TaskTracker: Developer Context Journal 📝

Your development memory across AI sessions.

TaskTracker is a lightweight CLI tool that maintains context about your development work. It's designed for developers who use AI assistants and need to preserve project context across different sessions, tools, and time.

🎯 Why TaskTracker?

Every developer using AI assistants knows this pain:

• Start new chat → Explain entire project context again
• Switch AI tools → Lose all conversation history
• Take a break → Forget where you left off
• Debug an issue → Can't remember what you already tried

TaskTracker solves this by being your persistent development memory.

🚀 Quick Start

# Install globally
npm install -g tasktracker-cli

# Initialize in your project
cd your-project
tt init

# Set your project vision
tt prd "Building a REST API for user management with JWT auth"

# Start documenting your work
tt j "Implemented user registration endpoint"
tt j --type decision "Using bcrypt for password hashing"
tt j --type blocker "JWT refresh token logic is complex"

# Generate context for your AI
tt c  # Quick context
tt cf # Full context with history

📖 Core Features

Development Journal

Track your progress, decisions, and blockers:

tt j "Completed user authentication flow"
tt j --type decision "Switching from MongoDB to PostgreSQL"
tt j --type blocker "CORS issues with frontend"
tt j --tags api,auth "Added rate limiting to login endpoint"

PRD Management

Parse and maintain your project requirements:

tt prd "Build a task management API with real-time updates"
tt prd requirements.md  # Or from a file
tt prd-show            # View parsed requirements

AI Context Generation

Generate rich context for any AI assistant:

tt c                    # Quick context (last day)
tt cf                   # Full context (last 7 days)
tt cf 14                # Custom timeframe
tt cf --output ctx.md   # Save to file

Search & Export

Find and export your development history:

tt journal-search "authentication"     # Search entries
tt journal-show --type decision       # Filter by type
tt journal-export markdown            # Export journal

💡 Real-World Usage

Starting Your Day

# Get back up to speed
tt c
# Copy output to your AI assistant

During Development

# Track progress
tt j "Added user profile endpoints"

# Document decisions
tt j --type decision "Using Redis for session storage - built-in expiration"

# Note blockers
tt j --type blocker "WebSocket connection drops after 30 seconds"

Debugging with AI

# Document the issue
tt j --type blocker "Users can't login - 401 errors"

# Add context
tt j "Checked: JWT secret is correct, token format is valid"
tt j "Suspecting: Token expiration or timezone issue"

# Get focused context for AI
tt cf 1  # Just today's context

📚 All Commands

Journal Commands

• tt journal "text" (alias: tt j) - Add entry
• tt journal-show (alias: tt js) - Show entries
• tt journal-search "query" - Search entries
• tt journal-export [format] - Export journal

Context Commands

• tt context-quick (alias: tt c) - Quick context
• tt context-full [days] (alias: tt cf) - Full context

PRD Commands

• tt prd "description" - Set project requirements
• tt prd-show - View current PRD
• tt prd-context - Generate PRD context

Other Commands

• tt init - Initialize TaskTracker
• tt stats - Show project statistics
• tt help [command] - Get help

🔧 Command Options

Journal Options

tt j "text" --type [progress|decision|blocker|idea|context]
tt j "text" --tags tag1,tag2,tag3
tt j "text" --files file1.js,file2.py

Filter Options

tt journal-show --type decision
tt journal-show --tag architecture  
tt journal-show --date 2024-01-15

Output Options

tt cf --output context.md
tt journal-export json --output backup.json

🎨 What Makes TaskTracker Different

1. Not Another Task Manager - It's a context journal, not a todo list
2. AI-First Design - Built specifically for AI-assisted development
3. Zero Friction - Simple commands that fit your workflow
4. Local & Private - Your data stays in your project

🤝 Integration Guide

See AI Integration Guide for detailed patterns and workflows with:

• Cursor
• ChatGPT / Claude
• GitHub Copilot
• Custom integrations

📈 Best Practices

1. Be Specific: "Fixed null check in auth middleware" > "fixed bug"
2. Document Why: Include reasoning in decisions
3. Tag Consistently: Use tags to group related work
4. Regular Context: Regenerate context at session start

🚧 Current Status

Version 3.0 - Recently refactored from a task manager to a focused developer context journal.

What's Working

• ✅ All journal functionality (add, show, search, export)
• ✅ PRD parsing and management
• ✅ AI context generation (quick & full)
• ✅ Proper CLI argument parsing
• ✅ Clean, maintainable codebase
• ✅ Comprehensive test coverage

Known Limitations

• No cloud sync (by design - local only)
• No team features (focused on individual developers)
• Basic search (no fuzzy matching yet)
• Limited to CLI (no GUI planned)

🛠️ Development

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/tasktracker-cli/tasktracker.git
cd tasktracker
npm install

# Run tests
npm test

# Lint code
npm run lint:check
npm run lint:fix

See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed development guidelines.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

Quick Contribution Steps

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes with tests
4. Submit a pull request

🐛 Issues & Support

• Bug Reports: GitHub Issues
• Feature Requests: GitHub Discussions
• Documentation: docs/ directory

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built by developers, for developers who use AI assistants.

Special thanks to all contributors who help make TaskTracker better.

Stop re-explaining your project. Start preserving context.

⭐ Star us on GitHub | 📦 Install from npm | 📖 Read the docs