Taskwarrior
Encyclopedia
Taskwarrior is an open-source, cross platform time
Time management
Time management is the act or process of exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific...

 and task management
Task management
Task management is the process of managing a task through its life cycle, including planning, testing, tracking and reporting. Task management can help either individuals achieve goals, or groups of individuals collaborate and share knowledge for the accomplishment of collective goals...

 tool. It has a command-line interface
Command-line interface
A command-line interface is a mechanism for interacting with a computer operating system or software by typing commands to perform specific tasks...

 rather than a graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...

.

Taskwarrior uses concepts and techniques described in Getting Things Done
Getting Things Done
Getting Things Done is an organizational method created by productivity consultant David Allen, described in a book of the same name....

by David Allen
David Allen (author)
David Allen is a productivity consultant who is best known as the creator of the time management method known as "Getting Things Done" .He grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana where he acted and won a state championship in debate...

, but is paradigm-agnostic in that it does not require users to adhere to any given life-management philosophy.

According to its author, Taskwarrior was created "to address layout and feature issues" in the Todo.txt applications popularized by Gina Trapani
Gina Trapani
Gina Marie Trapani is an American tech blogger, web developer, and writer.Trapani founded the Lifehacker blog in January 2005, and led it until January 2009. She co-hosts a netcast on the TWiT.tv network called with Leo Laporte and Jeff Jarvis. She also hosted twelve episodes of Work Smart, a...

.

Availability

Taskwarrior's source code is freely available and can be compiled and run on a variety of architectures and operating systems, or installed using binaries obtained with common package management tools: (apt
Advanced Packaging Tool
The Advanced Packaging Tool, or APT, is a free user interface that works with core libraries to handle the installation and removal of software on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution and its variants...

, Fink
Fink
The Fink project is an effort to port and package open-source Unix programs to Mac OS X. Fink uses dpkg and APT , as well as its own frontend program, fink ....

, yum, etc.)

Typical Workflow

Taskwarrior comprises three main commands: add, list, and done. All other functionality – recurrences, tags, priorities, etc. – are optional.

Listing Tasks


$ task list

ID Project Pri Due Active Age Description
1 4 secs Pick up keys to the new apartment

1 task

Marking a task as completed

$ task 1 done
Completed 1 'Pick up keys to the new apartment'.
Marked 1 task as done.

Creating a task with due dates, recurrences, and tags

$ task add Mow the lawn project:Lawnwork due:tomorrow recur:biweekly +home
Created task 1.

Quotes

The Amazing Frankie

Amongst all these rapaciously expanding project management systems, there's this little thing called Taskwarrior. It's pretty fucking zen. Just a package to install, and then it's you, the command line, and a tutorial. It's a good tutorial, plain English. You can follow it at four in the morning with sand in your eyes after the caffeine has worn off. And it's got these layers. You've got the basics within a few minutes, adding and deleting tasks, setting due dates. You know, the stuff you want one of those life organizing solutions to do. And then, it's got this glorious complexity: interdependent tasks, linked together like paper-clips; waiting tasks, invisible until it's their time, or you summon them; charts, reports, filters, and schedules."


ports at openbsd.org

It's kind of a TODO list on steroids.


pleia2's blog

So I’ve been busy, but a major helper through all of this is my new favorite task manager: Taskwarrior. Nathan Haines recommended it to me a couple weeks ago, it’s an amazing CLI-based program that I now can’t live without.

Accolades

  • Issue 124 of the UK Linux Format
    Linux Format
    Linux Format was the UK's first Linux-specific magazine, and is currently the best-selling Linux title in the UK. It is also exported to many countries worldwide. It is published by Future Publishing...

     magazine (November 2009) featured Taskwarrior in its Hot Picks section.
  • RadioTux
    RadioTux
    RadioTux is a German internet radio show. The topics are mostly around free and open source software, free operating systems like *BSD and Linux, as well as on sociopolitical issues...

     Talk #137 (July 2011, German) chose Taskwarrior as Hot Pick
  • FLOSS Weekly
    FLOSS Weekly
    FLOSS Weekly is a free software / open source themed podcast from the TWiT Network. The show premiered on April 7, 2006, and features prominent guests from the free software/open source community. It was originally hosted by Leo Laporte; his cohost for the first seventeen episodes was Chris DiBona...

     dedicated episode 175 (July 2011) to Taskwarrior
  • Taskwarrior featured in Hacker News
    Hacker News
    Hacker News is a social news website about computer hacking and startup companies, run by Paul Graham's funding firm Y Combinator. It is different from other social news websites in that there is no option to down vote submissions; submissions can either be voted up or not voted on at all...


See also

  • Getting Things Done
    Getting Things Done
    Getting Things Done is an organizational method created by productivity consultant David Allen, described in a book of the same name....

  • Time management
    Time management
    Time management is the act or process of exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific...

  • Task management
    Task management
    Task management is the process of managing a task through its life cycle, including planning, testing, tracking and reporting. Task management can help either individuals achieve goals, or groups of individuals collaborate and share knowledge for the accomplishment of collective goals...

  • Self-management
    Self-management
    Self-management means different things in different fields:* In business, education, and psychology, self-management refers to methods, skills, and strategies by which individuals can effectively direct their own activities toward the achievement of objectives, and includes goal setting, decision...

  • OmniFocus
    OmniFocus
    OmniFocus is a personal task manager by The Omni Group for Mac OS X and iOS. The declared goal of the program is to be able to capture thoughts and ideas into to do lists....

  • Things (application)
    Things (application)
    Things is a personal task management application for Mac OS X made by Cultured Code, a software startup based in Stuttgart, Germany. Its 1.0 release was on January 6, 2009...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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