing each todo as a single entry (object). Fields will always be present; if a todo does not have a value for a given field, it will be printed as **null**. Fields MAY be added in future, but will never be removed. ### Conky Todoman can be used with Conky \ by using one of the shell execution variables \. Given the nature of pimutils utilities, there is no need to query new information every time conky updates so **execi** will be the best option most of the time. Adding **${execi 30 todo}** inside the text section will display the output of the command and update it every 30 seconds. A working configuration can be found here \. ## SORTING The tasks can be sorted with the **--sort** argument. Sorting may be done according to the following fields: - • **description** - • **location** - • **status** - • **summary** - • **uid** - • **rrule** - • **percent\_complete** - • **priority** - • **sequence** - • **categories** - • **completed\_at** - • **created\_at** - • **dtstamp** - • **start** - • **due** - • **last\_modified** It is possible to prepend a **-** to a field to sort by that field in ascending order (by default they are sorted in descending order). Example: ``` todo list --sort due,-priority ``` ## CONFIGURING You'll need to configure Todoman before the first usage, using its simple ini-like configuration file. ## CONFIGURATION FILE The configuration file should be placed in **$XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/todoman/config.py**. **$XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME** defaults to **~/.config** is most situations, so this will generally be **~/.config/todoman/config.py**. - **cache\_path** The location of the cache file (an sqlite database). This file is used to store todo data and speed up execution/startup, and also contains the IDs for todos. If the value is not specified, a path relative to **$XDG\_CACHE\_HOME** will be used. **$XDG\_CACHE\_HOME** generally resolves to **~/.cache/**. - **type** str - **default** **"$XDG\_CACHE\_HOME/todoman/cache.sqlite3"** - **color** By default todoman will disable colored output if stdout is not a TTY (value **auto**). Set to **never** to disable colored output entirely, or **always** to enable it regardless. This can be overridden with the **--color** option. - **type** str - **default** **"auto"** - **date\_format** The date format used both for displaying dates, and parsing input dates. If this option is not specified the system locale's is used. - **type** str - **default** **"%x"** - **default\_command** When running **todo** with no commands, run this command. - **type** str - **default** **"list"** - **default\_due** The default difference (in hours) between new todo's due date and creation date. If not specified, the value is 24. If set to 0, the due date for new todos will not be set. - **type** int - **default** **24** - **default\_list** The default list for adding a todo. If you do not specify this option, you must use the **--list** / **-l** option every time you add a todo. - **type** str - **default** **None** - **default\_priority** The default priority of a task on creation. Highest priority is 1, lowest priority is 10, and 0 means no priority at all. - **type** int - **default** **None** - **dt\_separator** The string used to separate date and time when displaying and parsing. - **type** str - **default** **" "** - **humanize** If set to true, datetimes will be printed in human friendly formats like "tomorrow", "in one hour", "3 weeks ago", etc. If false, datetimes will be formatted using **date\_format** and **time\_format**. - **type** bool - **default** **False** - **path** A glob pattern matching the directories where your todos are located. This pattern will be expanded, and each matching directory (with any icalendar files) will be treated as a list. - **type** str - **default** **"~/calendars/"** - **startable** If set to true, only show todos which are currently startable; these are todos which have a start date today, or some day in the past. Todos with no start date are always considered current. Incomplete todos (eg: partially-complete) are also included. - **type** bool - **default** **False** - **time\_format** The date format used both for displaying times, and parsing input times. - **type** str - **default** **"%X"** ## SAMPLE CONFIGURATION The below example should serve as a reference. It will read ics files from any directory inside **~/.local/share/calendars/**, uses the ISO-8601 date format, and set the due date for new todos in 48hs. ``` # A glob expression which matches all directories relevant. path = "~/my_calendars/*" date_format = "%Y-%m-%d" time_format = "%H:%M" default_list = "Personal" default_due = 48 ``` ## COLOR AND DISPLAYNAME - • You can set a color for each task list by creating a **color** file containing a color code in the hex format: **#RRGGBB**. - • A file named **displayname** indicates how the task list should be named and is needed when there are multiple directories sharing a name, e.g.: when using multiple $CloudInstances. The default is the directory name. See also relevant documentation for the vdir format \. ## TIMEZONE Todoman will use the system-wide configured timezone. If this doesn't work for you, you \_may\_ override the timezone by specifying the **TZ** environment variable. For instruction on changing your system's timezone, consult your distribution's documentation. ## CAVEATS Support for the **percent-completed** attribute is incomplete. Todoman can only mark todos as completed (100%), and will not reflect nor allow editing for values for **percent \> 0 ^ percent \< 100**. ## CONTRIBUTING For information on contributing, see: \ ## LICENCE Todoman is licensed under the ISC licence. See LICENCE for details. ## Author Hugo Osvaldo Barrera \, et al ## Copyright 2015-2023, Hugo Osvaldo Barrera