goTrack

A simple Command Line Interface (CLI) task tracker built in Go (Golang).

Note

This is a learning project designed to explore Go's core concepts, CLI argument handling, file I/O operations, JSON encoding/decoding, and basic Go project structures.

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Features

• Sequential Task ID Generation: Automatically increments task IDs based on list size.
• Task Management:
  • add: Add new tasks to the tracker.
  • list: View all tasks with their completion status.
  • done: Mark a specific task as completed.
  • del: Delete a task (automatically shifts subsequent task IDs to maintain clean sequential order).
• JSON Lines Persistence: Stores tasks in a local tasks.jsonl file.

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Installation & Setup

Prerequisites

• Go (version 1.26.4 or later recommended)

1. Running in Development

To run the CLI during development without building a binary:

# Run the entire package/directory (required due to multi-file structure)
go run . <command> [arguments]

2. Building Locally

To compile the project into a local executable:

# Build the binary
go build -o goTrack

# Run the compiled binary
./goTrack <command> [arguments]

3. Installing Locally

To install the binary globally into your $GOPATH/bin or $GOBIN:

go install

After installation, you can run the command from anywhere:

goTrack <command> [arguments]

4. Installing from GitHub Releases

If you have configured GitHub Releases via GoReleaser:

1. Navigate to the Releases page of this repository.
2. Download the appropriate pre-compiled archive for your OS and architecture.
3. Extract the binary and place it in your system's PATH.

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Usage

Here are the commands you can use:

Add a Task

go run . add "Buy groceries"
go run . add "Learn Go concepts"

List Tasks

go run . list

Output Example:

[ ] 1 Buy groceries
[ ] 2 Learn Go concepts

Complete a Task

go run . done 1

Output Example:

Completed task: {1 Buy groceries true}

Delete a Task

go run . del 1

Output Example:

Deleted task: {1 Buy groceries true}

Tip

Deleting a task will shift the IDs of all tasks after it (e.g., Task 2 becomes Task 1) to keep the list sequentially numbered without gaps.

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Roadmap

• Sequential ID Generation Fix: Transition to database-like stateful auto-incrementing IDs so shifting isn't necessary upon deletion.
• CLI Argument Parsing: Migrate from basic manual os.Args manipulation to Go's standard library flag package or cobra for flags and clean help screens.
• User Experience Improvements: Implement pretty-printed tables or color-coded terminal text to indicate completed vs. active tasks.