This repository contains a simple read-only CLI, API and Web Service for Things3. It further includes an example web application to create a visual task-level overview (Kanban) of what is on your plate.
To safe time and to support the development, consider to buy the pre-compiled binary from the AppStore:
Besides this, you've different options:
- Download a release.
- Install the library and command line tools:
pip3 install things3-api - Star, fork and contribute to the lastest code:
git clone https://github.com/AlexanderWillner/KanbanView.git
While everything should work out of the box, you might want to change some configuration aspects. To have a GUI for this is Feature Request #19. For the time being, the following default values are shown here and you can change them by creating the file ~/.kanbanviewrc (self compiled version) / ~/Library/Containers/ws.willner.kanbanview/Data/~/.kanbanviewrc (AppStore version) or setting them as environment variables. Note that plain integer tags (such as 5, 15, or 60) are being used to calculate the estimated time of task durations for today:
[DATABASE]
THINGSDB=/Users/myname/Library/Group Containers/JLMPQHK86H.com.culturedcode.ThingsMac/Things Database.thingsdatabase/main.sqlite
TAG_WAITING=Waiting
TAG_MIT=MIT
TAG_CLEANUP=CleanupThe Kanban Application allows you to visualize the Things3 database following the Kanban approach (focused on tasks or on projects). It also includes some visualizations. There are different implementations of the application available.
The static version creates a snapshot of the current status and writes an HTML file to kanban-static.html: make run.
The dynamic version runs a web application at http://localhost:15000/kanban.html and updates the GUI via JavaScript automatically using the Web Service: make run-api.
The app version runs a macOS application via make run-app. You can also create a compiled bundle KanbanView.app version that encapsulates the scripts into an easy to use standalone macOS application.
Dark mode with project mode enabled:
Types of tasks:
History of task actions:
Universe view on the projects:
How many minutes are scheduled for today (tags with plain numbers such as 5, 15, 30 are counted) and view tasks in an Eisenhower matrix (tags A, B, C, D are used):
Challenge yourself for 66 days by trying to focus on completing a specific type of tasks (Seinfeld method):
Remote control via iPad:
After downloading the command line tools or downloading the sources and executing make install, you've the tools things-cli, things-api and things-kanban in your path. Other available make commands are listed by executing make:
$ make
CLI, API and Web Service for Things3.
Configuration:
* Static Kanban : kanban-static.html
* Dynamic Kanban: http://localhost:15000/kanban.html
Avaliable environment variables:
* THINGSDB - Path to database
* TAG_WAITING - Tag for tasks you are waiting for
* TAG_MIT - Tag for most important tassk
Available commands:
* run - Run code in static mode.
* open - Open GUI in static mode.
* run-api - Run code in api mode.
* open-api - Open GUI in api mode in the browser.
* kill-api - Kill code in api mode.
* run-app - Run code in app mode.
* cli - Run code in cli mode (use 'args' for arguments).
* app - Create KanbanView App.
* install - Install the library and command line tools.
* uninstall - Remove the library and command line tools.
* test - Run unit tests and test coverage.
* doc - Document code (pydoc).
* clean - Cleanup (e.g. pyc files).
* auto-style - Automatially style code (autopep8).
* code-style - Check code style (pycodestyle).
* code-lint - Check code lints (pyflakes, pyline, flake8).
* css-lint - Check CSS styke lints (csslint).
* js-lint - Check JS code lints (jslint).
* html-lint - Check HTML file lints (tidy).
* code-count - Count code lines (cloc).
* deps-install - Install dependencies (see requirements.txt).
* feedback - Create a GitHub issue.The CLI allows you to access the Things3 database via the comand line:
$ things-cli inbox
- Inbox Todo ( None )It is also possible to get the information formatted as json strings:
$ things-cli --json next | jq
[
{
"uuid": "9CD92553-95D7-4CF2-B554-F1DE9F563018",
"title": "Due Todo",
"context": "Next Project",
"context_uuid": "DED787E0-874A-4783-8F0F-0A02F87F8419",
"due": "2152-08-28"
},
{
"uuid": "4C5D620C-165C-41D2-BC5B-A34065348D92",
"title": "Today Project Todo",
"context": "Today Project",
"context_uuid": "52ADBAB5-A0EC-4D3F-BF83-2D578DAE3AF3",
"due": null
},
{
"uuid": "2ECBE4AA-2E3F-49CC-AA38-CBFFBFD2B1FD",
"title": "Todo with Checklist",
"context": "Next Project",
"context_uuid": "DED787E0-874A-4783-8F0F-0A02F87F8419",
"due": null
},
{
"uuid": "709794DA-EB89-4A1B-BBE5-2BF8424BBA28",
"title": "Waiting for Todo",
"context": "Next Project",
"context_uuid": "DED787E0-874A-4783-8F0F-0A02F87F8419",
"due": null
}
]Further, you can export data as csv via $ things-cli --csv all > tasks.csv and import the file into Excel via File > Import > CSV file > Delimited / UTF-8 > Comma:
However, the CLI is only in a beginning state. The original bash based version can be found at another GitHub repo. Overall commands are:
$ things-cli -h
usage: things3_cli.py [-h] [-j] [-c] [--version] command ...
Simple read-only Thing 3 CLI.
positional arguments:
command One of the following commands:
inbox Shows all inbox tasks
today Shows all todays tasks
upcoming Shows all upcoming tasks
next Shows all next tasks
someday Shows all someday tasks
completed Shows all completed tasks
cancelled Shows all cancelled tasks
trashed Shows all trashed tasks
feedback Give feedback
all Shows all tasks
csv Exports all tasks as CSV
due Shows all tasks with due dates
headings Shows all headings
hours Shows how many hours have been planned today
ical Shows all tasks ordered by due date as iCal
logbook Shows all tasks completed today
mostClosed Shows days on which most tasks were closed
mostCancelled
Shows days on which most tasks were cancelled
mostTrashed Shows days on which most tasks were trashed
mostCreated Shows days on which most tasks were created
mostTasks Shows projects that have most tasks
mostCharacters
Shows tasks that have most characters
nextish Shows all nextish tasks
old Shows all old tasks
projects Shows all projects
repeating Shows all repeating tasks
schedule Schedules an event using a template
search Searches for a specific task
stat Provides a number of statistics
statcsv Exports some statistics as CSV
subtasks Shows all subtasks
tag Shows all tasks with the waiting for tag
tags Shows all tags ordered by their usage
waiting Shows all tasks with the waiting for tag
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-j, --json output as JSON
-c, --csv output as CSV
--version show program's version number and exitThe API allows you to access the Things3 todos within other Python scripts:
$ make doc
...
class Things3(builtins.object)
| Things3()
|
| Simple read-only API for Things 3.
|
| Methods defined here:
|
| get_anytime(self)
| Get anytime tasks.
|
| get_inbox(self)
| Get all tasks from the inbox.
...The web service allows you to access the Things3 database via a web service:
$ make run-server
Starting up...
Serving API at http://localhost:15000/api/{command}Via curl you can browse the json data via command line:
$ curl -s http://localhost:15000/api/today | jq
[
{
"uuid": "D7D879D2-5A2D-48AA-AF8A-AADCEC228D2B",
"title": "Today Todo",
"context": "Today Project",
"context_uuid": "52ADBAB5-A0EC-4D3F-BF83-2D578DAE3AF3",
"due": null
}
]