task - Man Page

• Add a new task which is due tomorrow: task add description due:tomorrow
• Update a task's priority: task task_id modify priority:H|M|L
• Complete a task: task task_id done
• Delete a task: task task_id delete
• List all open tasks: task list
• List open tasks due before the end of the week: task list due.before:eow
• Show a graphical burndown chart, by day: task burndown.daily
• List all reports: task reports

tldr.sh

task <filter> <command> [ <mods> | <args> ]
task --version

Taskwarrior is a command line todo list manager. It maintains a list of tasks that you want to do, allowing you to add/remove, and otherwise manipulate them. Taskwarrior has a rich set of subcommands that allow you to do various things with it.

At the core, Taskwarrior is a list processing program. You add text and additional related parameters and redisplay the information in a nice way.  It turns into a todo list program when you add due dates and recurrence. It turns into an organized todo list program when you add priorities, tags (one word descriptors), project groups, etc.

The <filter> consists of zero or more search criteria that select tasks.  For example, to list all pending tasks belonging to the 'Home' project:

 task project:Home list

You can specify multiple filter terms, each of which further restricts the result:

 task project:Home +weekend garden list

This example applies three filters: the 'Home' project, the 'weekend' tag, and the description or annotations must contain the character sequence 'garden'. In this example, 'garden' is translated internally to:

 description.contains:garden

as a convenient shortcut.  The 'contains' here is an attribute modifier, which is used to exert more control over the filter than simply absence or presence. See the section 'Attribute Modifiers' below for a complete list of modifiers.

Note that a filter may have zero terms, which means that all tasks apply to the command.  This can be dangerous, and this special case is confirmed, and cannot be overridden.  For example, this command:

 task modify +work
 This command has no filter, and will modify all tasks.  Are you sure? (yes/no)

will add the 'work' tag to all tasks, but only after confirmation.

More filter examples:

 task                                      <command> <mods>
 task 28                                   <command> <mods>
 task +weekend                             <command> <mods>
 task +bills due.by:eom                    <command> <mods>
 task project:Home due.before:today        <command> <mods>
 task ebeeab00-ccf8-464b-8b58-f7f2d606edfb <command> <mods>

By default filter elements are combined with an implicit 'and' operator, but 'or' and 'xor' may also be used, provided parentheses are included:

 task '( /[Cc]at|[Dd]og/ or /[0-9]+/ )'      <command> <mods>

The parentheses isolate the logical term from any default command filter or implicit report filter which would be combined with an implicit 'and'.

A filter may target specific tasks using ID or UUID numbers.  To specify multiple tasks use one of these forms (space-separated list of ID numbers, UUID numbers or ID ranges):

 task 1 2 3                                    delete
 task 1-3                                      info
 task 1 2-5 19                                 modify pri:H
 task 4-7 ebeeab00-ccf8-464b-8b58-f7f2d606edfb info

Note that it may be necessary to properly escape special characters as well as quotes in order to avoid their special meanings in the shell. See also the section 'Specifying Descriptions' for more information.

The <mods> consist of zero or more changes to apply to the selected tasks, such as:

 task <filter> <command> project:Home
 task <filter> <command> +weekend +garden due:tomorrow
 task <filter> <command> Description/annotation text
 task <filter> <command> /from/to/     <- replace first match
 task <filter> <command> /from/to/g    <- replace all matches

Taskwarrior supports different kinds of commands.  There are read commands, write commands, miscellaneous commands and script helper commands.  Read commands do not allow modification of tasks.  Write commands can alter almost any aspect of a task.  Script helper commands are provided to help you write add-on scripts, for example, shell completion (only minimal output is generated, as with verbose=nothing). Those commands which are explicitly affected by the context are denoted as such.

