magit-todos

This package displays keyword entries from source code comments and Org files in the Magit status buffer. Activating an item jumps to it in its file. By default, it uses keywords from hl-todo, minus a few (like NOTE).

Contents

• Installation
• Usage
• FAQ
• Changelog
• Credits

Screenshots

Items from Org files can be displayed, and can be fontified like in Org buffers:

Items can also be automatically grouped in a customizable way, which can be helpful in large repos:

This shows grouping items by the first path component, then keyword, then filename, and with optional keyword header fontification:

Items in KEYWORD(username): format are also read:

Items specific to the current branch (or git diff) can be displayed in a separate list:

Installation

External scanner

One of the following external scanners is required:

• ripgrep
• git grep (built with PCRE support)
• GNU grep (built with PCRE support)

Most Linux systems should have the latter two by default, but some non-standard systems may not. For example, on MacOS you may use Homebrew to install ripgrep, or git with PCRE support, like: brew reinstall --with-pcre2 git.

Emacs package

If you installed from MELPA, you’re done!

Manually

Install these required packages:

• async
• dash
• f
• hl-todo
• magit
• pcre2el
• s

Then put this file in your load-path, and put this in your init file:

(require 'magit-todos)

Usage

• Key bindings
• Commands
• Tips

Activate magit-todos-mode. Then open a Magit status buffer, or run magit-todos-list to show a dedicated to-do list buffer.

To activate magit-todos-mode automatically, a recommended configuration for your init file is:

(use-package magit-todos
  :after magit
  :config (magit-todos-mode 1))

Key bindings

In Magit status buffer:

j T

Jump to the to-do list. If the section is empty (e.g. when using manual updates), it will scan for items.

With point in to-do list:

b

Show branch (git diff) to-do list.

B

Set commit reference used in branch to-do list.

j T

When configured for manual updates, manually update the to-do list.

j l

Open dedicated to-do list buffer.

RET

Show item at point, or open dedicated buffer if point is on top heading.

SPC

Peek at the item at point.

Commands

magit-todos-mode

Activate magit-todos-mode, which automatically inserts the to-do list in Magit status buffers.

magit-todos-list

Display the to-do list in a separate buffer. This also works outside of git repos.

Helm and Ivy are also supported. Note that the helm and ivy packages are not required, nor does this package depend on them; they are only used if present. Note as well that these commands can be used directly from source buffers, independently of Magit.

helm-magit-todos

Display the project to-do list with Helm.

ivy-magit-todos

Display the project to-do list with Ivy.

Tips

• Customize settings in the magit-todos group.
• Use dir-local variables to set per-repository settings. For example, to exclude files and directories from being scanned for to-dos in a repo:
  1. From a buffer in the repo’s directory (like a magit-status buffer), run the command add-dir-local-variable.
  2. Choose the mode magit-status-mode.
  3. Choose the variable magit-todos-exclude-globs.
  4. Input the glob value, like ("*.html") to exclude HTML files. (Note that the input is read as a lisp value, and this variable must be a list of strings.)
  5. Now Emacs will remember that setting in that repository. (You may also want to commit the .dir-locals.el file to the repo.)
• The magit-todos-list command also works outside of git repos.

TRAMP

Remote repositories (i.e. ones accessed via TRAMP) are not automatically scanned for to-dos unless option magit-todos-update-remote is enabled. Otherwise, a scan may be manually initiated with the command magit-todos-update.

Note that if TRAMP can’t find the scanner configured in option magit-todos-scanner, you may need to use directory-local variables to either add the correct path to variable tramp-remote-path or choose a different scanner.

FAQ

Why aren’t my to-do items shown in the list?

• The most common reason is that the items you’re expecting to see are not formatted as magit-todos expects. For example, a to-do item in magit-todos.el looks like ;; TODO: Foo bar.: it starts with the comment delimiter and whitespace, followed by a keyword (see options magit-todos-keywords and magit-todos-ignored-keywords), then a colon (see option magit-todos-keyword-suffix). Items not formatted according to how magit-todos is configured won’t be matched and shown.
• Other options also affect what is shown, e.g. magit-todos-filename-filter and magit-todos-exclude-globs. See M-x customize-group RET magit-todos RET for all options.

Changelog

1.9-pre

Nothing new yet.

