Tasks Skill

No-nonsense task manager using SQLite. Track tasks with statuses (backlog, todo, in-progress, done), descriptions, and tags. Use when managing personal tasks, to-do items, project tracking, or any workflow that needs status-based task organization. Supports adding, listing, filtering, updating, moving, and deleting tasks.

Security Scan

The skill's files and runtime instructions are consistent with a local SQLite-backed task manager and do not request unrelated credentials, network access, or surprising system privileges.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description match the implementation: shell scripts operate on a local SQLite DB, implement add/list/filter/update/move/delete, and require the sqlite3 CLI as documented. No unrelated services, credentials, or binaries are requested.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md instructs the agent to run included shell scripts that only access the local DB path (~/.no-nonsense/tasks.db by default) and standard environment variables. The scripts validate and escape inputs before embedding into SQL. There is no network I/O, no reading of unrelated system files, and no instructions to exfiltrate data. One minor doc inconsistency: AGENT.md refers to NO_NONSENSE_DB while the scripts and SKILL.md use NO_NONSENSE_TASKS_DB.

Install Mechanism

There is no install spec — this is instruction+script based. That minimizes installer risk. The only external dependency is the sqlite3 CLI, which is reasonable for the stated purpose.

Credentials

The skill does not request credentials or sensitive environment variables. It uses a single DB path environment override (NO_NONSENSE_TASKS_DB) which is proportional. Note the documentation typo (AGENT.md) referencing a different env var name; this is a documentation inconsistency, not a secret request.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill does not request permanent inclusion (always:false) and does not change other skills or system-wide agent settings. It writes only to its own DB file path (creates the directory for the DB) which is expected for a local task manager.

Assessment

This skill appears to be a straightforward local task manager that operates on a SQLite database file (default: ~/.no-nonsense/tasks.db). Before installing/running: 1) ensure sqlite3 is installed; 2) review and, if desired, run scripts in a sandbox or with a copied DB to confirm behavior; 3) note the DB path can be overridden via NO_NONSENSE_TASKS_DB (AGENT.md incorrectly mentions NO_NONSENSE_DB); 4) back up any existing tasks.db before running migrations or destructive commands (delete/update); and 5) if you need networked or multi-user task storage, this skill is not designed for that.

No Nonsense Tasks

Simple SQLite-backed task tracking. No fluff, no complexity, just tasks that get done.

Prerequisites

• sqlite3 CLI tool must be installed

Quick Start

Initialize the database:

./scripts/init_db.sh

Add your first task:

./scripts/task_add.sh "Build task tracker skill" \
  --description "Create a SQLite-based task manager" \
  --tags "work,urgent" \
  --status todo

List all tasks:

./scripts/task_list.sh

Task Statuses

Tasks flow through four statuses:

• backlog - Ideas and future tasks
• todo - Ready to work on
• in-progress - Currently being worked on
• done - Completed tasks

Commands

Initialize Database

./scripts/init_db.sh

Default location: ~/.no-nonsense/tasks.db
Override with: export NO_NONSENSE_TASKS_DB=/path/to/tasks.db

Add Task

./scripts/task_add.sh <title> [options]

Options:

• -d, --description TEXT - Task description
• -t, --tags TAGS - Comma-separated tags
• -s, --status STATUS - Task status (default: backlog)

Example:

./scripts/task_add.sh "Deploy to prod" --description "Deploy v2.0" --tags "deploy,critical" --status todo

List Tasks

./scripts/task_list.sh [--status STATUS]

Examples:

./scripts/task_list.sh              # All tasks
./scripts/task_list.sh --status todo

Show Task Details

./scripts/task_show.sh <task_id>

Move Task to Different Status

./scripts/task_move.sh <task_id> --status <STATUS>

Example:

./scripts/task_move.sh 7 --status in-progress

Update Task Fields

./scripts/task_update.sh <task_id> [options]

Options:

• --title TEXT - Update title
• -d, --description TEXT - Update description
• -t, --tags TAGS - Update tags (comma-separated)
• -s, --status STATUS - Update status

Update Tags (Shortcut)

./scripts/task_tag.sh <task_id> --tags <TAGS>

Example:

./scripts/task_tag.sh 8 --tags "urgent,bug,frontend"

Filter by Tag

./scripts/task_filter.sh <tag>

Delete Task

./scripts/task_delete.sh <task_id>

View Statistics

./scripts/task_stats.sh

Shows count of tasks by status and total.

Usage Tips

Typical workflow:

1. Add new ideas to backlog: task_add.sh "Task idea" --status backlog
2. Move tasks to todo when ready: task_move.sh <id> --status todo
3. Start work: task_move.sh <id> --status in-progress
4. Complete: task_move.sh <id> --status done

Tag organization:

• Use tags for categories: work, personal, urgent, bug, feature
• Combine tags: urgent,work,api or personal,home,shopping
• Filter by any tag: task_filter.sh urgent

Status filtering:

• Focus on current work: task_list.sh --status in-progress
• Plan your day: task_list.sh --status todo
• Review completed: task_list.sh --status done