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Nimbus User Guide

Nimbus is a personal task management chatbot that helps you keep track of your todos, deadlines, and events via a simple command-line interface.

Quick Start

  1. Ensure you have Java 17 or above installed.
  2. Download the latest Nimbus.jar from the releases page.
  3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for Nimbus.
  4. Open a terminal, cd into the folder, and run: 
    java -jar Nimbus.jar
  5. Type commands and press Enter to interact with Nimbus. Refer to the Features section below for details on each command.

Features

Notes about the command format:

Adding a todo: todo

Adds a todo task (a task with no date attached).

Format: todo DESCRIPTION

Example:

todo read book

Expected output:

Got it. I've added this task:
  [T][ ] read book
Now you have 1 tasks in the list.

Adding a deadline: deadline

Adds a task with a due date.

Format: deadline DESCRIPTION /by DATE

Example:

deadline return book /by 2025-06-15

Expected output:

Got it. I've added this task:
  [D][ ] return book (by: Jun 15 2025)
Now you have 2 tasks in the list.

Adding an event: event

Adds a task with a start and end date/time.

Format: event DESCRIPTION /from START /to END

Example:

event project meeting /from 2025-08-06 /to 2025-08-07

Expected output:

Got it. I've added this task:
  [E][ ] project meeting (from: Aug 6 2025 to: Aug 7 2025)
Now you have 3 tasks in the list.

Listing all tasks: list

Displays all tasks in your task list.

Format: list

Example output:

Here are the tasks in your list:
1.[T][ ] read book
2.[D][ ] return book (by: Jun 15 2025)
3.[E][ ] project meeting (from: Aug 6 2025 to: Aug 7 2025)

Marking a task as done: mark

Marks the specified task as done.

Format: mark INDEX

Example:

mark 1

Expected output:

Nice! I've marked this task as done:
  [T][X] read book

Unmarking a task: unmark

Marks the specified task as not done.

Format: unmark INDEX

Example:

unmark 1

Expected output:

OK, I've marked this task as not done yet:
  [T][ ] read book

Deleting a task: delete

Removes the specified task from the list.

Format: delete INDEX

Example:

delete 3

Expected output:

Noted. I've removed this task:
  [E][ ] project meeting (from: Aug 6 2025 to: Aug 7 2025)
Now you have 2 tasks in the list.

Finding tasks by keyword: find

Finds all tasks whose descriptions contain the given keyword.

Format: find KEYWORD

Example:

find book

Expected output:

Here are the matching tasks in your list:
1.[T][ ] read book
2.[D][ ] return book (by: Jun 15 2025)

Exiting the program: bye

Exits the application.

Format: bye

Saving the data

Task data is saved automatically to ./data/nimbus.txt after every command that modifies the task list. There is no need to save manually.

Editing the data file

Task data is saved as a text file at ./data/nimbus.txt. Advanced users are welcome to update data directly by editing that file.

⚠️ Caution: If your changes to the data file are not in the correct format, Nimbus may not be able to load the file and will start with an empty task list.

FAQ

Q: How do I transfer my data to another computer?

A: Copy the data/nimbus.txt file from your current Nimbus home folder to the same location on the other computer.

Q: Can I use dates in formats other than ISO-8601?

A: Yes. If a date string is not in yyyy-MM-dd format, Nimbus stores and displays it as-is (e.g. Sunday, next week).

Command Summary

Action Format
Todo todo DESCRIPTION
Deadline deadline DESCRIPTION /by DATE
Event event DESCRIPTION /from START /to END
List list
Mark mark INDEX
Unmark unmark INDEX
Delete delete INDEX
Find find KEYWORD
Exit bye