Reports are read subcommands. There are several reports currently predefined in Taskwarrior. The output and sort behavior of these reports can be configured in the configuration file. See also the man page taskrc(5).  There are also other read subcommands that are not reports.

task --version

This is the only conventional command line argument that Taskwarrior supports, and is intended for add-on scripts to verify the version number of an installed Taskwarrior without invoking the mechanisms that create default files.

task <filter>

With no command specified, the default command is run, and the filter applied.

task <filter> active

Shows all tasks matching the filter that are started but not completed.

task <filter> all

Shows all tasks matching the filter, including parents of recurring tasks.

task <filter> blocked

Shows all tasks matching the filter, that are currently blocked by other tasks.

task <filter> blocking

Shows all tasks matching the filter, that block other tasks.

task <filter> burndown.daily

Shows a graphical burndown chart, by day. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> burndown.weekly

Shows a graphical burndown chart, by week.  Note that 'burndown' is an alias to the 'burndown.weekly' report. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> burndown.monthly

Shows a graphical burndown chart, by month. Is affected by the context.

task calendar [due|<month> <year>|<year>] [y]

Shows a monthly calendar with due tasks marked.  Shows one horizontal line of months.  If the 'y' argument is provided, will show at least one complete year. If a year is provided, such as '2015', then that full year is shown.  If both a month and a year are specified ('6 2015') then the months displayed begin at the specified month and year.  If the 'due' argument is provided, will show the starting month of the earliest due task.

task colors [<sample> | legend]

Displays all possible colors, a named sample, or a legend containing all currently defined colors.

task columns [<substring>]

Displays all supported columns and formatting styles.  Useful when creating custom reports.  If a substring is provided, only matching column names are shown.

task commands

Shows all the supported commands, with some details of each.

task <filter> completed

Shows all tasks matching the filter that are completed.

task <filter> count

Displays only a count of tasks matching the filter. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> export

Exports all tasks in the JSON format.  Redirect the output to a file, if you wish to save it, or pipe it to another command or script to convert it to another format. You'll find these example scripts online at <https://taskwarrior.org/tools/>:

 export-csv.pl
 export-sql.py
 export-xml.py
 export-yaml.pl
 export-html.pl
 export-tsv.pl
 export-xml.rb
 export-ical.pl
 export-xml.pl
 export-yad.pl

task <filter> ghistory.annual

Shows a graphical report of task status by year.

task <filter> ghistory.monthly

Shows a graphical report of task status by month.  Note that 'ghistory' is an alias to 'ghistory.monthly'.

task <filter> ghistory.weekly

Shows a graphical report of task status by week.

task <filter> ghistory.daily

Shows a graphical report of task status by day.

task help

Shows the long usage text.

task <filter> history.annual

Shows a report of task history by year. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> history.monthly

Shows a report of task history by month.  Note that 'history' is an alias to 'history.monthly'. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> history.weekly

Shows a report of task history by week. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> history.daily

Shows a report of task history by day. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> ids

Applies the filter then extracts only the task IDs and presents them as a space-separated list.  This is useful as input to a task command, to achieve this:

 task $(task project:Home ids) modify priority:H

This example first gets the IDs for the project:Home filter, then sets the priority to H for each of those tasks.  This can also be achieved directly:

 task project:Home modify priority:H

This command is mainly of use to external scripts.

task <filter> uuids

Applies the filter on all tasks (even deleted and completed tasks) then extracts only the task UUIDs and presents them as a space-separated list. This is useful as input to a task command, to achieve this:

 task $(task project:Home status:completed uuids) modify status:pending

This example first gets the UUIDs for the project:Home and status:completed filters, then makes each of those tasks pending again.

