Just Lists - Simple Terminal Task Manager

A powerful yet simple way to organize your tasks in the terminal

Just Lists is a terminal-based task manager that helps you organize, manage, and track your tasks with an intuitive interface right in your command line.

What You Can Do

• Create and organize lists - Build hierarchical task structures with parent and child items
• Manage your tasks - Mark items as complete, edit text, or delete when done
• Navigate easily - Use arrow keys to move between items and enter to expand/collapse
• Work with nested lists - Create complex task structures where items can have sub-items
• Save your work - All lists are automatically saved to JSON files

Getting Started

Installation

# Install via cargo (requires Rust)
cargo install just-lists

# Or download the binary from releases

Running Just Lists

# Start with a sample list (no file specified)
jl

# Load from a specific file
jl your-tasks.json

# Create and save to a new file
jl my-new-list.json

Important Note: When starting with no file specified (jl), you'll see a sample list that is only displayed in the terminal and not saved to any file. Any changes made to this sample list will only persist during the current session and will be lost when you exit.

To save your lists, always provide a file path as an argument or use the "New" feature to create a new list file.

Basic Usage

Main Controls

• ↑↓ - Move up and down through items
• Enter - Expand/collapse items with children
• Space - Toggle item completion status
• e - Edit current item text
• n - Create a new top-level item
• i - Insert child item under the current item
• d - Delete the current item
• j - Focus on current item (shows only its children)
• c - Copy selected item
• x - Cut selected item
• v - Paste item (adds as child of current item)
• Esc - Exit or return to main view

Working with Nested Lists

1. Create parent items first
2. Use Enter to expand items and see their children
3. Use i to add child items under any item
4. Navigate between levels using arrow keys

Breadcrumb Navigation Feature (Special)

The j key provides special "focus view" functionality:

• Press j to "focus" on the current item
• This shows only the children of that item in the main list view
• You can see the full path to your current location in the title bar
• This allows easy navigation between different branches of your task hierarchy

Shared Item References (Special)

When you copy and then paste an item:

• The pasted item is actually the same original item - not a copy
• Changes to any instance are reflected everywhere the item appears
• This creates shared references to the same underlying data
• When you modify the pasted item, the original item also changes
• This allows for data consistency across all instances of an item

Example Workflow

# Start with a fresh list
jl tasks.json

# Create your first task:
# Press 'n' to create new item, then type "Project Setup"

# Add subtasks:
# Press 'i' to insert child under "Project Setup"
# Type "Create project directory"

# Focus on a specific branch:
# Navigate to the "Project Setup" item
# Press 'j' to focus on just that branch
# Press 'j' again to return to full view

# Copy and paste an item:
# Select an item and press 'c' to copy
# Navigate to where you want to paste
# Press 'v' to paste (this creates a shared reference)

# Mark as complete:
# Press spacebar when cursor is on the item

# Delete tasks:
# Press 'd' to delete selected item

Tips

• All lists are saved automatically to JSON files
• Start with a sample list or create your own file
• Use the path display at the top to see which list you're working with
• Items can be nested infinitely to create complex task hierarchies

Getting Help

# View all available options
jl --help

Just Lists is designed to be simple and intuitive while providing powerful task management capabilities right in your terminal!