torudo 0.12.0

A terminal-based todo.txt viewer and manager with TUI interface
torudo-0.12.0 is not a library.

Torudo

Crates.io

A terminal-based todo.txt viewer and manager written in Rust with TUI interface.

Features

  • Project-based column view with priority sorting
  • GTD modes (Inbox, Todo, Waiting, Ref, Someday) switchable with Tab / Shift+Tab
  • External capture via torudo inbox add "..." — add items to the inbox from scripts, launchers, or editor bindings without the TUI running
  • Vim integration and real-time file watching
  • URL detection (🔗) and browser open (o)
  • Self-update via GitHub Releases (torudo update)
  • crmux / Claude Code integration

Demo

gif

Installation

Quick install

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/maedana/torudo/main/install.sh | sh

From crates.io

cargo install torudo --locked

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/maedana/torudo.git
cd torudo
cargo build --release

Configuration

Command Line Options

  • --todotxt-dir <PATH>: Directory containing your todo.txt file (default: ~/todotxt, fallback: TODOTXT_DIR env var)
  • --nvim-listen <PATH>: Neovim socket path set by nvim --listen (default: /tmp/nvim.sock, fallback: NVIM_LISTEN_ADDRESS env var)

Usage

First Time Setup

When you run Torudo for the first time, it will check for the required directory and files:

  1. If ~/todotxt directory doesn't exist, it will ask permission to create it
  2. If todo.txt doesn't exist, it will ask permission to create an empty file
  3. If you decline either creation, the application will exit

This ensures you have control over where your todo files are stored.

Basic Usage

# Run torudo (looks for todo.txt in $TODOTXT_DIR or ~/todotxt)
torudo

# Specify todotxt directory
torudo --todotxt-dir ~/my-todos

# Run with debug mode for detailed logging
torudo -d

# Specify Neovim socket path
torudo --nvim-listen /tmp/my-nvim.sock

Capturing to Inbox from Outside the TUI

The torudo inbox add subcommand appends a new item to inbox.txt without requiring the TUI to be running. It is meant for quick capture from launchers, shell scripts, editor keybindings, or anywhere you don't want to open the full UI.

# Capture a new task into the inbox
torudo inbox add "(A) Buy milk +grocery @home"

# Pipe the output through jq to grab the generated id
torudo inbox add "Draft blog post +writing" | jq -r .id

# Preserve an explicit id (otherwise a UUID is generated)
torudo inbox add "Fix #123 id:my-custom-id"

The command prints the added item as JSON in the same format as torudo current. When a TUI session is running, the file watcher picks up the change and the Inbox tab updates automatically.

Updating

# Check for updates
torudo update --check

# Update to latest version
torudo update

# Force re-download
torudo update --force

Keyboard Controls

Press ? in the TUI or run torudo -h to see all keyboard shortcuts.

Todo.txt Format

Torudo supports the standard todo.txt format:

(A) Call Mom +family @phone
x 2024-01-15 2024-01-10 (B) Review quarterly report +work @office
(C) Buy groceries +personal @errands
Learn Rust programming +learning @coding id:abc123

Features supported:

  • Priority levels: (A), (B), (C)
  • Completion status: x prefix with completion date
  • Creation date: YYYY-MM-DD format
  • Projects: +project_name
  • Contexts: @context_name
  • Unique IDs: id:unique_identifier (automatically added if missing)
  • Key/value tags: key:value pairs (e.g. t:2026-05-30, due:2026-06-01) are parsed into a dedicated field; URLs in the description are not misdetected as tags

Todo Sorting

Todos are automatically sorted within each project column using the following priority:

  1. Priority level: (A) items first, then (B), then (C)
  2. File line number: Within the same priority level, todos maintain their original file order

This ensures high-priority items are always visible at the top while preserving your intended ordering for items of the same priority.

Display Features

Dynamic Text Wrapping: Todo titles and descriptions automatically wrap to multiple lines based on the terminal width. This ensures that long todo items are fully visible without truncation, making it easy to read comprehensive task descriptions.

Smart Height Calculation: Each todo item's display height is calculated dynamically based on its content length, with a reasonable maximum to prevent excessive screen usage.

Threshold dates (t:YYYY-MM-DD): Items with a future threshold date are sorted to the bottom of their project column and rendered dimmed, matching topydo semantics — they become active on the threshold date. Useful as a GTD tickler.

Overdue highlighting (due:YYYY-MM-DD): Items whose due date has arrived (today >= due) are rendered with a red border. Border color precedence: selected (yellow) > overdue (red) > dimmed (gray) > normal.

Vim Integration

If you have Neovim running with a socket, Torudo can automatically open todo detail files when navigating. Each todo item can have an associated markdown file in $TODOTXT_DIR/todos/{id}.md.

Todo Detail Frontmatter

Todo detail files (todos/{id}.md) support YAML frontmatter with a cwd field to specify the working directory for clp/cli claude launch:

---
cwd: /home/user/src/my-project
---
# Task details here

The cwd field is required for clp/cli — an error is shown if it is not set.

File Structure

Torudo keeps one todo.txt-format file per GTD mode plus a done.txt archive. Each file holds plain todo.txt lines; todos/{id}.md holds optional long-form detail for individual items.

~/todotxt/
├── inbox.txt         # Inbox — capture target (also `torudo inbox add`)
├── todo.txt          # Todo / Next actions (the only mode where `x` completes)
├── waiting.txt       # Waiting for
├── ref.txt           # Reference material
├── someday.txt       # Someday / maybe
├── done.txt          # Archive of items completed from todo.txt
└── todos/            # Individual todo detail files
    ├── abc123.md
    └── def456.md

Only todo.txt is created at first launch; the other mode files are created lazily the first time something lands in them (e.g. via the s send-to prefix or torudo inbox add). Completing an item with x works only in Todo mode; to complete an item from another mode, send it to Todo first with st.

If you prefer the classic todo.txt / done.txt workflow, just stay in Todo mode and ignore the other tabs — none of the GTD mode files are created until you write to them, and every existing key (x, hjkl, o, …) behaves exactly as before. GTD is opt-in, not required.

Development

Running in Development

cargo run

# With debug mode
cargo run -- -d

Running Tests

cargo test

Code Quality

cargo clippy
cargo fmt

Roadmap

Ideas that are on the table but not yet implemented. Order does not imply priority.

  • Show PR status for todos linked to a git working tree (new frontmatter field pointing at the working tree path)
  • torudo w sync subcommand: when invoked from inside a git working tree, automatically fill the currently selected todo's frontmatter with that path (no more hand-editing)

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create a feature branch
  3. Make your changes
  4. Run tests and linting
  5. Submit a pull request

Acknowledgments

  • Inspired by the todo.txt format by Gina Trapani
  • Built with Ratatui for the terminal UI
  • Uses crossterm for cross-platform terminal handling