Task Tracker CLI

A command-line interface (CLI) application to track and manage your tasks and to-do list. Built with Go and Cobra.

Project URL: https://roadmap.sh/projects/task-tracker

Features

• ✅ Add, Update, and Delete tasks
• ✅ Mark a task as in progress or done
• ✅ List all tasks
• ✅ List tasks by status (todo, in-progress, done)
• ✅ Data persistence using JSON file storage

Task Properties

Each task contains the following properties:

Property	Description
id	A unique identifier for the task
description	A short description of the task
status	The status of the task (todo, in-progress, done)
createdAt	The date and time when the task was created
updatedAt	The date and time when the task was last updated

How It Works

Task Tracker CLI is built with:

• Go - Programming language
• Cobra - CLI framework for Go
• JSON file storage - Tasks are persisted in a local data.json file

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│   CLI Commands  │────▶│  Helper Layer   │────▶│   data.json     │
│   (cmd/*.go)    │     │  (helper/*.go)  │     │   (storage)     │
└─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘

1. Commands (cmd/) - Define CLI commands using Cobra (add, list, update, delete, etc.)
2. Helper (helper/) - Handles data structures and JSON file read/write operations
3. Storage - Tasks are stored in data.json in the current directory

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Installation

Prerequisites

• Go 1.25+ installed on your system

Option 1: Go Install (Recommended)

go install github.com/plh97/task-cli@latest

Option 2: Build from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/plh97/task-cli.git
cd task-cli

# Build the binary
go build -o task-cli .

# (Optional) Move to your PATH for global access
sudo mv task-cli /usr/local/bin/

Option 3: Download Binary

Download pre-built binaries from the Releases page.

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Running the CLI

Quick Start

# If installed via go install or moved to PATH
task-cli add "My first task"
task-cli list

# If running from source directory
go run . add "My first task"
go run . list

Usage

Adding a New Task

task-cli add "Buy groceries"
# Output: Task added successfully (ID: 1)

Updating a Task

task-cli update 1 "Buy groceries and cook dinner"

Deleting a Task

task-cli delete 1

Marking Task Status

# Mark a task as in progress
task-cli mark-in-progress 1

# Mark a task as done
task-cli mark-done 1

Listing Tasks

# List all tasks
task-cli list

# List tasks by status
task-cli list done
task-cli list todo
task-cli list in-progress

Data Storage

Tasks are stored in a data.json file in the current directory. The file is automatically created if it does not exist.

Example data.json structure:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "abc123",
      "description": "Buy groceries",
      "status": "todo",
      "created_at": "2026-01-18T10:00:00Z",
      "updated_at": "2026-01-18T10:00:00Z"
    }
  ]
}

Project Structure

task-cli/
├── cli_cobra_basic.go   # Main entry point
├── cmd/
│   ├── root.go          # Root command configuration
│   └── add.go           # Add task command
├── helper/
│   └── helper.go        # Data structures and file operations
├── data.json            # Task storage (auto-generated)
├── go.mod
└── README.md

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Development

Setup Development Environment

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/plh97/task-cli.git
cd task-cli

# Install dependencies
go mod download

# Run in development mode
go run . <command>

Adding a New Command

1. Create a new file in cmd/ directory (e.g., cmd/mycommand.go)
2. Define your command using Cobra:

package cmd

import "github.com/spf13/cobra"

var myCmd = &cobra.Command{
    Use:   "mycommand",
    Short: "Description of my command",
    Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
        // Your logic here
    },
}

func init() {
    rootCmd.AddCommand(myCmd)
}

Building for Production

# Build for current platform
go build -o task-cli .

# Build for multiple platforms
GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64 go build -o task-cli-darwin-arm64 .
GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -o task-cli-linux-amd64 .
GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build -o task-cli-windows-amd64.exe .

Running Tests

go test ./...

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License

MIT License

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.