Outline

---

name: outline

version: "2.0.0"

author: BytesAgain

homepage: https://bytesagain.com

source: https://github.com/bytesagain/ai-skills

license: MIT-0

tags: [outline, tool, utility]

description: "Generate document outlines with TOC, chapter planning, and hierarchy management. Use when structuring documents, planning chapters, creating outlines."

---

# Outline

A productivity toolkit for capturing, planning, tracking, and reviewing tasks and ideas. Each command category maintains its own timestamped log file, so you can organize entries by purpose — plans, reviews, reminders, tags, timelines, and more. Includes built-in statistics, multi-format export, full-text search, and weekly review support.

All operations are logged with timestamps and stored locally in flat files for easy inspection and portability.

Commands

| Command | Description |

|---------|-------------|

| `outline add <text>` | Add a general entry (or show recent entries with no args) |

| `outline plan <text>` | Record a plan or goal |

| `outline track <text>` | Track progress on an item |

| `outline review <text>` | Log a review or reflection |

| `outline streak <text>` | Record a streak or habit check-in |

| `outline remind <text>` | Set a reminder note |

| `outline prioritize <text>` | Log a priority decision |

| `outline archive <text>` | Archive an item for later reference |

| `outline tag <text>` | Tag or categorize an entry |

| `outline timeline <text>` | Record a timeline event or milestone |

| `outline report <text>` | Log a report or summary |

| `outline weekly-review <text>` | Perform or record a weekly review |

| `outline stats` | Show summary statistics across all categories |

| `outline export <fmt>` | Export all data in json, csv, or txt format |

| `outline search <term>` | Full-text search across all log files |

| `outline recent` | Show the 20 most recent activity entries |

| `outline status` | Health check — version, data dir, entry counts, disk usage |

| `outline help` | Show the built-in help message |

| `outline version` | Print the current version |

How Entry Commands Work

Every entry command (`add`, `plan`, `track`, `review`, `streak`, `remind`, `prioritize`, `archive`, `tag`, `timeline`, `report`, `weekly-review`) follows the same pattern:

Data Storage

All data is stored in `~/.local/share/outline/` by default.

Files created in the data directory:

Export Formats

Requirements

When to Use

1. **Daily task capture** — Quickly jot down tasks, ideas, or observations throughout the day using `add` or `plan`, then review with `recent`

2. **Habit tracking and streaks** — Use `streak` to check in on daily habits and `stats` to see your consistency over time

3. **Weekly reviews and retrospectives** — Use `weekly-review` to log reflections at the end of each week, then `search` to find patterns

4. **Project timeline management** — Use `timeline` to record milestones and `report` to log progress summaries for stakeholders

5. **Exporting data for analysis** — Use `export json` to pipe structured data into `jq`, dashboards, or spreadsheets for deeper analysis

Examples

# Add a task and a plan
outline add "Set up CI pipeline for new repo"
#=> [Outline] add: Set up CI pipeline for new repo
#=> Saved. Total add entries: 1

outline plan "Q2 roadmap: launch v2.0 by June"
#=> [Outline] plan: Q2 roadmap: launch v2.0 by June
#=> Saved. Total plan entries: 1

# Track progress and tag it
outline track "CI pipeline: tests passing, deploy step WIP"
outline tag "ci-pipeline: infrastructure"

# Set a reminder
outline remind "Team standup at 10am tomorrow"
#=> [Outline] remind: Team standup at 10am tomorrow
#=> Saved. Total remind entries: 1

# View statistics across all categories
outline stats
#=> === Outline Stats ===
#=>   add: 1 entries
#=>   plan: 1 entries
#=>   ...
#=>   Total: 5 entries
#=>   Data size: 4.0K

# Export everything as JSON
outline export json
#=> Exported to /home/user/.local/share/outline/export.json (245 bytes)

# Search across all logs
outline search "pipeline"
#=> Searching for: pipeline
#=>   --- add ---
#=>     2025-03-18 14:30|Set up CI pipeline for new repo

Configuration

The data directory is hardcoded to `~/.local/share/outline/`. To use a custom location, modify the `DATA_DIR` variable in the script.

How It Works

1. On every invocation, the tool ensures the data directory exists (`mkdir -p`)

2. The first argument selects the command via a `case` dispatch

3. Entry commands append a pipe-delimited line (`timestamp|text`) to their category-specific log file

4. Every command also appends to `history.log` for auditing

5. `stats` iterates over all `.log` files to produce aggregate counts

6. `export` reads all `.log` files and writes a combined output in the chosen format

7. All output goes to stdout for easy piping and redirection

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