Task Management Patterns¶

This document covers common patterns and workflows for effective task management using pytaskwarrior.

Morning Routine Workflows¶

Check Urgent Tasks¶

from taskwarrior import TaskWarrior

tw = TaskWarrior()

# Focus on high-priority items
tw.apply_context("urgent")
urgent_tasks = tw.get_tasks()
print(f"🔥 {len(urgent_tasks)} urgent tasks today")

for task in urgent_tasks[:5]:
    print(f"  - {task.description}")

Daily Planning¶

# Get all pending tasks for the day
all_tasks = tw.get_tasks()
print(f"Today you have {len(all_tasks)} tasks")

# Categorize by priority
high_priority = [t for t in all_tasks if t.priority == 'H']
medium_priority = [t for t in all_tasks if t.priority == 'M']
low_priority = [t for t in all_tasks if t.priority == 'L']

print(f"High priority: {len(high_priority)}")
print(f"Medium priority: {len(medium_priority)}")
print(f"Low priority: {len(low_priority)}")

Project Management Patterns¶

Work Projects¶

# Define project context
tw.define_context(ContextDTO(name="work", read_filter="project:work or +urgent", write_filter="project:work or +urgent"))

# Switch to work context
tw.apply_context("work")
work_tasks = tw.get_tasks()

Personal Projects¶

from taskwarrior import ContextDTO

# Define personal context (correct API: use ContextDTO)
tw.define_context(ContextDTO(
    name="personal",
    read_filter="project:home",
    write_filter="project:home",
))

# Switch to personal context
tw.apply_context("personal")
personal_tasks = tw.get_tasks()

Time Tracking with Start/Stop¶

Track Work Sessions¶

# Start working on a task
tw.start_task(uuid)

# Stop tracking time
tw.stop_task(uuid)

# Check if a task is currently being tracked
task = tw.get_task(uuid)
if task.start:
    print("Task is currently active")

Batch Operations¶

Process Multiple Tasks¶

# Complete multiple tasks at once (implicit AND — space-separated tokens)
tasks_to_complete = tw.get_tasks("project:work status:pending")
for task in tasks_to_complete:
    tw.done_task(task.uuid)

# Update multiple tasks
tasks_to_update = tw.get_tasks("project:work priority:L")
for task in tasks_to_update:
    input_dto = task_output_to_input(task)
    input_dto.priority = Priority.MEDIUM
    tw.modify_task(input_dto, task.uuid)

Bulk Task Creation¶

from taskwarrior import TaskInputDTO

tasks = [
    TaskInputDTO(description="Task 1", project="work"),
    TaskInputDTO(description="Task 2", project="work"),
    TaskInputDTO(description="Task 3", project="personal")
]

for task in tasks:
    tw.add_task(task)

Filtering Strategies¶

Complex Filters¶

# Get overdue tasks
overdue = tw.get_tasks("due.before:today status:pending")

# Get tasks due this week (TC adapter: use eow instead of 'next week')
this_week = tw.get_tasks("due.after:today due.before:eow status:pending")

# Get tasks with specific tags (implicit AND)
tagged = tw.get_tasks("+urgent +work")

Dynamic Filtering¶

def get_filtered_tasks(tw, project=None, priority=None, status=None):
    filters = []

    if project:
        filters.append(f"project:{project}")
    if priority:
        filters.append(f"priority:{priority}")
    if status:
        filters.append(f"status:{status}")

    # TC adapter uses implicit AND (space-separated tokens)
    filter_string = " ".join(filters)
    return tw.get_tasks(filter_string) if filter_string else tw.get_tasks()

# Usage
work_tasks = get_filtered_tasks(tw, project="work")
urgent_work = get_filtered_tasks(tw, project="work", priority="H")