Configuration

Config file

Settings live in ~/.taskpoet.yaml (or wherever --config points):

dbpath: /path/to/taskpoet.db  # see below for the default
theme: solarized-dark         # default, solarized-light or solarized-dark
defaults:
  due: 2d                     # due date for new tasks that don't say
recurrence:
  enabled: true
  limit: 1
  catchup: latest             # or all
update:
  check: true                 # look for new releases now and then, see below

Every setting can also come from the environment, with a TASKPOET_ prefix and underscores for the dots: TASKPOET_DBPATH, TASKPOET_THEME, TASKPOET_DEFAULTS_DUE, TASKPOET_RECURRENCE_LIMIT. Flags win over the environment, and the environment wins over the file.

Update checks

Now and then taskpoet looks for a newer release, and says so after the command you ran, on stderr:

A new version of taskpoet is available: v2.1.0 (this is v2.0.0)
Update it with: taskpoet update

It asks GitHub once every six hours at most, in the background, and holds up a command for a second at the very most while waiting for the answer. It says so once every six hours as well, not on every command. It is quiet when it isn't run from a terminal (scripts, cron, pipes), when CI is set, for shell completion, and for development builds. What it remembers is in taskpoet/update-check.json in your user cache directory, and can be deleted.

To turn it off, set update.check: false, or TASKPOET_UPDATE_CHECK=false. taskpoet update still works when it is off.

The database

Everything is stored in a single bbolt file. It defaults to $XDG_DATA_HOME/taskpoet/taskpoet.db, or ~/.local/share/taskpoet/taskpoet.db when that isn't set. Change it with the --db flag or the dbpath setting.

Only one taskpoet can have the file open at a time. If another one does, you get an error after a second rather than a hang.

Namespaces

--namespace (-n) keeps separate sets of tasks in the same file, for instance taskpoet -n work list. The default is default.

Layout

Inside a namespace, tasks are keyed by UUID, and the status, recurrence parent and dependencies are indexed, so listing and looking up by the start of an id don't scan everything. A schema_version is stored too. taskpoet refuses to open a file written by a newer version, or by v0.x (see Upgrading).

Task ids

Tasks are identified by their UUID, and commands take any unique start of it, like taskpoet done 1b35. taskpoet list shows the first 8 characters. If a start matches more than one task you are told which ones.