Stikkit from the command line

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Note – This post has been updated from 2007-03-20 to describe new installation instructions.

Overview

I’ve integrated Stikkit into most of my workflow and am quite happy with the results. However, one missing piece is quick access to Stikkit from the command line. In particular, a quick list of my undone todos is quite useful without having to load up a web browser. To this end, I’ve written a Ruby script for interacting with Stikkit. As I mentioned, my real interest is in listing undone todos. But I decided to make the script more general, so you can ask for specific types of stikkits and restrict the stikkits with specific parameters. Also, since the stikkit api is so easy to use, I added in a method for creating new stikkits.

Usage

The general use of the script is to list stikkits of a particular type, filtered by a parameter. For example,

ruby stikkit.rb --list calendar dates=today

will show all of today’s calendar events. While,

ruby stikkit.rb -l todos done=0

lists all undone todos. The use of -l instead of --list is simply a standard convenience. Furthermore, since this last example comprises almost all of my use for this script, I added a convenience method to get all undone todos

ruby stikkit.rb -t

A good way to understand stikkit types and parameters is to keep an eye on the url while you interact with Stikkit in your browser. To create a new stikkit, use the --create flag,

ruby stikkit.rb -c 'Remember me.'

The text you pass to stikkit.rb will be processed as usual by Stikkit.

Installation

Grab the script from the Google Code project and put it somewhere convenient. Making the file executable and adding it to your path will cut down on the typing. The script reads from a .stikkit file in your path that contains your username and password. Modify this template and save it as ~/.sikkit

     ---
     username: me@domain.org 
     password: superSecret 

The script also requires the atom gem, which you can grab with

gem install atom

I’ve tried to include some flexibility in the processing of stikkits. So, if you don’t like using atom, you can switch to a different format provided by Stikkit. The text type requires no gems, but makes picking out pieces of the stikkits challenging.

Feedback

This script serves me well, but I’m interested in making it more useful. Feel free to pass along any comments or feature requests.

#code #blog