This command is mainly of use to external scripts.

task udas

Shows a list of UDAs that are defined, including their name, type, label and allowed values.  Also shows UDA usage and any orphan UDAs.

task <filter> information

Shows all data and metadata for the specified tasks.  This is the only means of displaying all aspects of a given task, including the change history.

task <filter> list

Provides a standard listing of tasks matching the filter.

task <filter> long

Provides the most detailed listing of tasks matching the filter.

task <filter> ls

Provides a short listing of tasks matching the filter.

task <filter> minimal

Provides a minimal listing of tasks matching the filter.

task <filter> newest

Shows the newest tasks matching the filter.

task <filter> next

Shows a page of the most urgent tasks, sorted by urgency, which is a calculated value.

task <filter> ready

Shows a page of the most urgent ready tasks, sorted by urgency with started tasks first. A ready task is one that is either unscheduled, or has a scheduled date that is past and is not waiting.

task <filter> oldest

Shows the oldest tasks matching the filter.

task <filter> overdue

Shows all incomplete tasks matching the filter that are beyond their due date.

task <filter> projects

Lists all project names that are currently used by pending tasks, and the number of tasks for each. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> recurring

Shows all recurring tasks matching the filter.

task <filter> unblocked

Shows all tasks that are not currently blocked by other tasks, matching the filter.

task <filter> waiting

Shows all waiting tasks matching the filter.

task add <mods>

Adds a new pending task to the task list. It is affected by the currently set context.

task <filter> annotate <mods>

Adds an annotation to an existing task.

task <filter> append <mods>

Appends description text to an existing task.

task <filter> delete <mods>

Deletes the specified task from task list. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> denotate <mods>

Deletes an annotation for the specified task. If the provided description matches an annotation exactly, the corresponding annotation is deleted. If the provided description matches annotations partly, the first partly matched annotation is deleted. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> done <mods>

Marks the specified task as done. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> duplicate <mods>

Duplicates the specified task and allows modifications. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> edit

Launches a text editor to let you modify all aspects of a task directly. In general, this is not the recommended method of modifying tasks, but is provided for exceptional circumstances.  Use carefully. Is affected by the context.

task import [<file> ...]

Imports tasks in the JSON format.  Can be used to add new tasks, or update existing ones.  Tasks are identified by their UUID.

If no file or "-" is specified, import tasks from STDIN.

Setting rc.recurrence.confirmation to an appropriate level is recommended if import is to be used in automated workflows.  See taskrc(5).

For importing other file formats, the standard task release comes with a few example scripts, such as:

 import-todo.sh.pl
 import-yaml.pl

task log <mods>

Adds a new task that is already completed, to the task list. It is affected by the currently set context.

task <filter> modify <mods>

Modifies the existing task with provided information.

task <filter> prepend <mods>

Prepends description text to an existing task. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> purge

Permanently removes the specified tasks from the data files. Only tasks that are already deleted can be purged. This command has a local-only effect and changes introduced by it are not synced. Is affected by the context.

Warning: causes permanent, non-revertible loss of data.

task <filter> start <mods>

Marks the specified tasks as started. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> stop <mods>

Removes the start time from the specified task. Is affected by the context.

Miscellaneous subcommands either accept no command line arguments, or accept non-standard arguments.

task calc <expression>

Evaluates an algebraic expression. Can be used to test how Taskwarrior parses and evaluates the expression given on the command line.

Examples:

   task calc 1 + 1
   2

   task calc now + 8d
   2015-03-26T18:06:57

   task calc eom
   2015-03-31T23:59:59

task config [<name> [<value> | '']]

Add, modify and remove settings directly in the Taskwarrior configuration. This command either modifies the 'name' setting with a new value of 'value', or adds a new entry that is equivalent to 'name=value':

   task config name value

This command sets a blank value.  This has the effect of suppressing any default value:

   task config name ''

Finally, this command removes any 'name=...' entry from the .taskrc file:

   task config name

task context <name>

Sets the currently active context. See the Context section.

Example:

   task context work

task context delete <name>

Deletes the context with the name <name>. If the context being deleted is currently set as active, it will be unset.

Example:

   task context delete work

task context define <name> <filter>

Defines a new context with name <name> and definition <filter>. This command does not affect the currently set context, just adds a new context definition.

