Commands

List of commands

Output commands:

  • describe provides the full BusyML markup
  • simple includes less detail than describe
  • list is like describe but with sequence numbers
  • view outputs specific fields - for now only the val fields
  • dump outputs items as YAML with same filtering as view command
  • queues to lists all the queues
  • tags to lists tags from a queue

Commands that make changes:

  • add adds a new item
  • done marks an item as 'done' and gives the option of iterating - "done for today"
  • defer puts a task or set of items on the plan for a future date
  • pop moves a task or set of items to the top of a queue - "pop it to the top"
  • drop moves a task or set of items to the bottom of a queue - "drop it to the bottom"
  • pick moves one random item from the filtered set to the top of the queue - "pick one for me"
  • delete permanently removes a task or set of items from a queue
  • edit opens a text editor to edit items - the default is to edit only the top item
  • manage is the same as edit, but defaults to edit the whole collection
  • activate finds everything planned for today and adds it to the list - "activate my day"

Common options

  • filters to designate items to be acted upon, using sequence numbers or tags
  • the add command requires markup of the new item instead of filters
  • --queue if not the default tasks queue
  • --help to find out which options apply
  • --yes to skip confirmation of any command that requires it
  • --state to work on Items of a different state (todo, plan, done)
  • --when applies to the defer and add commands
  • --defer applies to the done command
  • --fields and --unique apply to the view command

Default item designations

For the most part, commands that accept item designations default to only act on the top item in the queue. The exceptions are:

  • list and manage default to handle the entire collection
  • pop defaults to pop the last item in the collection to the top
  • activate defaults to activate plan items for today (more on that below)
  • add adds to the bottom of the todo queue

Alternate queues

Busy will manage any number of queues, which are entirely separate sets of items. For example, you might have a shopping queue for items to buy at the store, and a movies queue for films you'd like to watch. The default queue is called tasks.

To designate an alternate queue, use the --queue or -q option. For example:

busy add --queue shopping -d "Skimmed Milk"
busy list -q movies

Ready to get busy?

Learn about Filtering and Selection