Taskwarrior
I ended up with a mess after half a year trying to use every feature of Taskwarrior. It’s time to focus on building solid knowledge one step at a time.
What Is Taskwarrior?
Taskwarrior helps you manage tasks and ideas from the command line. It provides a convenient interface, assuming your idea of convenient is a rich collection of commands you can enter, customize, and pipe to other utilities.
Starting from scratch
I archived my confused earlier attempts at usage. Here I am with a fresh slate.
$ task –-version
2.5.1
$ task
[task next] No matches.
When you don’t tell task what you want, it assumes by default that you want to
see your next report. You can customize many aspects of Taskwarrior, but for
my own understanding I will not look at customization today.
The Tutorial, Summarized
Let’s review the 30-Second Tutorial.
add- creates a new task
done- marks a task as complete
delete- marks a task as deleted
next- show a report listing tasks in decreasing order of Urgency
Taskwarrior calculates Urgency based on multiple factors, including your own
priority: ranking. I plan to ignore Urgency and priority until life no
longer seems sorted into “it’s on fire” and “it’s just an idea.”
I’ll add a few tasks.
$ task add knit fingerless gloves
Created task 1.
$ task add write about Taskwarrior
Created task 2.
$ task add get a size G crochet hook
Created task 3.
$ task next
ID Age Description Urg
1 29s knit fingerless gloves 0
2 14s write about Taskwarrior 0
3 1s get a size G crochet hook 0
I added that last one about the crochet hook to convince myself to get off my tush and go get that hook from my friendly Local Yarn Store. Give me a minute.
Okay, done.
$ task 3 done
Completed task 3 'get a size G crochet hook'.
Completed 1 task.
What about delete? Say I want to see a movie this weekend.
$ task add go see that movie
Created task 3.
Turns out it’s not in theaters anymore. I need to pay closer attention to these things.
delete lets you abandon a task.
$ task 3 delete
Delete task 3 'go see that movie'? (yes/no) yes
Deleting task 3 'go see that movie'.
Deleted 1 task.
Those are the core Taskwarrior commands. It’s enough to make and manage a useful task list.
A few more “core” commands
I consider a few more features core to my own Taskwarrior experience.
- editing a task
- recording a completed task that I never added
- reporting my completed tasks
modify
I see a typo in my task descriptions. modify helps there.
$ task 1 modify crochet fingerless gloves
Modifying task 1 'crochet fingerless gloves'.
Modified 1 task.
log and completed
I don’t just track things I want to do. I track things I did. I feel better on
days when I barely dent my next list but can point to other accomplishments.
$ task log mailed presents
Logged task 0ef63b0b-ba36-495c-8684-d2c45258ea3d.
The completed report shows my completed tasks, including those I logged and
those marked done.
$ task completed
ID UUID Created Completed Age Description
- 20334a63 2017-12-01 2017-12-01 20h get a size G crochet hook
- 0ef63b0b 2017-12-02 2017-12-02 19s mailed presents
2 tasks
Taskwarrior tells you all sorts of interesting things about your tasks with a wealth of reports] Explore them!
Projects
It can be demoralizing to have one huge task that just sits there forever, even though you work on it and make progress. A good way to keep yourself motivated is to split it into smaller subtasks. Taskwarrior does that with projects.
Let’s go with a knit vest that I have almost finished.
$ task add knit vest project:ruana
Created task 3.
The project 'ruana' has changed. Project 'ruana' is 0% complete (1 task remaining).
$ task next
ID Age Project Description Urg
3 3s ruana knit vest 1
1 20h crochet fingerless gloves 0
2 20h write about Taskwarrior 0
Hey look a column for Urgency. Ignoring that.
$ task add finish vest project:ruana
$ task add knit belt project:ruana
$ task add block vest project:ruana
$ task add blog about vest project:ruana
Knitting the vest itself is still the largest task, but at least I have some additional information about the other tasks involved in the project.
What does my task list look like now?
$ task next
ID Age Project Description Urg
3 4min ruana knit vest 1
4 3min ruana finish vest 1
5 3min ruana knit belt 1
6 3min ruana block vest 1
7 2s ruana blog about vest 1
1 20h crochet fingerless gloves 0
2 20h write about Taskwarrior 0
Tags
Taskwarrior lets us add text tags to describe aspects of the task that may be useful beyond its description or project.
Indicate a tag by prefixing it with +.
$ task modify 1 +crochet
Modifying task 1 'crochet fingerless gloves'.
Modified 1 task.
The next report includes a new column for tags now.
$ task next
ID Age Project Tag Description Urg
3 7min ruana knit vest 1
4 7min ruana finish vest 1
5 6min ruana knit belt 1
6 6min ruana block vest 1
7 3min ruana blog about vest 1
1 20h crochet crochet fingerless gloves 0.8
2 20h write about Taskwarrior 0
Oh look.
Assigning a tag gave an Urgency to task the +crochet task. Still ignoring
it.
I added little information putting +crochet on a task that I already described
with “crochet,” but tags make convenient filters for Taskwarrrior commands and
reports.
Filters
Filters let you work with a defined set of tasks.
$ task 3-7 modify +knitting
- Tags will be set to 'knitting'.
Modify task 3 'knit vest'? (yes/no/all/quit) all
Modifying task 3 'knit vest'.
Modifying task 4 'finish vest'.
Modifying task 5 'knit belt'.
Modifying task 6 'block vest'.
Modifying task 7 'blog about vest'.
Modified 5 tasks.
Project 'ruana' is 0% complete (5 of 5 tasks remaining).
What if the tasks aren’t right next to each other? No problem.
$ task 2,7 modify +blog
Modifying task 2 'write about Taskwarrior'.
Modifying task 7 'blog about vest'.
Modified 2 tasks.