Examples:

   task context define work project:Work
   task context define home project:Home or +home
   task context define superurgent due:today and +urgent

task context list

Outputs a list of available contexts along with their definitions.

task context none

Clears the currently active context, if any was set.

task context show

Shows the currently active context, along with its definition.

task diagnostics

Shows diagnostic information, of the kind needed when reporting a problem. When you report a bug, it is likely that the platform, version, and environment are important.  Running this command generates a summary of similar information that should accompany a bug report.

It includes compiler, library and software information.  It does not include any personal information, other than the location and size of your task data files.

This command also performs a diagnostic scan of your data files looking for common problems, such as duplicate UUIDs.

task execute <external command>

Executes the specified command.  Not useful by itself, but when used in conjunction with aliases and extensions can provide seamless integration.

task logo

Displays the Taskwarrior logo.

task news

Guides the user through important release notes anytime a new version of Taskwarrior is installed. It provides personalized feedback, deprecation warnings and usage advice, where applicable.

task reports

Lists all supported reports.  This includes the built-in reports, and any custom reports you have defined.

task show [all | <substring>]

Shows all the current settings.  If a substring is specified just the settings containing that substring will be displayed.

task <filter> stats

Shows statistics of the tasks defined by the filter. Is affected by the context.

task <filter> summary

Shows a report of aggregated task status by project. Is affected by the context.

task sync [init]

The sync command synchronizes data with the Taskserver, if configured.

The init subcommand should only ever be run once, and only on one client, because it sends all data to the Taskserver. This allows all the subsequent sync commands to only send small deltas.

Note: If you use multiple sync clients, make sure this setting (which is the default) is on your primary client:

 recurrence=on

and on all other clients (this is not the default):

 recurrence=off

This is a workaround to avoid a recurrence bug that duplicates recurring tasks.

task <filter> tags

Show a list of all tags used. Any special tags used are highlighted. Note that virtual tags are not listed - they don't really exist, and are just a convenient notation for other task metadata. It is an error to attempt to add or remove a virtual tag. Is affected by the context.

task timesheet [<weeks>]

Shows a weekly report of tasks completed and started.

task undo

Reverts the most recent action.  Obeys the confirmation setting.

task version

Shows the Taskwarrior version number.

task _aliases

Generates a list of all aliases, for autocompletion purposes.

task _columns

Displays only a list of supported columns.

task _commands

Generates a list of all commands, for autocompletion purposes.

task _config

Lists all supported configuration variables, for completion purposes.

task _context

Lists all available context variables, for completion purposes.

task <filter> _ids

Shows only the IDs of matching tasks, in the form of a list. Deprecated in favor of _unique.

task _show

Shows the combined defaults and overrides of the configuration settings, for use by third-party applications.

task <filter> _unique <attribute>

Reports a unique set of attribute values. For example, to see all the active projects:

 task +PENDING _unique project

task <filter> _uuids

Shows only the UUIDs of matching tasks among all tasks (even deleted and completed tasks), in the form of a list. Deprecated in favor of _unique.

task _udas

Shows only defined UDA names, in the form of a list.

task <filter> _projects

Shows only a list of all project names used. Deprecated in favor of _unique.

task <filter> _tags

Shows only a list of all tags used, for autocompletion purposes. Deprecated in favor of _unique.

task <filter> _urgency

Displays the urgency measure of a task.

task _version

Shows only the Taskwarrior version number.

task _zshcommands

Generates a list of all commands, for zsh autocompletion purposes.

task <filter> _zshids

Shows the IDs and descriptions of matching tasks.

task <filter> _zshuuids

Shows the UUIDs and descriptions of matching tasks.

task _get <DOM> [<DOM> ...]

