taskwarrior

Taskwarrior Token-Dense Recipes

Use these recipes whenever you invoke task on the user's behalf. They cut output size 4-10× compared to default formats.

Companion config: This skill assumes ~/.taskrc has the named dense report defined and verbose= configured to suppress override-echo noise. If task (with no args) doesn't run a dense report, see the design doc at docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-08-taskwarrior-token-density-design.md.

Listing tasks

Default. Use the named report:

task <filter> dense

Examples:

task project:pickled-claude-plugins dense
task +followup dense
task dense  # bare = all pending, urgency-sorted

Custom shape, when you need different columns or truncation:

task <filter> export | jq -r '.[] | "\(.uuid[0:8]) [\(.project // "-")] \(.tags // [] | join(",")) \(.due // "-")  \(.description[0:80])"'

This produces ~120 chars/task. The dense report produces ~150 chars/task with column alignment. The jq form is for when you need a specific shape (e.g., longer description, different fields).

Never: raw task list with no filter. The 320+ pending tasks at default formatting is the largest single cost in your taskwarrior I/O.

Single-field lookup

When you need ONE field of a known task, use _get with a DOM reference (<uuid>.<field>):

task _get <uuid>.description
task _get <uuid>.project
task _get <uuid>.tags
task _get <uuid>.due
task _get <uuid>.urgency

You can also batch fields in one call:

task _get <uuid>.project <uuid>.tags <uuid>.due

_get returns the raw field value(s), no metadata, no formatting. Roughly 10× denser than task <uuid> info. Note the syntax: _get is the command and the DOM reference is its argument. NOT task <uuid> _get description (that returns empty).

Never: task <uuid> info when you only need one field. info dumps full metadata (entry/modified/uuid/status/etc.): useful when triaging, wasteful for field lookup.