Note-Taker

A productivity and task management tool. Add items, manage a to-do list, set priorities, track daily and weekly views, set reminders, view statistics, clear completed tasks, and export data — all from the command line with persistent local storage.

Commands

Task Management

Command	Description	Usage
`add`	Add a new item to your task list	`note-taker add <text>`
`list`	List all current items	`note-taker list`
`done`	Mark an item as completed	`note-taker done <item>`
`priority`	Set priority level for an item	`note-taker priority <item> <level>`
`clear`	Clear all completed items from the list	`note-taker clear`

Views & Planning

Command	Description	Usage
`today`	Show today's items and schedule	`note-taker today`
`week`	Show the weekly overview	`note-taker week`
`remind`	Set a reminder for an item	`note-taker remind <item> <time>`

Data & Management

Command	Description	Usage
`stats`	Show total item count and statistics	`note-taker stats`
`export`	Export all data to stdout	`note-taker export`
`help`	Show the built-in help message	`note-taker help`
`version`	Print the current version (v2.0.0)	`note-taker version`

How It Works

add appends a date-stamped line to the data file and confirms with "Added: ..."
list prints all items from the data file, or "(empty)" if nothing exists yet
done marks a given item as completed and logs the action
priority assigns a priority level (default: medium) to the specified item
today filters the data file for today's date and displays matching items
week shows a weekly overview of scheduled items
remind sets a reminder for an item at a specified time (default: tomorrow)
stats prints the total line count from the data file
clear removes completed items from the active list
export dumps the entire data file contents to stdout

Data Storage

All data is stored locally in ~/.local/share/note-taker/:

data.log — the main data file containing all items (one per line, date-prefixed)
history.log — tracks all command activity with timestamps
Entries in data.log are formatted as YYYY-MM-DD <content>
Set NOTE_TAKER_DIR environment variable to change the data directory
Also respects XDG_DATA_HOME if set (defaults to ~/.local/share)

Requirements

Bash (any modern version)
No external dependencies — pure shell script
Works on Linux and macOS
Standard Unix utilities: date, wc, grep, cat

When to Use

Daily task tracking — use add to capture tasks throughout the day, today to see what's on your plate, and done to check off completed work
Weekly planning sessions — use week for an overview, priority to rank what matters most, and remind for upcoming deadlines
Quick capture from terminal — when you're already in the terminal and want to jot something down without switching apps, add is instant
Reviewing progress — use list to see everything, stats for totals, and export to pipe data into other tools for analysis
Maintaining a clean list — use clear to remove completed items and keep your active list focused on what still needs attention

Examples

# Add a new task
note-taker add "Review pull request for auth module"

# Add another task
note-taker add "Prepare slides for Friday meeting"

# List all tasks
note-taker list

# Mark a task as done
note-taker done "Review pull request for auth module"

# Set priority on a task
note-taker priority "Prepare slides for Friday meeting" high

# See what's on for today
note-taker today

# Set a reminder
note-taker remind "Submit expense report" "Friday 5pm"

# View statistics
note-taker stats

# Export all data for backup
note-taker export > backup.txt

Output

Commands print concise confirmations to stdout. list and export output the full data file. stats shows a total count. All actions are also logged to history.log for auditing. Redirect output with standard shell operators: note-taker list > tasks.txt.

Configuration

Variable	Description	Default
`NOTE_TAKER_DIR`	Override the data directory path	`~/.local/share/note-taker`
`XDG_DATA_HOME`	XDG base directory (used if `NOTE_TAKER_DIR` is not set)	`~/.local/share`