Accesses and displays the DOM reference(s).  Used to extract individual values from tasks, or the system.  Supported DOM references are:

 rc.<name>
 tw.syncneeded
 tw.program
 tw.args
 tw.width
 tw.height
 tw.version
 context.program    (Deprecated in 2.6.0)
 context.args       (Deprecated in 2.6.0)
 context.width      (Deprecated in 2.6.0)
 context.height     (Deprecated in 2.6.0)
 system.version
 system.os
 <id>.<attribute>
 <uuid>.<attribute>

Note that the 'rc.<name>' reference may need to be escaped using '--' to prevent the reference from being interpreted as an override.

Note that if the DOM reference is not valid, or the reference evaluates to a missing value, the command exits with 1.

Additionally, some components of the attributes of particular types may be extracted by DOM references.

 $ task _get 2.due.year
 2015

For a full list of supported attribute-specific DOM references, consult the online documentation at: <https://taskwarrior.org/docs/dom.html>

ID

Tasks can be specified uniquely by IDs, which are simply the indexes of the tasks in the data file.  The ID of a task may therefore change, but only when a command is run that displays IDs.  When modifying tasks, it is safe to rely on the last displayed ID.  Always run a report to check you have the right ID for a task. IDs can be given to task as a sequence, for example,
task 1,4-10,19 delete

+tag|-tag

Tags are arbitrary words associated with a task. Use + to add a tag and - to remove a tag from a task. A task can have any quantity of tags.

Certain tags (called 'special tags'), can be used to affect the way tasks are treated.  For example, if a task has the special tag 'nocolor', then it is exempt from all color rules.  The supported special tags are:

   +nocolor     Disable color rules processing for this task
   +nonag       Completion of this task suppresses all nag messages
   +nocal       This task will not appear on the calendar
   +next        Elevates task so it appears on 'next' report

There are also virtual tags, which represent task metadata in tag form.  These tags do not exist, but can be used to filter tasks.  The supported virtual tags are:

   ACTIVE       Matches if the task is started
   ANNOTATED    Matches if the task has annotations
   BLOCKED      Matches if the task is blocked
   BLOCKING     Matches if the task is blocking
   CHILD        Matches if the task has a parent (deprecated in 2.6.0)
   COMPLETED    Matches if the task has completed status
   DELETED      Matches if the task has deleted status
   DUE          Matches if the task is due
   INSTANCE     Matches if the task is a recurrent instance
   LATEST       Matches if the task is the newest added task
   MONTH        Matches if the task is due this month
   ORPHAN       Matches if the task has any orphaned UDA values
   OVERDUE      Matches if the task is overdue
   PARENT       Matches if the task is a parent (deprecated in 2.6.0)
   PENDING      Matches if the task has pending status
   PRIORITY     Matches if the task has a priority
   PROJECT      Matches if the task has a project
   QUARTER      Matches if the task is due this quarter
   READY        Matches if the task is actionable
   SCHEDULED    Matches if the task is scheduled
   TAGGED       Matches if the task has tags
   TEMPLATE     Matches if the task is a recurrence template
   TODAY        Matches if the task is due today
   TOMORROW     Matches if the task is due sometime tomorrow
   UDA          Matches if the task has any UDA values
   UNBLOCKED    Matches if the task is not blocked
   UNTIL        Matches if the task expires
   WAITING      Matches if the task is waiting
   WEEK         Matches if the task is due this week
   YEAR         Matches if the task is due this year
   YESTERDAY    Matches if the task was due sometime yesterday

You can use +BLOCKED to filter blocked tasks, or -BLOCKED for unblocked tasks. Similarly, -BLOCKED is equivalent to +UNBLOCKED. It is an error to attempt to add or remove a virtual tag.

project:<project-name>

Specifies the project to which a task is related to.

priority:H|M|L or priority:

Specifies High, Medium, Low and no priority for a task.

due:<due-date>

Specifies the due-date of a task.

recur:<frequency>

Specifies the frequency of a recurrence of a task.

scheduled:<ready-date>

Specifies the date after which a task can be accomplished.

until:<expiration date of task>

Specifies the expiration date of a task, after which it will be deleted.

