RogueAgenda/PROJECT.md

Rogue Agenda project ledger

Last updated: 2026-08-16

Product direction

Rogue Agenda is a Rust, Ratatui, and SQLite reimagining of Lotus Agenda 2.0. The goal is functional fidelity to its information-management ideas and visual rhythm, not binary or document compatibility. Documents use .agnd; each is a self-contained SQLite database. Every product string uses Rogue Agenda.

The central principle is “capture first, organize later.” An item is stored once and may participate in many category relationships and saved views. The TUI keeps the original's high-information gray workspace, blue title bands, red selection, columnar item view, and function-key strip, while adding dynamic layout, mouse interaction, conventional shortcuts, UTF-8, and modern durability.

Research basis

• Lotus Development Corporation, Lotus Agenda User's Guide 2.0 (1989), scanned at Internet Archive. The contents identify items, notes, hierarchical and mutually exclusive categories, explicit/conditional assignments, sections, live views, datebook views, alarms, numeric calculations, filters, dependencies, bulk marking, sorting, automatic conditions/actions, import/export, printing, backups, managers, macros, and accessories.
• Lotus Development Corporation, Starter Applications 2.0 (1990), scanned at Internet Archive. It documents Activities Planner, Account Manager, People Manager, priorities, contacts, expenses, weekly tracking, and status reports.
• Tavis Ormandy's hands-on “Lotus Agenda” article and animations. These establish the actual screen grammar: two-line blue file/view header, gray unboxed canvas, section and column headings, dot-prefixed category values, red selection, blue F1–F10 command tiles, and examples of natural-language extraction.
• Bob Newell's Agenda FAQ and James Fallows' contemporary account. These clarify the distinctive behavior: single-copy items, category inheritance, negative assignment, aliases/abbreviations, incremental structure, and named live views.
• Period reviews from the Los Angeles Times and HUMANIST archives corroborate long notes, free-form entry, priorities, Boolean reports, and automatic filing.

Research URLs:

• https://archive.org/details/lotus-agenda-users-guide
• https://lock.cmpxchg8b.com/lotusagenda.html
• https://www.bobnewell.net/agenda/agfaq.txt.html
• https://www.bobnewell.net/agenda/atlantic.txt.html
• https://dhhumanist.org/archives/Virginia/v02/0410.html
• https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-28-fi-9745-story.html

Implemented in this prototype

• .agnd SQLite documents, schema migration metadata, foreign keys, WAL, transactions, integrity-friendly soft deletion, and automatic checkpoints.
• Items with free text, note, priority, When, Done, alarm, numeric value, recurring schedule, creation/update timestamps, manual order, and prerequisite links. Completion advances recurring work and carries alarms and filing forward.
• Categories with hierarchy, inheritance in queries, kinds (standard, date, numeric), match phrases, mutually exclusive siblings, and many-to-many links.
• Explicit assignment and automatic text-based assignment.
• Explicit negative category assignments that override automatic filing.
• Natural-language date extraction for common relative, weekday, and ISO forms.
• Live saved views, datebook presentation, category/done/date/priority filters, search filtering, configurable sort, and responsive columns.
• Interactive creation, editing, and deletion of saved live views and category definitions, including hierarchy, match phrases, kinds, and exclusivity.
• Persistent per-view fields, headings, widths, order, numeric aggregates, filtered multi-section layouts, collapsed sections, and view reordering.
• Parsed Boolean expressions with and/or/not, parentheses, text/note/ category matching, numeric comparisons, state predicates, and relative due dates.
• User-authored category conditions with live match preview and deterministic assign, exclude, priority, numeric value, When, alarm, recurrence, and Done actions. Rules apply iteratively, respect explicit overrides, and detect non-convergence.
• Default All Items, Tasks, Upcoming, Recently Done, and Datebook views.
• Agenda-style item workspace, View Manager, Category Manager, command menu, item editor, property editor, notes, category chooser, help, and status messages.
• Marking and bulk completion; Trash view, soft discard, and recovery.
• Responsive wide/compact rendering and mouse row/command/view interaction.
• Text and iCalendar import; view-scoped CSV, JSON, Markdown, styled HTML, and iCalendar export with notes, categories, dates, priority, completion, and recurring RRULE schedules.
• Demo data, CLI help, README, MIT license, and unit/integration tests.

Supported with a modern interpretation

• Numeric calculations: per-item numeric values and view total/average are supported; arbitrary category formula programs are intentionally represented by the safer aggregate model.
• Conditions/actions: category match phrases and date parsing run on item changes; assignments are immediately re-evaluated. Shell-executing actions are omitted by design, while deterministic filing actions are supported.
• Printing: view-aware Markdown and styled HTML reports are the portable print/preview path, alongside CSV and JSON data exports.
• Backups: SQLite durability plus explicit checkpoint replaces proprietary backup-file rotation. Ordinary filesystem backup tools work on .agnd files.
• Clipboard/accessory capture: terminal paste into the new-item form replaces the DOS resident accessory.
• Macros: conventional keys and direct commands replace keystroke-replay macros.

Delayed / unsupported

These are the few features that either depend on obsolete DOS integration or need a larger follow-on implementation:

• Arbitrary formula columns that reference several numeric categories. Current view columns support sum, avg, count, min, and max aggregates.
• Rich-text/font markers, printer control sequences, page-layout preview, and named printer configurations.
• Lotus Metro/List Manager/STF compatibility, DOS accessories, and Agenda macro compatibility (explicitly outside the project's format-compatibility goal).
• Password encryption. A description field is supported by schema metadata; weak historic password protection will not be imitated without real encryption.
• Desktop notifications while the application is closed. Due alarms are shown prominently while Rogue Agenda is running.

Near-term plan

1. Add desktop alarm integration and in-application snooze controls.
2. Add encrypted documents and secure unlock handling.
3. Add property-based tests for complex hierarchy and rule combinations.
4. Add a structured text definition-file importer for unusual legacy datasets.