Trackk - My first CLI app to stay productive from terminal

Github Link for the project.

I’ve always being a fan of ToDos app and terminal, So i thought why not to combine them together? And that resulted in creation of “Trackk” a simple clean and working TODO app.

I made it using Inquirer js package. It was pretty simple. You just need to make a couple of menu(s) to get used to it.

//This is my main menu for the app
const response = await inquirer.prompt([{
            type: "list",
            name: "choice",
            message: "\n\t----- WELCOME TO THE APP ----- \t\n",
            choices: [
                "1. Add task",
                "2. View all tasks",
                "3. View completed tasks",
                "4. View todays's tasks only",
                "5. Exit"
            ]
        }]);

I started making it with intent of just basic core functionality or like a weekend fun project, but before i knew i was in greed of just one more feature- and one more and maybe a little more?

I also used chalk js package for making the UI more impressive and clean.

//A quick look into my log.js file
import chalk from "chalk";
export const log = {
    success : msg => console.log(chalk.greenBright(`${msg}`)),
    error : msg => console.log(chalk.redBright(`${msg}`)),
    message : msg => console.log(chalk.gray.italic(`${msg}`)),
    info : msg => console.log(chalk.cyan(`${msg}`)),
    bold: msg => console.log(chalk.bold(`${msg}`)),
}

I have used file storage for presistant storage. First I thought of using mongoDB but i realise there was no need of such extra layer of complexity and also i was making it for others to use as well so i thought file storage was the best option for scope of this project.

The biggest hurdel i faced in creation of the project was to access it from anywhere from the terminal like anywhere even outside users folder (in windows) , this ambition let me to the file permission error about something EPERM. I never encounterd such error before and i spent the next hour looking into the code and trying to find error than i googled it.

Basically It means the user or process attempting the operation lacks the necessary privileges to access or modify the target file or directory. Or simply I was trying to create a file in folders which were restrictive but i was trying to create there using terminal. SO How did I fixed it? I told my npm to not create file/folder just anywhere but just store everything inside a dedicated folder in my project.

// Step 1: Get your app's folder location
const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url); // file path of fileHandler.js
const __dirname = path.dirname(__filename);        // folder containing fileHandler.js

// Step 2: Make a `.data` folder if it doesn't exist
const dataDir = path.join(__dirname, '.data');
if (!fs.existsSync(dataDir)) {
    fs.mkdirSync(dataDir); // make folder once
}

// Step 3: Define safe file paths inside `.data`
const taskFilePath = path.join(dataDir, 'tasks.json');
const completedFilePath = path.join(dataDir, 'completed.json');

You can also set the priority of the tasks and the pending time and date. This feature thought me many things about the time and date in JS. One problem i faced in this part was that i was comparing the local date which is kind of invalid in JS. Than i created seprate dates, one for comparison and another, locale date for user.

    let createdAt = new Date().toISOString()
    let localDate = new Date(createdAt).toLocaleString()
    let dueISODate = new Date(response.dueLocalDate).toISOString()
    toDos.push({task: response.task, 
                done: false, 
                priority: response.priority, 
                createdAt, 
                localDate, 
                dueLocalDate: response.dueLocalDate , 
                dueISODate});
    saveTasks(toDos);
    log.success(`Task added : ${response.task}`);

//Completed tasks
const compTask = { ...task, done: true, completedAt, completedLocalDate };

You can also have option to edit the task afterwards as well as the option to mark as undone. I have made seprate list for completed tasks and pending tasks.

It was a simple project but I learned a lot about file handling, CLI UX, Node.js modules, thinking from a user perspective and error-proof coding through this project.

This project is still in devlopment. I am thinking to integerate it with Google tasks or maybe create a notification system. I’d love your feedback both on the project and post.

Let’s build better, together!