🎯 Task Priority API

An intelligent REST API that automatically prioritizes your tasks using a smart scoring algorithm. Unlike basic todo lists, this API considers multiple factors (urgency, importance, effort, deadline proximity, and dependencies) to tell you exactly what you should work on next.

✨ What Makes This Unique?

• Intelligent Priority Scoring: Automatically calculates priority scores based on multiple weighted factors
• Smart Recommendations: Suggests the next best task to work on
• Dependency Tracking: Tasks can depend on other tasks; blocked tasks get lower priority
• Deadline Awareness: Priority increases as deadlines approach
• Effort Optimization: Considers task effort in priority calculations
• Productivity Analytics: Track completion rates and performance metrics

🚀 Getting Started

Installation

cd task-priority-api
npm install

Run the Server

npm start

Or for development with auto-reload:

npm run dev

The API will be available at http://localhost:3000

📖 API Documentation

Base URL

http://localhost:3000

Endpoints

1. Get API Info

GET /

Returns API documentation and available endpoints.

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2. Get All Tasks

GET /api/tasks
GET /api/tasks?completed=false

Query Parameters:

• completed (optional): true or false to filter by completion status

Response:

{
  "count": 2,
  "tasks": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "title": "Finish project proposal",
      "description": "Complete the Q4 project proposal for client review",
      "urgency": 9,
      "importance": 10,
      "estimatedEffort": 3,
      "deadline": "2025-10-15",
      "dependencies": [],
      "completed": false,
      "createdAt": "2025-10-11T...",
      "priorityScore": 87.25,
      "daysUntilDeadline": 4,
      "isBlocked": false
    }
  ]
}

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3. Get Tasks Sorted by Priority

GET /api/tasks/priority

Returns incomplete tasks sorted by priority score (highest first).

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4. Get Next Recommended Task

GET /api/tasks/next

Returns the highest priority unblocked task you should work on next, plus alternatives.

Response:

{
  "message": "This is your highest priority task",
  "task": {
    "id": 1,
    "title": "Finish project proposal",
    "priorityScore": 87.25,
    ...
  },
  "alternativeTasks": [...]
}

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5. Get Specific Task

GET /api/tasks/:id

Example:

GET /api/tasks/1

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6. Create New Task

POST /api/tasks
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "title": "Review code",
  "description": "Review pull requests",
  "urgency": 7,
  "importance": 8,
  "estimatedEffort": 2,
  "deadline": "2025-10-13",
  "dependencies": []
}

Required Fields:

• title (string)

Optional Fields:

• description (string)
• urgency (number 1-10, default: 5) - How urgent is this?
• importance (number 1-10, default: 5) - How important is this?
• estimatedEffort (number 1-10, default: 5) - How much work is required?
• deadline (ISO date string, optional)
• dependencies (array of task IDs, default: [])

Response: Returns created task with priority score (201 Created)

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7. Update Task

PUT /api/tasks/:id
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "title": "Updated title",
  "urgency": 9,
  "importance": 10
}

Updates any fields provided. Fields not included remain unchanged.

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8. Mark Task as Complete

PATCH /api/tasks/:id/complete

Marks a task as completed and records completion timestamp.

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9. Delete Task

DELETE /api/tasks/:id

Permanently deletes a task.

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10. Get Productivity Statistics

GET /api/stats

Response:

{
  "totalTasks": 10,
  "completedTasks": 6,
  "incompleteTasks": 4,
  "overdueTasks": 1,
  "highPriorityTasks": 2,
  "completionRate": 60,
  "averagePriorityScore": 65.5
}

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🧮 Priority Score Algorithm

The priority score (0-100) is calculated using:

Priority = (Urgency × 0.30) + (Importance × 0.35) + (Effort × 0.15) + (Deadline × 0.20)

Factors:

1. Urgency (30% weight): How urgent is the task?
2. Importance (35% weight): How important is it strategically?
3. Effort (15% weight): Lower effort = higher priority (quick wins!)
4. Deadline (20% weight): Closer deadlines = higher priority
   • Overdue: Maximum score
   • Due today: 95% score
   • Due tomorrow: 90% score
   • Due in 2-3 days: 70% score
   • Due this week: 40% score
   • Due later: 10% score

Dependency Penalty:

Tasks with incomplete dependencies get their priority reduced by 70% (blocked tasks).

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🎯 Example Usage

Create a high-priority task

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/tasks \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "title": "Fix critical bug",
    "description": "Production bug affecting users",
    "urgency": 10,
    "importance": 10,
    "estimatedEffort": 2,
    "deadline": "2025-10-12"
  }'

Get your next task

curl http://localhost:3000/api/tasks/next

Mark task as complete

curl -X PATCH http://localhost:3000/api/tasks/1/complete

Check your stats

curl http://localhost:3000/api/stats

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🛠️ Use Cases

• Personal Productivity: Manage your daily tasks intelligently
• Team Task Management: API for building team productivity apps
• Project Planning: Track project tasks with dependencies
• Time Management: Optimize what to work on next
• Deadline Tracking: Never miss important deadlines
• Analytics: Track productivity trends over time

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🔮 Future Enhancements

Potential features to add:

• User authentication & multi-user support
• Database persistence (PostgreSQL/MongoDB)
• Recurring tasks
• Task categories/tags
• Time tracking per task
• Machine learning to improve priority predictions based on your behavior
• Email/push notifications for high-priority tasks
• Integration with calendar apps
• Team collaboration features
• GraphQL endpoint

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🏗️ Tech Stack

• Node.js - Runtime
• Express.js - Web framework
• CORS - Cross-origin support
• Pure JavaScript - No database required (uses in-memory storage)

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📝 License

MIT License - Feel free to use this in your projects!

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👨‍💻 Author

Param Patel

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🤝 Contributing

Feel free to fork, improve, and submit pull requests!

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Happy prioritizing! 🎯