Trekker

Overview

Trekker is a CLI-based issue tracker designed for AI coding agents. It stores data locally in SQLite (.trekker/trekker.db) and supports epics, tasks, subtasks, dependencies, comments, full-text search, and an audit history log. Use --toon on any command for token-efficient output.

When to use: Agent work session tracking, local task management, kanban-style workflows, dependency-aware task ordering, checkpoint comments for context persistence across sessions.

When NOT to use: Team-wide project management (use GitHub Issues/Linear), real-time collaboration, remote-first workflows, CI/CD-integrated issue tracking.

Essential Commands

trekker init
trekker --toon ready
trekker --toon task list --status in_progress
trekker --toon task list --status todo
trekker --toon task list --epic EPIC-1
trekker --toon task show TREK-1
trekker --toon epic list
trekker --toon epic show EPIC-1
trekker --toon comment list TREK-1
trekker --toon search "query" --type task
trekker --toon list --status in_progress
trekker --toon history --entity TREK-1
trekker epic create -t "Title" -d "description" -p 2
trekker task create -t "Title" -d "description" -e EPIC-1 -p 2 --tags "a,b"
trekker subtask create TREK-1 -t "Title" -d "description" -p 2
trekker task update TREK-1 -s in_progress
trekker task update TREK-1 -s completed
trekker epic complete EPIC-1
trekker dep add TREK-2 TREK-1
trekker comment add TREK-1 -a "agent" -c "Summary: what was done and which files changed"

Statuses — Tasks/Subtasks: todo, in_progress, completed, wont_fix, archived | Epics: todo, in_progress, completed, archived

Priority — 0 critical, 1 high, 2 medium (default), 3 low, 4 backlog, 5 someday

Valid Flags by Command

Only use flags listed here. Do NOT guess or invent flags.

Command	Valid flags
`epic create`	`-t` `-d` `-p` `-s`
`epic list`	`--status`
`epic update`	`-t` `-d` `-p` `-s`
`epic show/complete/delete`	(no flags, just ID)
`task create`	`-t` `-d` `-p` `-s` `-e` `--tags`
`task list`	`--status` `--epic`
`task update`	`-t` `-d` `-p` `-s` `-e` `--tags` `--no-epic`
`task show/delete`	(no flags, just ID)
`subtask create`	`-t` `-d` `-p` `-s`
`subtask update`	`-t` `-d` `-p` `-s`
`subtask list/delete`	(no flags, just ID)
`comment add`	`-a` `-c` (both required)
`comment update`	`-c`
`comment list/delete`	(no flags, just ID)
`dep add/remove`	(no flags, two IDs)
`dep list`	(no flags, just ID)
`search`	`--type` `--status` `--limit` `--page` `--rebuild-index`
`history`	`--entity` `--type` `--action` `--since` `--until` `--limit` `--page`
`list`	`--type` `--status` `--priority` `--since` `--until` `--sort` `--limit` `--page`
`ready`	(no flags)
`wipe`	`-y`

Flags that do NOT exist (agents commonly hallucinate these):

--offset — use --page and --limit instead
--assignee — trekker has no assignee field
--label — use --tags on task create/update instead
--verbose / --json / --quiet — use --toon for compact output, default is verbose
--filter — use --status, --type, --priority as separate flags
--sort on task list — only available on trekker list
--all — not a flag on any command
--force / -f — only wipe accepts -y
--name / -n — use -t / --title instead

When unsure about flags, run --help on any command:

trekker --help
trekker task --help
trekker task create --help

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Correct Pattern
Creating task without searching first	Always `trekker search "keyword"` before creating to avoid duplicates
Completing task without summary comment	Add `Summary:` comment with what was done and which files changed
Not using `--toon` flag	Always use `--toon` to reduce token usage in agent contexts
Forgetting to set `in_progress` before working	Set status before starting so other agents know the task is claimed
Using `epic delete` instead of `epic complete`	`epic delete` silently orphans tasks; use `epic complete` to archive them
Dependency direction reversed	`dep add TREK-2 TREK-1` means TREK-2 depends on TREK-1 (TREK-1 blocks TREK-2)
Not adding checkpoint comments before context reset	Add `Checkpoint:` comment with done items, next steps, and affected files
Coding before planning	Create epic and break into tasks with dependencies before writing code
Vague task descriptions	Include implementation steps, files to modify, and acceptance criteria
Searching without type filter	Use `--type task` or `--status in_progress` to narrow results
Empty search query `trekker search ""`	FTS5 rejects empty strings; always provide a search term
Using `wont_fix` when task is just deferred	`wont_fix` = will never do; use `archived` for deferred or superseded work
`comment add` missing `-a` or `-c`	Both `-a` (author) and `-c` (content) are required
Running `trekker init` twice	Not idempotent; errors if `.trekker/` already exists
Forgetting to gitignore `.trekker/`	Add `.trekker/` to `.gitignore` after init unless sharing task state

Delegation

Task discovery and prioritization: Use Explore agent to scan codebase and identify work
Multi-task execution: Use Task agent for parallel subtask completion