rttui

A terminal user interface for Remember The Milk.

Browse, search, add, and complete tasks without leaving the terminal.

Features

• Task list grouped by date bucket: Overdue, Today, Tomorrow, day-of-week, No Due Date
• Within each bucket, tasks sorted by priority then due time
• Color-coded priority bar on each task (red = high, yellow = medium, blue = low)
• RTM filter search with vim-style navigation
• Smart task input with syntax highlighting for due dates, priorities, lists, tags, and recurrence
• Completes tasks in-place and refreshes the list

Requirements

• Go 1.22+
• A Remember The Milk account
• An RTM API key and shared secret — request one at https://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/api/

Setup

1. Clone and build:

git clone <repo>
cd rttui
go build -o rttui .

2. Set your credentials as environment variables:

export RTM_API_KEY=<your api key>
export RTM_SHARED_SECRET=<your shared secret>

See .envrc.example for a 1Password reference pattern if you use direnv + 1Password CLI.

3. Run:

./rttui

On first run, rttui will print an authorization URL. Open it in your browser, grant access, then press Enter. The token is saved to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/rttui/token (typically ~/.config/rttui/token) and reused on subsequent runs.

Configuration

rttui reads an optional config file at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/rttui/config.json (typically ~/.config/rttui/config.json). All fields are optional.

{
  "default_filter": "list:Inbox",
  "add_preset": "list:Chores",
  "refresh_interval_secs": 120
}

Field	Description
default_filter	RTM filter applied on startup when no CLI argument is given
add_preset	Text pre-filled in the add bar when pressing n; cursor is placed after it so you can type the task name immediately. Backspace to remove it.
refresh_interval_secs	How often (in seconds) tasks are automatically refreshed from the server. Defaults to 60. Set to a negative value to disable auto-refresh.

Usage

./rttui [filter]

Pass an optional RTM filter string as an argument to pre-filter the task list on startup. This overrides default_filter from the config file. Uses the same syntax as RTM's advanced search (e.g. "list:Work AND priority:1").

Keybindings

Key	Action
j / k or arrow keys	Move up/down
/	Open search bar
n	Add a new task
c	Complete selected task
r	Refresh tasks from server
q / ctrl+c	Quit

Search bar

The search bar accepts any RTM filter expression. It supports vim-style editing:

Key	Action
Enter	Submit search
Esc (insert mode)	Switch to normal mode
Esc (normal mode)	Close search bar
i / a / A / I	Enter insert mode
h / l	Move cursor left/right
w / b	Jump word forward/backward
0 / $	Jump to start/end of line
x	Delete character under cursor

Adding tasks (Smart Add)

Press n to open the add bar. The input supports a Smart Add syntax with live syntax highlighting:

Prefix	Meaning	Example
!1 !2 !3	Priority (high/medium/low)	!1
^	Due date	^tomorrow, ^friday
#	List	#Work
%	Tag	%errand
*	Recurrence	*weekly

Press Enter to submit, Esc to cancel.

The %tag syntax is a local convenience — rttui converts it to #tag when sending to RTM, since RTM uses # for both lists and tags.