Todoist Sorter - put tasks into projects with ##

Todoist has a problem. There are no good keyboard shortcuts to move tasks into projects at editing time. You have to use the mouse, and it breaks your train of thought if you process your tasks GTD style.

This app fixes that.

Usage

When you create tasks in Todoist, simply add ##<project name> (e.g. ##work) anywhere in your task name (much like you would use @labels).

You can also use partial project names, such as ##w. That will match work as long as it is the shortest project name beginning with w. You can use partial names from anywhere in the project name, so ##proc will match work/process-improvement.

You cannot use spaces, and matches are still case-sensitive (it's on the roadmap to make them case-insensitive).

Every 5 minutes (by default), this app will use the Todoist API to move those tasks into the desired projects. You can also stop and start the app to do it immediately.

Installation (command line required)

It is written in Meteor, so you have to install that to use it. It's super-easy. Just copy and paste one line.

Then clone this app from GitHub and run it with meteor --settings=settings.json AFTER you configure it..

Configuration

Copy settings.json.example to settings.json and replace the parameters with your Todoist credentials and desired update frequency (you can actually delete the line with update frequency if you want; the default is 5 minutes). There are a few API calls each time, so I wouldn't update too often or Todoist might think it's abuse. I haven't had any issues with a 5-minute interval so far.

Privacy/security

These are used by the app to talk directly to the Todoist API and are not sent anywhere else. I store the Todoist token in a local Mongo database using Meteor's APIs so that you don't have to log in for every check (your credentials are transferred with HTTPS, but this minimizes how often they have to be).

Running

meteor --settings=settings.json

Reporting bugs, requesting features, asking questions

First see known issues below.

Use the issue list otherwise.

If there is no GitHub issue for the known issue, you are welcome to open one.

Stopping

You can stop Meteor apps by pressing Ctrl + C.

Known issues

• Won't work if the project name has spaces.
• I don't know if Todoist login tokens expire. If they do, you'll start getting LOGIN_ERRORs, and you will have to meteor reset to get yourself logged in again. This is safe since the only thing that is stored is your user info from Todoist (by the todoist package).
• Occasionally, the app will struggle with Todoist tasks added from Gmail. This is because Todoist actually stores the task name as link to Gmail (Email subject line). When you add ##project to this, it gets placed inside the parentheses, making the app unable to match it. Workaround: Just move ##project to the beginning of the task name.

Roadmap

• Support spaces in project name, maybe with dashes or something like #project# instead of ##project?
• Case-insensitive project name matching.
• Maybe label tasks that are moved by this app (for premium users)?
• Compile a list of which projects items will be moved to and submit the whole thing to moveItems instead of calling it every time.

Author

This Meteor package was written by WizOne Solutions, a Meteor and Drupal CMS developer.

My largest Meteor app so far is Spendflow. It has a private beta. Check it out.