Task Tracker CLI

A simple command-line interface (CLI) application for tracking and managing your daily tasks. This project was built as part of the roadmap.sh task tracker project to practice CLI development and file handling in Python.

Features

• ✅ Add new tasks with unique IDs
• ✏️ Update existing task descriptions
• 🗑️ Delete tasks by ID
• 📋 List all tasks or filter by status
• 🔄 Mark tasks as in-progress or completed
• 💾 Persistent storage using JSON file
• ⏰ Automatic timestamps for creation and updates

Requirements

• Python 3.6 or higher
• No external dependencies (uses only Python standard library)

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/ashrithvm/task-tracker-cli.git
   cd task-tracker-cli

2. Make the script executable (optional):

   chmod +x task_cli.py

3. (Optional but Recommended) Create a Symbolic Link: To make the command available system-wide, create a symbolic link to it in a directory that is in your system's PATH. A common location is /usr/local/bin.

   sudo ln -s "$(pwd)/task_cli.py" /usr/local/bin/task-cli

   You can now run your application from any directory in the terminal like this:

   task-cli add "Finish my project"

Usage

Adding a new task

task-cli add "Buy groceries"

Updating a task

task-cli update 1 "Buy groceries and cook dinner"

Deleting a task

task-cli delete 1

Marking a task as in progress

task-cli mark-in-progress 1

Marking a task as done

task-cli mark-done 1

Listing tasks

List all tasks:

task-cli list

List tasks by status:

# List only todo tasks
task-cli list todo

# List only in-progress tasks
task-cli list in-progress

# List only completed tasks
task-cli list done

Getting help

task-cli --help

Task Properties

Each task contains the following properties:

• id: A unique identifier for the task
• description: A short description of the task
• status: The status of the task (todo, in-progress, done)
• createdAt: The date and time when the task was created
• updatedAt: The date and time when the task was last updated

Data Storage

Tasks are stored in a tasks.json file in the same directory as the script. The file is created automatically when you add your first task.

Example JSON structure:

[
    {
        "id": 1,
        "description": "Buy groceries",
        "status": "todo",
        "createdAt": "2025-09-27T10:30:00.123456",
        "updatedAt": "2025-09-27T10:30:00.123456"
    },
    {
        "id": 2,
        "description": "Walk the dog",
        "status": "in-progress",
        "createdAt": "2025-09-27T11:00:00.654321",
        "updatedAt": "2025-09-27T11:15:00.789012"
    }
]

Project Structure

task-tracker-cli/
├── task_cli.py      # Main CLI script
├── tasks.json       # Task data storage (created automatically)
└── README.md        # Project documentation

Implementation Details

The project implements the following core functionalities as specified in the roadmap.sh project requirements:

1. Task Management: Add, update, and delete tasks
2. Status Tracking: Three status levels (todo, in-progress, done)
3. Persistent Storage: JSON file-based storage
4. CLI Interface: Command-line argument parsing using argparse
5. Data Validation: Input validation and error handling
6. Timestamps: Automatic tracking of creation and update times

Error Handling

The application includes robust error handling for common scenarios:

• Invalid task IDs
• Invalid status values
• Missing or corrupted JSON files
• Invalid command-line arguments

Contributing

This is a learning project, but contributions are welcome! Here's how you can contribute:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Future Enhancements

Some ideas for extending this project:

• Task priorities (high, medium, low)
• Due dates and reminders
• Task categories/tags
• Export to different formats (CSV, PDF)
• Task search functionality
• Undo/redo operations
• Task dependencies
• Time tracking for tasks

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

Acknowledgments

• roadmap.sh for providing the project specifications
• Python community for excellent documentation and resources

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Happy task tracking! 🚀