A secure, multi-user command-line task management system engineered in Python.
Optimised for speed, security, and direct execution via the terminal.

Python Task Manager v2 is an advanced command-line interface (CLI) task tracking tool designed to allow multiple users to securely manage their tasks independently on a single terminal environment. This repository was developed specifically as a solution for the Task Tracker project on roadmap.sh.

Unlike basic single-user scripts, Python Task Manager v2 implements robust multi-user isolation by utilising secure cryptographic hashing algorithms. Each user's data is isolated, and tasks are strictly mapped to their unique user accounts. No interactive menus are used; instead, it relies entirely on direct, fast command-line arguments passed via the terminal for slick automation and scriptability.

Python Task Manager v2 is a complete architectural rewrite of the previous single-user Task Manager (CLI Edition). Here is a breakdown of the structural upgrades:

Python Task Manager v2/
│
├── task-cli.py         # Application entry point & main script
├── README.md           # Project documentation
├── users.json          # Database file holding hashed credentials (auto-generated)
└── tasks.json          # Database file holding individual task records (auto-generated)

1. Ensure you have Python 3.8 or above installed on your operating system.
2. Clone or download this repository locally:

   git clone https://github.com/Sheikh-H/Python-Task-Manager-v2.git

3. Navigate directly into the project directory:

   cd Python-Task-Manager-v2

4. Execute commands using the syntax options defined below. You can view the syntax manual at any time by running:

   python task-cli.py --help

Since this script acts as a true CLI tool responding to arguments, execute your desired operational tasks by passing arguments directly following the script path.

• Register a New User:

  python task-cli.py new-user [username] [password]

• Change an Account Password:

  python task-cli.py change-password [username] [old_password] [new_password]

• Create a New Task:

  python task-cli.py [username] [password] add-task "Your task title here"

• Update an Existing Task Title:

  python task-cli.py [username] [password] update-task [task_id_or_title] "New task title"

• Delete an Active Task:

  python task-cli.py [username] [password] delete-task [task_id_or_title]

• Mark a Task as In-Progress:

  python task-cli.py [username] [password] mark-in-progress [task_id_or_title]

• Mark a Task as Complete:

  python task-cli.py [username] [password] mark-complete [task_id_or_title]

• View All Tasks:

  python task-cli.py [username] [password] view

• Filter by Category Type:

  python task-cli.py [username] [password] view [filter_phrase]

  Supported phrases include:
  • Completed tasks: done, complete, completed, finished
  • Active tasks: doing, current, currently active, active, in-progress
  • Awaiting tasks: new, to-do, todo, recent, just added

⚠️ Note: If your task title or filtering phrase contains spaces, always wrap it inside quotation marks (e.g. "Buy groceries") so the CLI interprets it correctly as a single parameter.

This section details how the script processes data and explains exactly what each function does under the hood:

• load_data(filename): Checks for the targeted JSON database file. If missing, it writes an empty array structure to initialise it cleanly. It opens, parses, and returns the stored data records.
• save_data(data, filename): Flushes current in-memory global state modifications to disk using an automated two-space structural indentation layout.

• new_user(username, password): Handles registration logic. It safeguards details by generating a random cryptographically secure 16-byte hex value using the secrets module. It applies a PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 key derivation path running 100,000 algorithmic cycles before preserving the resulting unique hash string.
• user_login(username, password): Authenticates operational tasks. It fetches the exact individual user record, pairs the provided password attempt against the user's stored salt value, executes matching key processing iteration settings, and explicitly halts script loop flow via the error() function if mismatched.

• add_task(username, password, task_title): Validates credentials via user_login(), checks for duplicate naming conflicts across active records, calculates a user-scoped incrementing identifier index, and maps a complete task entity containing creation timestamps.
• update_task(username, password, task_search, new_title): Evaluates if task_search is a numerical entry or an explicit string pattern. If string matching yields ambiguous multiple results, the utility returns an intuitive prompt telling the user to use the unique numerical task ID instead.
• delete_task(username, password, task_id): Iterates sequentially over global storage scopes, maps entries containing matching ownership attributes, and removes indices targeting matching records.
• list_task(username, password, list_type): Acts as an entry dispatcher. It processes multiple human-readable string inputs into standardised categories before querying output formatting streams.
• view_tasks_print(user, category): Evaluates parameters to lay out information fields explicitly framed inside systematic ASCII table layouts, tracing parameters such as creation dates and precise adjustment timestamps.

The storage layout separates users from user tasks into distinct files, tracking precise ownership keys across lists:

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "username": "sheikh",
    "password": "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0...",
    "created_at": "2026-05-23 16:30:00",
    "salt": "f37a28e9d8c21b5a...",
    "last_updated": null
  }
]

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "user_id": 1,
    "title": "Complete Roadmap Project",
    "status": "IN-PROGRESS",
    "created_at": "2026-05-23 16:35:00",
    "updated_at": "2026-05-23 16:40:12"
  }
]

• Python Runtime: Version 3.8 or above.
• External Libraries: Completely dependency-free! Built entirely using the Python standard library (sys, json, os, time, datetime, hashlib, and secrets).

This project is licensed under the MIT Licence — see the LICENCE file for details.

MIT Licence

Copyright (c) 2026 Sheikh Hussain

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
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copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
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OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

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