Project 'ruana' is 0% complete (5 of 5 tasks remaining).
How have these modifications changed my next report?
$ task next
ID Age Project Tag Description Urg
7 8min ruana blog knitting blog about vest 1.9
3 12min ruana knitting knit vest 1.8
4 12min ruana knitting finish vest 1.8
5 12min ruana knitting knit belt 1.8
6 11min ruana knitting block vest 1.8
1 20h crochet crochet fingerless gloves 0.8
2 20h blog write about Taskwarrior 0.8
Filters work on reports, too.
$ task 3-7 next
ID Age Project Tag Description Urg
7 11min ruana blog knitting blog about vest 1.9
3 15min ruana knitting knit vest 1.8
4 15min ruana knitting finish vest 1.8
5 15min ruana knitting knit belt 1.8
6 14min ruana knitting block vest 1.8
5 tasks
What if I filter to a single ID without a command?
$ task 1
No command specified - assuming 'information'.
Name Value
ID 1
Description crochet fingerless gloves
Status Pending
Entered 2017-12-01 14:49:32 (20h)
Last modified 2017-12-02 11:08:25 (18min)
Tags crochet
Virtual tags PENDING READY TAGGED UNBLOCKED
UUID fadd9280-6796-4fe9-9f97-0a3ff0f5fd4b
Urgency 0.8
tags 0.8 * 1 = 0.8
------
0.8
Date Modification
2017-12-02 10:51:12 Description changed from 'knit fingerless gloves' to 'crochet fingerless gloves'.
2017-12-02 11:08:25 Tags set to 'crochet'.
I get a lot of stuff I’m not ready for yet. I’ll come back to this some other day.
Filters don’t have to be task IDs. Use plain text to filter based on task description.
$ task gloves
[task next ( gloves )]
ID Age Tag Description Urg
1 20h crochet crochet fingerless gloves 0.8
1 task
Prefix with + for a tag filter.
$ task +blog
[task next ( +blog )]
ID Age Project Tag Description Urg
7 12min ruana blog knitting blog about vest 1.9
2 20h blog write about Taskwarrior 0.8
2 tasks
Prefix with - to show tasks that do not have a particular tag.
$ task -knitting
[task next ( -knitting )]
ID Age Tag Description Urg
1 20h crochet crochet fingerless gloves 0.8
2 20h blog write about Taskwarrior 0.8
Prefix with project: to list tasks associated with a particular project.
$ task project:ruana
[task next ( project:ruana )]
ID Age Project Tag Description Urg
7 12min ruana blog knitting blog about vest 1.9
3 16min ruana knitting knit vest 1.8
4 15min ruana knitting finish vest 1.8
5 15min ruana knitting knit belt 1.8
6 15min ruana knitting block vest 1.8
5 tasks
Org mode lets you write quick notes about a task. Can Taskwarrior do that?
Of course it can!
Annotations
Annotations let you add a one line note to a task.
$ task knit vest annotate pattern at http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/ruana-style-vest
Annotating task 3 'knit vest'.
Annotated 1 task.
Project 'ruana' is 0% complete (5 of 5 tasks remaining).
Taskwarrior presents these annotations with their tasks in reports.
$ task project:ruana
[task next ( project:ruana )]
ID Age Project Tag Description Urg
3 24min ruana knitting knit vest 2.6
2017-12-02 pattern at http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/ruana-style-vest
7 20min ruana blog knitting blog about vest 1.9
4 24min ruana knitting finish vest 1.8
5 24min ruana knitting knit belt 1.8
6 24min ruana knitting block vest 1.8
Notice how a task’s Urgency automatically increases as we add more information to it? I know — I’m still ignoring it, but it does make it convenient that the tasks I spend more time on in Taskwarrior get pushed to the top.
Anyways I’m done knitting the vest.
$ task 3 done
Completed task 3 'knit vest'.
Completed 1 task.
The project 'ruana' has changed. Project 'ruana' is 20% complete (4 of 5 tasks remaining).
Oops
Let’s go shopping!
$ task add groceries +misc project:home
Created task 7.
The project 'home' has changed. Project 'home' is 0% complete (1 task remaining).
Sometimes I need to remove a tag, or remove a task from a project.
Prefixing the tag with - in a modify command removes that tag.
$ task groceries modify -misc +food
Modifying task 7 'groceries'.
Modified 1 task.
Project 'home' is 0% complete (1 task remaining).
home isn’t a project — at least not in this context.
Assigning an empty project removes a task’s project connection.
$ task groceries modify project:
Modifying task 7 'groceries'.
Modified 1 task.
Summary
Here’s what I have so far for my task list, without work stuff because you
don’t need to know about that.
$ task -work
[task next ( -work )]
ID Age Project Tag Description Urg
6 1h ruana blog knitting blog about vest 1.9
3 1h ruana knitting finish vest 1.8
4 1h ruana knitting knit belt 1.8
5 1h ruana knitting block vest 1.8
2 21h blog taskwarrior Taskwarrior tags, projects, annotations, filters 1.7
2017-12-02 basic flow done
7 22min food shopping groceries 1.7
2017-12-02 shopping list done
8 14min blog taskwarrior Taskwarrior due dates, priorities, recurrences 0.9
15 5min clothes shopping get winter coat 0.9
1 21h crochet crochet fingerless gloves 0.8
16 9s visit library 0
10 tasks
That’s enough for now. I feel comfortable using Taskwarrior to manage and describe my tasks. Next time I write about Taskwarrior I might choose to focus on tiny pieces so I can post more often.
$ task 2 done
Completed task 2 'Taskwarrior tags, projects, annotations, filters'.
Completed 1 task.
You have more urgent tasks.
Oh hush, you. I’ll get to Urgency when I feel like it.