1.8

Additions

• Branch-specific TODOs are also cached (to avoid rescanning when automatic updates are disabled. This can improve performance in large repos).
• Option magit-todos-upate-remote allows automatic scanning in remote repositories. (#157. Thanks to Angus Gratton.)

Changes

• Remote repositories are no longer automatically scanned (see new option magit-todos-update-remote).
• Option magit-todos-keyword-suffix defaults to allowing suffixes to be enclosed by parentheses or brackets (rather than just parentheses).
• Minor improvements to warnings about files containing very long lines: display as messages instead of warnings, and signal errors from outside the process sentinel.

Removals

• Obsolete option magit-todos-insert-at, replaced by option magit-todos-insert-after. (Scheduled for removal since v1.6.)

Fixes

• Disable external diff drivers when calling git diff. (#174. Thanks to Aaron Zeng.)
• The branch diff scanner was incorrectly treated as a fallback scanner. (See #186. Thanks to Karl Hallsby for reporting.)

Compatibility

• Update test for git-grep scanner compatibility for newer versions of Git. (See #186. Thanks to Karl Hallsby.)

Documentation

• Added FAQ section.

1.7.2

Fixes

• Don’t set parent keymap. (#173. Thanks to Aaron Zeng.)

1.7.1

Fixes

• Don’t run branch scanner on a branch without a merge base relative to the main branch. (#153. Thanks to Yukari Hafner for reporting.)
• Keymap parent in status buffer’s to-do section. (#143. Thanks to Matthias Paulmier.)

1.7

Changed

• Improve behavior when scanner backend exits with an error. (Now an error is signaled and the command’s output is shown.)
• Option magit-todos-branch-list-merge-base-ref defaults to nil, which automatically detects the default branch name using function magit-main-branch. (#151. Thanks to Aaron Zeng for reporting.)

Fixed

• Updated find|grep scanner for newer versions of GNU find that interpret some arguments differently. (Tested on v4.8.0.)
• Prevent leading ./ in filenames when used with rg scanner. (#148. Thanks to Michal Sojka for reporting.)

1.6

• Emacs 26.1 or later is now required.

Added

• Option magit-todos-submodule-list controls whether to-dos in submodules are displayed (default: off). (Thanks to Matsievskiy S.V.)
• Option magit-todos-insert-after, which replaces magit-todos-insert-at. (The new option is more flexible, and it is automatically set from the old one’s value.)
• Option magit-todos-filename-filter, which can be used to shorten filenames. (Thanks to Matsievskiy S.V.)

Changed

• Option magit-todos-exclude-globs now excludes the `.git/` directory by default. (Thanks to Amorymeltzer.)
• Library org is no longer loaded automatically, but only when needed. (This can reduce load time, especially if the user’s Org configuration is complex.) (#120. Thanks to Martin Edström and Johnny Sigman for suggesting.)

Fixed

• Regexp overflow error for very long lines. (#131. Thanks to Laurence Warne.)
• Option magit-todos-group-by respects buffer- and directory-local settings.
• Insertion of blank lines between expanded sections.
• Section insertion position at top of buffer and when chosen section doesn’t exist. (#139. Thanks to Sascha Lüdecke for reporting.)

Removed

• Option magit-todos-insert-at, replaced by magit-todos-insert-after. (The old option will be removed in v1.8; customizations of it should be removed.)

Internal

• Define jumper keys using a Transient suffix.
• Use new git-testing function in Magit for remote directories. (#126. Thanks to Max Hollmann.)

1.5.3

Fixes

• Remove face from indentation. (Thanks to Alexander Miller.)

1.5.2

Fixes

• Use magit-todos-exclude-globs in branch todo list.

1.5.1

Fixes

• Add insertion function to end of magit-status-sections-hook.

1.5

Added

• Support for remote repositories accessed via TRAMP. See usage notes.
• Ivy history support. (Thanks to Brian Leung.)
• Option magit-todos-branch-list-merge-base-ref.
• Command magit-todos-branch-list-set-commit, bound to B with point in a to-do section.

Changed

• Branch todo list now uses git merge-base to determine the ancestor commit to compare to HEAD.
• Enable list-wide key bindings on both headings and to-do items.

Removed

• Option magit-todos-branch-list-commit-ref, replaced by option magit-todos-branch-list-merge-base-ref.

1.4.3

Fixed

• Don’t use --help option when testing git grep command, because it can launch a Web browser on some configurations or platforms (see #43).
• Caching when branch diff list is displayed.
• Commands magit-section-forward / backward sometimes skipped sections (see #66).

