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no-nonsense-tasks skill

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This skill provides a no-nonsense SQLite-backed task manager to track tasks by status, description, and tags for personal and project workflows.

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SKILL.md

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---
name: no-nonsense-tasks
description: No-nonsense task manager using SQLite. Track tasks with statuses (backlog, todo, in-progress, done), descriptions, and tags. Use when managing personal tasks, to-do items, project tracking, or any workflow that needs status-based task organization. Supports adding, listing, filtering, updating, moving, and deleting tasks.
---

# No Nonsense Tasks

Simple SQLite-backed task tracking. No fluff, no complexity, just tasks that get done.

## Prerequisites

- `sqlite3` CLI tool must be installed

## Quick Start

Initialize the database:

```bash
./scripts/init_db.sh
```

Add your first task:

```bash
./scripts/task_add.sh "Build task tracker skill" \
  --description "Create a SQLite-based task manager" \
  --tags "work,urgent" \
  --status todo
```

List all tasks:

```bash
./scripts/task_list.sh
```

## Task Statuses

Tasks flow through four statuses:

- **backlog** - Ideas and future tasks
- **todo** - Ready to work on
- **in-progress** - Currently being worked on
- **done** - Completed tasks

## Commands

### Initialize Database

```bash
./scripts/init_db.sh
```

Default location: `~/.no-nonsense/tasks.db`  
Override with: `export NO_NONSENSE_TASKS_DB=/path/to/tasks.db`

### Add Task

```bash
./scripts/task_add.sh <title> [options]
```

**Options:**
- `-d, --description TEXT` - Task description
- `-t, --tags TAGS` - Comma-separated tags
- `-s, --status STATUS` - Task status (default: backlog)

**Example:**
```bash
./scripts/task_add.sh "Deploy to prod" --description "Deploy v2.0" --tags "deploy,critical" --status todo
```

### List Tasks

```bash
./scripts/task_list.sh [--status STATUS]
```

**Examples:**
```bash
./scripts/task_list.sh              # All tasks
./scripts/task_list.sh --status todo
```

### Show Task Details

```bash
./scripts/task_show.sh <task_id>
```

### Move Task to Different Status

```bash
./scripts/task_move.sh <task_id> --status <STATUS>
```

**Example:**
```bash
./scripts/task_move.sh 7 --status in-progress
```

### Update Task Fields

```bash
./scripts/task_update.sh <task_id> [options]
```

**Options:**
- `--title TEXT` - Update title
- `-d, --description TEXT` - Update description
- `-t, --tags TAGS` - Update tags (comma-separated)
- `-s, --status STATUS` - Update status

### Update Tags (Shortcut)

```bash
./scripts/task_tag.sh <task_id> --tags <TAGS>
```

**Example:**
```bash
./scripts/task_tag.sh 8 --tags "urgent,bug,frontend"
```

### Filter by Tag

```bash
./scripts/task_filter.sh <tag>
```

### Delete Task

```bash
./scripts/task_delete.sh <task_id>
```

### View Statistics

```bash
./scripts/task_stats.sh
```

Shows count of tasks by status and total.

## Usage Tips

**Typical workflow:**

1. Add new ideas to backlog: `task_add.sh "Task idea" --status backlog`
2. Move tasks to todo when ready: `task_move.sh <id> --status todo`
3. Start work: `task_move.sh <id> --status in-progress`
4. Complete: `task_move.sh <id> --status done`

**Tag organization:**

- Use tags for categories: `work`, `personal`, `urgent`, `bug`, `feature`
- Combine tags: `urgent,work,api` or `personal,home,shopping`
- Filter by any tag: `task_filter.sh urgent`

**Status filtering:**

- Focus on current work: `task_list.sh --status in-progress`
- Plan your day: `task_list.sh --status todo`
- Review completed: `task_list.sh --status done`

Overview

This skill is a no-nonsense SQLite-backed task manager for simple, status-driven task tracking. It focuses on core task operations — add, list, filter, update, move, and delete — with lightweight tag support and a small set of statuses. It’s ideal for users who want straightforward, scriptable task management without web UIs or heavy dependencies.

How this skill works

The skill stores tasks in a local SQLite database (default: ~/.no-nonsense/tasks.db) and provides shell scripts to operate on that database. Each task has a title, description, comma-separated tags, and one of four statuses: backlog, todo, in-progress, or done. Scripts handle initializing the DB, adding tasks, listing and filtering by status or tag, showing details, moving between statuses, updating fields, and deleting tasks.

When to use it

You want a minimal, local task tracker with no external services.
You prefer CLI/scriptable workflows and automation hooks.
You need status-based organization (backlog → todo → in-progress → done).
You want lightweight tagging and simple filters for prioritization.
You need an archiveable, single-file SQLite datastore for backups.

Best practices

Keep titles concise and use the description for details to make lists scannable.
Use a small consistent set of tags (e.g., work, personal, urgent, bug) for predictable filtering.
Move tasks through statuses as work progresses: backlog → todo → in-progress → done.
Back up the SQLite file regularly or set NO_NONSENSE_TASKS_DB to a versioned path for snapshots.
Use scripts in automation (cron, CI, or shell aliases) to seed daily todo lists or generate reports.

Example use cases

Capture quick ideas to backlog and triage them later with tags and status moves.
Prepare a daily worklist by listing tasks with status todo or in-progress.
Track feature work or bugfixes using tags to group related items across projects.
Automate task creation from other tools by calling task_add.sh in scripts or webhooks.
Generate simple statistics or reports of task counts by status for weekly reviews.

FAQ

How do I change the database location?

Set the NO_NONSENSE_TASKS_DB environment variable to the desired path before running scripts.

What statuses are supported and can I add more?

Supported statuses are backlog, todo, in-progress, and done. The scripts and schema are built for these four; adding new statuses requires editing the scripts and schema accordingly.