limit:<number-of-rows>

Specifies the desired number of tasks a report should show, if a positive integer is given.  The value 'page' may also be used, and will limit the report output to as many lines of text as will fit on screen.  This defaults to 25 lines.

wait:<wait-date>

When a task is given a wait date, it is hidden from most built-in reports, which exclude +WAITING.  When the date is in the past, the task is not considered +WAITING, and again becomes visible.  Note that, for compatibilty, such tasks are shown as having status "waiting", but this will change in a future release.

depends:<id1,id2 ...>

Declares this task to be dependent on id1 and id2.  This means that the tasks id1 and id2 should be completed before this task.  Consequently, this task will then show up on the 'blocked' report.  It accepts a comma-separated list of ID numbers, UUID numbers and ID ranges.  When prefixing any element of this list by '-', the specified tasks are removed from the dependency list.

entry:<entry-date>

For report purposes, specifies the date that a task was created.

Attribute modifiers improve filters.  Supported modifiers are:

They can be applied to all regular attributes (see above) and the following calculated attributes:

For example:

The before modifier is used to compare values, preserving semantics, so project.before:B list all projects that begin with 'A'.  Priority 'L' is before 'M', and due:2011-01-01 is before due:2011-01-02.  The synonyms 'under' and 'below' are included to allow filters that read more naturally.

The after modifier is the inverse of the before modifier.

The by modifier is the same as 'before', except it also includes the moment in question.  For example:

   task add test due:eoy

will be found when using the inclusive filter 'by':

   task due.by:eoy

but not when the non-inclusive filter 'before' is used:

   task due.before:eoy

this applies equally to other named dates such as 'eom', 'eod', etc; the modifier compares using '<=' rather than '<' like 'before' does.

The none modifier requires that the attribute does not have a value.  For example:

   task priority:      list
   task priority.none: list

are equivalent, and list tasks that do not have a priority.

The any modifier requires that the attribute has a value, but any value will suffice.

The is modifier requires an exact match with the value.

The isnt modifier is the inverse of the is modifier.

The has modifier is used to search for a substring, such as:

   task description.has:foo list
   task foo                 list

These are equivalent and will return any task that has 'foo' in the description or annotations.

The hasnt modifier is the inverse of the has modifier.

The startswith modifier matches against the left, or beginning of an attribute, such that:

   task project.startswith:H list
   task project:H            list

are equivalent and will match any project starting with 'H'.  Matching all projects not starting with 'H' is done with:

   task project.not:H         list

The endswith modifier matches against the right, or end of an attribute.

The word modifier requires that the attribute contain the whole word specified, such that this:

   task description.word:bar list

Will match the description 'foo bar baz' but does not match 'dog food'.

The noword modifier is the inverse of the word modifier.

You can use the following operators in filter expressions:

 and  or  xor  !               Logical operators
 <  <=  =  ==  !=  !==  >=  >  Relational operators
 (  )                          Precedence

For example:

 task due.before:eom priority.not:L list
 task '( due < eom or priority != L )' list
 task '! ( project:Home or project:Garden )' list

The = operator tests for approximate equality.  Dates compare equal if they are on the same day (hour and minutes are ignored). Strings compare equal if the left operand starts with the right operand. The == operator tests for exact equality.  The != and !== operators are the negation of = and == respectively.  The negation operator is !.

Note that the parentheses are required when using a logical operator other than the 'and' operator.  The reason is that some reports contain filters that must be combined with the command line.  Consider this example:

 task project:Home or project:Garden list

While this looks correct, it is not.  The 'list' report contains a filter of:

 task show report.list.filter

 Config Variable    Value
 -----------------  --------------
 report.list.filter status:pending

Which means the example is really:

 task status:pending project:Home or project:Garden list

The implied 'and' operator makes it:

 task status:pending and project:Home or project:Garden list

This is a precedence error - the 'and' and 'or' need to be grouped using parentheses, like this:

 task status:pending and ( project:Home or project:Garden ) list

The original example therefore must be entered as:

 task '( project:Home or project:Garden )' list

This includes quotes to escape the parentheses, so that the shell doesn't interpret them and hide them from Taskwarrior.

