anthrax3 / whatnext

A simple, lightweight task/issue tracker

Whatnext

Whatnext is a lightweight tool to keep you on track. It is a simple shell layer over the file system designed for use from the command line or in scripts. Combined with source control, it allows for powerful tracking of what you should do next.

Each task is a file on your computer. Task requirements, notes, completion estimates, and deadlines can go there, but whatnext doesn't care. These files are grouped together into folders called projects. Managing a project as a git repository allows for collaboration and history control beyond most dedicated task management systems.

Usage

whatnext [echo]

Displays the path of the current task and its contents, if it exists. If there is no current task, the tasks in the queue will be display. If no tasks are queued, all open tasks will be displayed.

whatnext add <project> <task_name>

Creates a new task under the heading <project> and opens the underlying file for editing. <project> is created if is does not exist.

whatnext queue <project> <task_name>

Marks a task as ready to be worked on. A task that does not exist will be created as with whatnext add. Finished tasks can be added back to the queue by prepending a . to their names.

whatnext start <project> <task_name>

Marks a task as the current one being worked on and opens the underlying file for editing. It must be in the queue before it can be started. Started tasks remain in the queue until they are complete and can be preempted at any time.

whatnext finish

Marks a task as complete and opens the underlying file for editing. This removes it from the queue and prepends a . to underlying file so it is does not clutter up the output of other commands (unless you are looking for it). It then prompts you to select another task (starting with the project you were working on).

whatnext open [<project> <task_name>]

Opens the underlying file for editing. It defaults to the current task if not specified.

whatnext ls

Lists all tasks that are queued. If no tasks are queued, all open tasks will be displayed.

whatnext tree

Runs tree on the whatnext directory for examination. Requires the tree program to be installed.

whatnext grep <project> [options] <pattern>

Searches through the project for files with names or contents matching <pattern>. Any options provided are passed straight through to grep.

Installation

Put the whatnext file somewhere in your path, make it executable, and source the whatnext-ac.sh file in your .bashrc if you want tab completion (requires bash-completion to be installed). Alias whatnext to wn for even more speed (be sure to add complete -F _whatnext wn to your .bashrc if you don't want to lose tab completion).