Import / Migration

This is a best effort list on how to import your tasks from other task managers to TaskLite.

YAML File

If you have all you tasks in one YAML file like this:

- id: 123
  body: Buy milk
  tags: [groceries]

- id: 456
  body: Go running
  tags: [sport]

Run following command to import it. Be sure to make yaml2json available in your path and to install jq first.

cat tasks.yaml \
| yaml2json \
| jq -c '.[]' \
| while read -r task
  do
    echo "$task" | tasklite importjson
  done

Taskwarrior

TaskLite supports all fields of Taskwarrior's export format. Therefore migration is really simple:

task export rc.json.array=off \
| while read -r task; \
  do echo $task | tasklite importjson; \
  done

Google Tasks

There is currently no proper way to export tasks.

A workaround is:

1. Open the standalone view of Google Tasks
2. Select all text with cmd + a and copy it
3. Paste it in a text editor
4. Format it properly
5. Import it with a while loop as seen in the Taskwarrior section

Google Keep

You can export all tasks / notes from Google Keep via Google Takeout. It provides a Takeout/Keep directory with one .html and .json file per task.

To import the .json files, change into the directory and run following command:

find . -iname '*.json' \
| while read -r task
  do
    jq -c \
      '.textContent as $txt
        | .labels as $lbls
        | .title as $title
        | (if .isArchived then "done"
          elif .isTrashed then "deletable"
          else null
          end) as $state
        | {
            utc: .userEditedTimestampUsec,
            body: ((if $title and $title != "" then $title else $txt end)
              + (if .listContent
                then "\n\n" +
                  (
                    .listContent
                    | map("- [" + (if .isChecked then "x" else " " end) + "] "
                      + .text)
                    | join("\n")
                  )
                else ""
                end))

          }
        | if $lbls then . + {tags: ($lbls | map(.name))} else . end
        | if $title and $title != "" and $txt and $txt != ""
          then . + {notes: [{body: $txt}]}
          else .
          end
        | if $state then . + {state: $state} else . end
      ' \
      "$task" \
    | tl importjson
  done

The title of the Google Keep note becomes the body of the task and the note itself becomes a TaskLite note attached to the task. A list of sub-tasks will be converted to a GitHub Flavored Markdown task list.

Telegram

Telegram's "Saved Messages" -- a.k.a. messages to oneself -- are a pretty convenient inbox. Here is how to move them to TaskLite afterwards:

1. Install Telegram Desktop brew install telegram-desktop
2. Go to "Saved Messages"
3. Click on 3 dots in the upper right corner
4. Click on "Export Chat History"
5. Deselect all additional media and select "JSON" as output format
6. Approve download on a mobile device
7. Download the JSON file (if download window was closed, simply follow the previous steps again)
8. Import JSON directly:

   cat result.json \
   | jq -c '
     .messages
       | map(
           (if (.text | type) == "string"
           then .text
           else (.text
               | map(
                   if (. | type) == "string"
                   then .
                   else .text end
                 )
               | join(", ")
             )
           end) as $body
           | {
             utc: .date,
             body: $body,
             tags: ["telegram"]
           }
         )
       | .[]
     '
   | while read -r task
     do
       echo "$task" | tasklite importjson
     done
   

   or convert it to YAML for easier cleanup:

   jq '.messages' result.json | yq --yaml-output > out.yaml
   

9. Clear chat history on Telegram