There is redundancy between operators, attribute modifiers and other syntactic sugar.  For example, the following are all equivalent:

 task foo                      list
 task /foo/                    list
 task description.contains:foo list
 task description.has:foo      list
 task 'description ~ foo'      list

Context is a user-defined query, which is automatically applied to all commands that filter the task list and to commands that create new tasks (add, log). For example, any report command will have its result affected by the current active context.  Here is a list of the commands that are affected:

   add
   burndown
   count
   delete
   denotate
   done
   duplicate
   edit
   history
   log
   prepend
   projects
   purge
   start
   stats
   stop
   summary
   tags

All other commands are NOT affected by the context.

   $ task list
   ID Age Project  Description        Urg
   1  2d  Sport    Run 5 miles        1.42
   2  1d  Home     Clean the dishes   1.14

   $ task context home
   Context 'home' set. Use 'task context none' to remove.

   $ task list
   ID Age Project  Description        Urg
   2  1d  Home     Clean the dishes   1.14
   Context 'home' set. Use 'task context none' to remove.

Task list got automatically filtered for project:Home.

   $ task add Vaccuum the carpet
   Created task 3.
   Context 'home' set. Use 'task context none' to remove.

   $ task list
   ID Age Project  Description         Urg
   2  1d  Home     Clean the dishes    1.14
   3  5s  Home     Vaccuum the carpet  1.14
   Context 'home' set. Use 'task context none' to remove.

Note that the newly added task "Vaccuum the carpet" has "project:Home" set automatically.

As seen in the example above, context is applied by specifying its name to the "context" command. To change the currently applied context, just pass the new context's name to the 'context' command.

To unset any context, use the 'none' subcommand.

   $ task context none
   Context unset.

   $ task list
   ID Age Project  Description         Urg
   1  2d  Sport    Run 5 miles         1.42
   2  1d  Home     Clean the dishes    1.14
   3  7s  Home     Vaccuum the carpet  1.14

Context can be defined using the 'define' subcommand, specifying both the name of the new context, and it's assigned filter.

   $ task context define home project:Home
   Are you sure you want to add 'context.home.read' with a value of 'project:Home'? (yes/no) yes
   Are you sure you want to add 'context.home.write' with a value of 'project:Home'? (yes/no) yes
   Context 'home' successfully defined.

Note that you were separately prompted to set the 'read' and 'write' context. This allows you to specify contexts that only work for reporting commands or only for commands that create tasks.

To remove the definition, use the 'delete' subcommand.

   $ task context delete home
   Are you sure you want to remove 'context.home.read'? (yes/no) yes
   Are you sure you want to remove 'context.home.write'? (yes/no) yes
   Context 'home' deleted.

To check what is the currently active context, use the 'show' subcommand.

   $ task context show
   Context 'home' with

   * read filter: '+home'
   * write filter: '+home'

   is currently applied.

Contexts can store arbitrarily complex filters.

   $ task context define family project:Family or +paul or +nancy
   Are you sure you want to add 'context.family.read' with a value of 'project:Family or +paul or +nancy'? (yes/no) yes
   Are you sure you want to add 'context.family.write' with a value of 'project:Family or +paul or +nancy'? (yes/no) no
   Context 'family' successfully defined.

Contexts are permanent, and the currently set context name is stored in the "context" configuration variable. The context definition is stored in the "context.<name>.read" configuration variable (for reporting commands) and "context.<name>.write" configuration variable (for task additions, i.e. task add/log).

Note that in the example above, the user decided not to define the complex filter as writeable context. The reason for this decision is that the complex filter in the example does not directly translate to a modification. In fact, if such a context is used as a writeable context, the following happens:

   $ task add Call Paul
   Created task 4.
   Context 'family' set. Use 'task context none' to remove.

