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Nishkarsh Pandey
Nishkarsh Pandey

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๐ŸŽฏ Build a Terminal Task Manager in Python with pyfiglet and rich!!!

Spice up your command-line apps with beautiful visuals and interactivity!

๐Ÿš€ What Youโ€™ll Build
A fully functional task manager you can run in your terminal โ€” complete with:

โœ… Add/delete tasks
โœ… Mark tasks as complete
โœ… Colorful ASCII headers
โœ… Richly styled tables
โœ… Interactive CLI menus

All using Python and a couple of lesser-known but super cool libraries!

๐Ÿงฐ What Youโ€™ll Need
Install these first:

pip install pyfiglet rich

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๐Ÿ’ก Why This Is Fun
CLI apps often feel dry โ€” but throw in some ASCII art and beautiful tables, and suddenly youโ€™ll want to open your terminal. I use these techniques to stay motivated during long automation or data scraping runs โ€” it adds a bit of flair!

๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿ’ป The Code: task_manager.py

import pyfiglet
from rich.console import Console
from rich.table import Table
from rich.prompt import Prompt
import sys

console = Console()
tasks = []

def show_banner():
    ascii_banner = pyfiglet.figlet_format("Task Manager")
    console.print(f"[bold cyan]{ascii_banner}[/bold cyan]")

def show_menu():
    console.print("\n[bold yellow]Options:[/bold yellow]")
    console.print("[1] View Tasks")
    console.print("[2] Add Task")
    console.print("[3] Complete Task")
    console.print("[4] Delete Task")
    console.print("[5] Exit")

def display_tasks():
    if not tasks:
        console.print("[italic]No tasks available.[/italic]")
        return
    table = Table(title="๐Ÿ“‹ Your Tasks", show_lines=True)
    table.add_column("ID", style="dim")
    table.add_column("Task", style="cyan")
    table.add_column("Status", style="green")

    for idx, task in enumerate(tasks):
        table.add_row(str(idx), task["name"], task["status"])

    console.print(table)

def add_task():
    name = Prompt.ask("Enter task name")
    tasks.append({"name": name, "status": "Pending"})
    console.print("[green]Task added![/green]")

def complete_task():
    display_tasks()
    index = Prompt.ask("Enter task ID to complete")
    try:
        tasks[int(index)]["status"] = "โœ… Completed"
        console.print("[green]Task marked as completed![/green]")
    except (IndexError, ValueError):
        console.print("[red]Invalid task ID![/red]")

def delete_task():
    display_tasks()
    index = Prompt.ask("Enter task ID to delete")
    try:
        deleted = tasks.pop(int(index))
        console.print(f"[red]Deleted:[/red] {deleted['name']}")
    except (IndexError, ValueError):
        console.print("[red]Invalid task ID![/red]")

def main():
    show_banner()
    while True:
        show_menu()
        choice = Prompt.ask("Choose an option", choices=["1", "2", "3", "4", "5"])
        if choice == "1":
            display_tasks()
        elif choice == "2":
            add_task()
        elif choice == "3":
            complete_task()
        elif choice == "4":
            delete_task()
        elif choice == "5":
            console.print("[bold cyan]Goodbye! ๐Ÿ‘‹[/bold cyan]")
            sys.exit()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

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Output

Terminal1

Terminal2

๐ŸŽ‰ Wrap-Up

This is a great base for building more advanced terminal tools โ€” think:

Save/load from JSON or a file.
Add due dates, priorities, tags.
Sort/filter/search tasks.
Keyboard shortcuts.

If you enjoyed this, try exploring more rich features like progress bars, panels, and live dashboards!

๐Ÿ’ฌ Over to You!
Have you built any cool terminal tools using Python? Got tips for making CLIs more interactive and fun? Drop a comment!

Top comments (13)

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dotallio profile image
Dotallio

Love how the banner and table styling instantly make this way more inviting - I always add a dash of color to my own CLI scripts too! Have you tried adding keyboard shortcuts for even faster task management?

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nish2005karsh profile image
Nishkarsh Pandey

Thank you so much! I totally agreeโ€”color really livens up the CLI experience.
Adding keyboard shortcuts is a fantastic idea! It would definitely speed up task management and make the tool even more user-friendly. Iโ€™m planning to explore that next, maybe with libraries like keyboard or readchar for capturing key inputs.
Would love to hear if you have any favorite shortcuts or tips!

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javanteb23 profile image
Saint Thomas Brown โ™Ÿ

Great read, absolutely will be saving this for this books.

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nish2005karsh profile image
Nishkarsh Pandey

Thanks a ton! ๐Ÿ™Œ Glad you found it useful. Hope it earns a cozy spot between your favorite bookmarks (or books ๐Ÿ˜‰). Let me know if you ever tweak it or build on it!

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madhurima_rawat profile image
Madhurima Rawat

This looks so beautiful!

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nish2005karsh profile image
Nishkarsh Pandey

Thank you so much, Madhurima! ๐Ÿ˜Š
I'm really glad you liked it โ€” making the terminal visually fun definitely boosts motivation during long sessions. Iโ€™m working on expanding this into a full-featured CLI dashboard next โ€” stay tuned! ๐Ÿ’ป๐ŸŒŸ

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nadeem_zia_257af7e986ffc6 profile image
nadeem zia

Wow, amazing work

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nish2005karsh profile image
Nishkarsh Pandey

Thanks !! Nadeem ๐Ÿ˜Š.
I'm glad you like it.

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aidasaid profile image
Aida Said

Looks amazing

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nish2005karsh profile image
Nishkarsh Pandey

Thanks Aida ๐Ÿ˜Š.

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nathan_tarbert profile image
Nathan Tarbert

Pretty cool, I love spicing up boring terminal stuff - the colors just make me wanna use it more honestly.

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nish2005karsh profile image
Nishkarsh Pandey

Thanks!! I totally agree -- colors really make the terminal more fun and engaging!

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Jane Marcus

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