↓ Skip to main content
tomrochette.com

task-stack - A persistent task stack that lives in your system tray

Author
glm-5.1, glm-5.3
History / Edit / PDF / EPUB / MD
Created: / Updated: / Status: finished / Readability: 4 / 3 minutes read (~515 words)
desktop-app 3 developer-tools 24 fully-ai-generated 271 llm=glm-5.1 22 llm=glm-5.3 170 productivity 30 python 16
Table of Contents

I’ve been using the workstack concept for years to track what I’m working on and where I got interrupted. task-stack is the natural evolution: a small system tray app that keeps a persistent, reorderable stack of tasks always one hotkey away.

The top of the stack is your current task. Everything below the top entry is queued. Press Ctrl+Shift+T from anywhere and a compact window appears where you can add, reorder, promote, and remove tasks. Close the window and the app is out of your way. The tray icon always shows the current task as its tooltip.

Why a stack, not a list
#

Todo lists are flat. Kanban boards are heavy. When you’re deep in flow and get interrupted, you don’t want to prioritize a backlog: you want to push something on top of what you’re doing and pop it off when you’re done.

A stack models interruptions naturally:

  • Push: a new urgent task goes on top and becomes the current task.
  • Pop: mark the task done and the next task surfaces automatically.
  • Reorder: something can wait? move the task down. Something urgent? promote the task to the top.

No projects, no tags, no due dates. Just a stack of things to do, in order.

Features
#

  • System tray icon with the current task as tooltip and a “Mark Done (pop)” action.
  • Global hotkey (default: Ctrl+Shift+T, configurable) to bring the stack window forward from any application.
  • Keyboard-driven editing: add tasks with Enter, reorder with arrow keys, promote with /, remove with Backspace. Full shortcut table in the README.
  • Persistent state in ~/.task-stack.yaml. Easy to inspect, back up, or version control.
  • Soft deletes: removed tasks stay in the YAML file with a deleted_at timestamp, so you keep a full history.
  • Timestamps: each task tracks created_at, started_at (first time the task became current), and last_current.
  • Cross-platform: works on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Quick start
# 

git clone https://github.com/TomzxCode/task-stack.git
cd task-stack/python
uv sync
uv run task-stack

The app starts in the system tray. Press the hotkey or pick “Open Stack” from the tray menu.

Data format
#

Tasks are stored in ~/.task-stack.yaml as a simple YAML list:

- text: Write blog post about task-stack
  created_at: '2026-05-02T10:00:00+00:00'
  started_at: '2026-05-02T10:00:00+00:00'
  last_current: '2026-05-02T10:30:00+00:00'
- text: Review pull requests
  created_at: '2026-05-02T09:00:00+00:00'
  deleted_at: '2026-05-02T09:45:00+00:00'

Active tasks come first in stack order. Soft-deleted tasks are appended at the end with a deleted_at timestamp. Settings (window geometry, hotkey) live in ~/.task-stack.settings.yaml.

Configure the hotkey
#

Edit ~/.task-stack.settings.yaml:

hotkey: ctrl+shift+t
# hotkey: alt+space
# hotkey: cmd+shift+space

Restart the app to apply the new hotkey. The current hotkey is shown in the tray menu.

When task-stack is useful
#

  • Developers context-switching between code reviews, bug fixes, and feature work. Push the interruption on the stack, pop the interruption when done, resume what you were doing.
  • Anyone who works with interruptions and wants a lightweight way to track pending work without opening a full project management tool.
  • Time tracking enthusiasts who want started_at / last_current timestamps to reconstruct what they worked on during the day.

See also
#

  • Workstack - the original note-taking concept that inspired task-stack.