1.4.2

Fixed

• Refreshing magit-todos-list buffer. (#92. Thanks to Oleksii Filonenko and Henrik Lissner for reporting.)

1.4.1

Fixed

• Compiler warning.

1.4

Added

• Commands helm-magit-todos and ivy-magit-todos, which display items with Helm and Ivy. (Note that Helm and Ivy are not required, nor does this package depend on them; they are only used if present.)

Fixed

• Warn about files containing lines too long for Emacs’s regexp matcher to handle, rather than aborting the scan (#63).

Updated

• Use magit-setup-buffer instead of magit-mode-setup.

Internal

• Add synchronous mode to scanner functions, which return results directly usable by other code.

1.3

Added

• Branch diff task list. See new options magit-todos-branch-list and magit-todos-branch-list-commit-ref, and command magit-todos-branch-list-toggle, bound to b with point on to-do list heading. (#30, #77, #82. Thanks to Itamar Turner-Trauring and Arron Mabrey for the suggestion, and to Sébastien Maret for implementing the commit-ref option.)

Internal

• Put newline in section headings. (#68. Thanks to Sean Allred.)

1.2

Added

• Allow magit-todos-list to work outside git repos.
• Option magit-todos-keyword-suffix replaces magit-todos-require-colon, allowing for common and custom suffixes after item keywords (e.g. to match items like TODO(user):). (Fixes #56. Thanks to Lowe Thiderman for suggesting.)
• Optionally group and sort by item suffixes (e.g. handy when suffixes contain usernames).
• Bind RET on top-level TODOs section heading to magit-todos-list command.

Fixed

• Don’t fontify section item counts. (Thanks to Marcin Swieczkowski.)

Worked Around

• Issue in async regarding deleted buffers/processes. This is not an ideal solution, but it solves the problem for now.

Removed

• Option magit-todos-require-colon, replaced by magit-todos-keyword-suffix.

1.1.8

Fixed

• Properly unbind key when mode is disabled. (#74. Thanks to Akira Komamura.)
• Don’t show message when key is already bound correctly. (#75. Thanks to Akira Komamura.)

1.1.7

Fixed

• Disable undo in hidden Org fontification buffer.
• Expand top-level to-do list in magit-todos-list buffer.

1.1.6

Fixed

• Insert root section in magit-todos-list command. (Really fixes #55. Thanks to Jonas Bernoulli.)

1.1.5

Fixed

• Hide process buffers. (Thanks to Steve Purcell.)

1.1.4

Fixes

• magit-todos-depth number-to-string conversion.

1.1.3

Fixes

• Update magit-todos-list for Magit change. (Fixes #55. Thanks to Matteo Lisotto.)

1.1.2

Fixes

• Convert magit-todos-depth setting appropriately for rg scanner.

1.1.1

Fixes

• Ensure mode is activated in magit-todos-update command. (Fixes #54. Thanks to Sebastien Maret.)

1.1

Additions

• Dedicated to-do list buffer.
• Option magit-todos-exclude-globs, a list of glob patterns to ignore when searching for to-do items.
• Kill running scans when Magit status buffer is closed.

Changes

• Remove dependency on a.
• Remove dependency on anaphora.

Fixes

• Add missing cl- prefix. Thanks to Jelle Licht.

1.0.4

Fixes

• Fix find|grep scanner (issue 46). Thanks to Pierre Neidhardt.

1.0.3

Fixes

• Define variables earlier to avoid compiler warnings.
• Remove unused var magit-todos-ignore-file-suffixes.

1.0.2

Fixes

• regexp-quote item keywords when jumping to an item. (Fixes #36. Thanks to Derek Feichtinger.)
• Ensure grep supports --perl-regexp.
• Warn when unable to find a suitable scanner (i.e. rg, or a PCRE-compatible version of git or grep).

1.0.1

Fixes

• Test whether git grep supports --perl-regexp by checking its --help output, rather than doing a search and checking for an error.
• message instead of error for weird behavior. (This message exists to help track down an inconsequential bug.)
• Remove unused magit-todos-ignore-directories option. (To be replaced in a future release.)

1.0.0

Initial release.

Credits

• This package was inspired by magit-org-todos.
• The ag support was made much simpler by the great pcre2el package by Jon Oddie.
• Thanks to Jiangbin Zhao for his extensive testing and feedback.

License

GPLv3