   $ task 4 list
   ID Age  Project Tags       Description      Urg
    4 9min Family  nancy paul or or Call Paul    0

There is no clear mapping between the complex filter used and the modifications (should only the project be set? only the tags? both?). Additionally note the 'or' operators being present in the description. Taskwarrior does not try to guess the user intention here, and instead, the user is expected to set the "context.<name>.write" variable to make their intention explicit, for example:

   $ task config context.family.write project:Family
   Are you sure you want to change the value of 'context.family.write' from 'project:Family or +paul or +nancy' to 'project:Family'? (yes/no) yes
   Config file /home/tbabej/.config/task/taskrc modified.

   $ task context
   Name   Type  Definition                        Active
   family read  project:Family or +paul or +nancy yes
          write project:Family                    yes
   home   read  +home                             no
          write +home                             no

Note how read and write contexts differ for context "family", while for context "home" they stay the same.

In addition, every configuration parameter can be overridden for the current context, by specifying context.<name>.rc.<parameter>. For example, if the default command for the family context should be displaying the family_report:

   $ task config context.family.rc.default.command family_report

All Taskwarrior commands may be abbreviated as long as a unique prefix is used, for example:

is an unambiguous abbreviation for

but

could be list, ls or long.

Note that you can restrict the minimum abbreviation size using the configuration setting:

Some task descriptions need to be escaped because of the shell and the special meaning of some characters to the shell. This can be done either by adding quotes to the description or escaping the special character:

The argument -- (a double dash) tells Taskwarrior to treat all other args as description:

In other situations, the shell sees spaces and breaks up arguments.  For example, this command:

is broken up into several arguments, which is corrected with quotes:

It is sometimes necessary to force the shell to pass quotes to Taskwarrior intact, so you can use:

Taskwarrior supports Unicode using only the UTF8 encoding, with no Byte Order Marks in the data files.

Taskwarrior stores its configuration in a file in the user's home directory: ~/.taskrc. The default configuration file can be overridden with:

task rc:<path-to-alternate-file> ...

Specifies an alternate configuration file with highest priority.

TASKRC=<path-to-alternate-file> task ..

The environment variable specifies an alternate configuration file to use.

XDG_CONFIG_HOME=<path-to-alternate-config-home> task ..

The environment variable specifies an alternate configuration file to use.

task rc.<name>:<value> ...

task rc.<name>=<value> ... Specifies individual configuration file overrides.

TASKDATA=/tmp/.task task ...

The environment variable overrides the default, and the 'data.location' configuration setting of the task data directory.

For examples please see the online documentation starting at

Note that the online documentation can be more detailed and more current than this man page.

~/.taskrc

User configuration file - see also taskrc(5).  Note that this can be overridden on the command line or by the TASKRC environment variable. Also, if ~/.taskrc doesn't exist and XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable is defined, taskwarrior will check if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/task/taskrc exists and attempt to read it

~/.task

The default directory where task stores its data files. The location can be configured in the configuration variable 'data.location', or overridden with the TASKDATA environment variable..

~/.task/pending.data

The file that contains the tasks that are not yet done.

~/.task/completed.data

The file that contains the completed ("done") tasks.

~/.task/undo.data

The file that contains information needed by the "undo" command.

Copyright (C) 2006 - 2021 T. Babej, P. Beckingham, F. Hernandez.

Taskwarrior is distributed under the MIT license. See https://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php for more information.

taskrc(5), task-color(5), task-sync(5)

For more information regarding Taskwarrior, see the following:

The official site at

<https://taskwarrior.org>

The official code repository at

<https://github.com/GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior>

You can contact the project by emailing

<support@GothenburgBitFactory.org>

Bugs in Taskwarrior may be reported to the issue-tracker at

<https://github.com/GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior/issues>

task-color(5), taskrc(5), tasksh(1), task-sync(5).