dev-task-tracker

A tiny CLI to track your dev tasks, right from your terminal.

I built this because small TODOs kept getting scattered across sticky notes, random text files, and forgotten Slack messages to myself. Now they all live in one place - locally, no accounts, no cloud, no nonsense.

Tasks are stored in ~/.mytask/tasks.json, so the same task list is available no matter which directory you run the command from.

Built by Raj Dave · GitHub · LinkedIn

Install

npm i -g dev-task-tracker

That gives you a mytask command available everywhere.

Usage

mytask <command> [args]

Running mytask with no arguments prints a friendly welcome banner (figlet wordmark + a brief rainbow animation) followed by a quick reference of all commands.

Add a task

mytask add "fix the login bug"

Prints back the new task's ID. Wrap the description in quotes if it has spaces, otherwise only the first word gets picked up.

List tasks

mytask list

By default this shows all tasks. You can pass one or more statuses to filter:

mytask list to-do
mytask list in-progress done

to-do items render in plain bold (it's the default state, so the noise of a tag isn't useful). in-progress items show in orange with an [IN-PROGRESS] tag, and done items show in green with a [DONE] tag.

Update a task's description

mytask update <id> "new description"

Both the ID and the new description are required.

Delete a task

mytask delete <id>

Gone. There's no undo, so be sure. (IDs of remaining tasks are renumbered after a delete so the list stays compact.)

Change status

mytask mark:ip <id>           # in-progress (short)
mytask mark:in-progress <id>  # in-progress (long)
mytask mark:done <id>         # done

Where tasks are stored

Tasks live at:

~/.mytask/tasks.json

This means the list is the same regardless of which directory you invoke mytask from. The directory is created automatically the first time you run the tool.

Each task looks like:

{
  "id": 0,
  "description": "fix the login bug",
  "status": "to-do",
  "createdAt": "2026-04-29T04:22:38.316Z",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-29T04:23:33.197Z"
}

Status is one of: to-do, in-progress, done.

The file is written with JSON.stringify(..., null, 2), so it's perfectly fine to open and tweak by hand if you ever need to.

Custom storage location

If you want to point mytask at a different file (e.g. for testing, or to keep separate task lists per-project), set the MYTASK_FILE environment variable:

MYTASK_FILE=./project-tasks.json mytask list

You can put this in your shell profile or per-project .envrc if you want it to stick.

Development

Want to hack on it? Clone the repo and install deps:

git clone https://github.com/Raj-Dave-1/dev-task-tracker-CLI-Tool.git
cd dev-task-tracker-CLI-Tool
npm install

Then the usual scripts:

npm run dev      # watch mode with tsx
npm run build    # compile TypeScript to dist/
npm start        # run the built version

To test your local build as the actual mytask command:

npm run build
npm link

Source lives in src/index.ts. It's a single file at the moment - pretty minimal on purpose.

Releases

Releases to npm are fully automated. Every push to main triggers a GitHub Actions workflow that runs semantic-release, which:

• reads the commit messages since the last release,
• decides the next version (patch / minor / major) based on Conventional Commits,
• updates CHANGELOG.md and package.json,
• publishes the new version to npm,
• and cuts a matching GitHub Release with auto-generated notes.

In short: I don't run npm publish by hand. I just write commits like feat: add search command or fix: handle empty task list, merge to main, and the rest happens on its own.

The pipeline lives in .github/workflows/release.yml, and the release config in .releaserc.json.

Roadmap

Things I might add later:

• search by keyword in description
• due dates / reminders
• a clear command for done tasks
• --help / --version flags
• per-project task lists via auto-detected .mytaskrc

PRs welcome if any of that scratches an itch for you.

Author

Raj Dave

Built with love (and a lot of caffeine) to scratch a personal itch. If it's useful to you, that's a bonus.

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/raj-dave-03-rh
• GitHub: @Raj-Dave-1
• Repo: dev-task-tracker-CLI-Tool

Feel free to reach out for feedback, bug reports, or just to say hi.

License

ISC - see package.json for details. Inspired by - https://roadmap.sh/projects/task-tracker