Commands Reference

Complete reference for all BackMark commands, options, and usage examples.

Quick Reference

Initialization

backmark init

Create Task

backmark task create

List Tasks

backmark task list

View Task

backmark task view

Kanban Board

backmark board show

Search

backmark search

Initialization

backmark init

Initialize BackMark in the current directory.

Syntax:

backmark init [project-name]

Examples:

backmark init "My Project"
backmark init

What it creates:

  • backlog/ directory
  • backlog/tasks/ directory
  • backlog/templates/ with default templates
  • backlog/config.yml with default configuration

Task Management

backmark task create

Create a new task.

Syntax:

backmark task create <title> [options]

Options:

  • -d, --description <text> - Task description
  • -p, --priority <level> - Priority: low, medium, high, critical
  • -a, --assignees <list> - Comma-separated assignees
  • -l, --labels <list> - Comma-separated labels
  • -m, --milestone <name> - Milestone name
  • --status <status> - Initial status (default: To Do)
  • --start <date> - Start date (YYYY-MM-DD)
  • --end <date> - End date (YYYY-MM-DD)

Examples:

backmark task create "Implement auth"

backmark task create "Add search" \
  -d "Fuzzy search with Fuse.js" \
  -p high \
  -a "Claude,Alice" \
  -l "feature,search" \
  -m "v1.0"

backmark task list

List all tasks with optional filtering.

Syntax:

backmark task list [options]

Options:

  • --status <status> - Filter by status
  • --priority <priority> - Filter by priority
  • --assignee <name> - Filter by assignee
  • --label <label> - Filter by label
  • --milestone <name> - Filter by milestone

Example Output:

backmark task list output

Filter by multiple criteria:

backmark task list --priority high --assignee Claude
backmark task list --milestone "v1.0" --status "To Do"

backmark task view

View detailed information about a task.

Syntax:

backmark task view <task-id> [options]

Options:

  • --ai-all - Show all AI sections
  • --ai-plan - Show only AI plan
  • --ai-notes - Show only AI notes
  • --ai-doc - Show only AI documentation
  • --ai-review - Show only AI review

Examples:

backmark task view 1 --ai-all
backmark task view 42
backmark task view 42 --ai-plan

Example Output:

backmark task view output

backmark task edit

Edit task properties.

Syntax:

backmark task edit <task-id> [options]

Options:

  • --status <status> - Change status
  • --priority <priority> - Change priority
  • --assignee <name> - Add/remove assignee
  • --label <label> - Add/remove label
  • --milestone <name> - Set milestone

Examples:

backmark task edit 42 --status "In Progress"
backmark task edit 42 --priority high
backmark task edit 42 --status "Done"

backmark task delete

Delete a task.

Syntax:

backmark task delete <task-id> [--force]

Options:

  • --force - Skip confirmation prompt

Examples:

backmark task delete 42
backmark task delete 42 --force

AI Workflow

backmark task ai-plan

Add or update AI implementation plan.

backmark task ai-plan <id> "Plan..."

backmark task ai-note

Add timestamped AI development notes.

backmark task ai-note <id> "Note..."

backmark task ai-doc

Add or update AI documentation.

backmark task ai-doc <id> "Docs..."

backmark task ai-review

Add AI self-review and quality checks.

backmark task ai-review <id> "Review..."

AI Automation

ai-breakdown

Automatically generate subtasks from task description.

backmark task ai-breakdown <id>

ai-estimate

Estimate complexity and duration.

backmark task ai-estimate <id>

ai-review-ready

Validate task before completion.

backmark task ai-review-ready <id>

Kanban Board

backmark board show

Display interactive Kanban board view of all tasks.

Syntax:

backmark board show [options]

Options:

  • --watch - Auto-refresh board (watch mode)

Example Output:

backmark board show output

💡 This is an interactive TUI (Text User Interface). Use --watch for auto-refresh mode.

Search

backmark search

Fuzzy search across all tasks.

Syntax:

backmark search <query> [options]

Options:

  • --status <status> - Filter results by status
  • --priority <priority> - Filter results by priority

Examples:

backmark search "authentication"
backmark search "api" --status "In Progress"

Configuration

backmark config get

Get configuration value.

backmark config get <key>

Example:

backmark config get performance.useIndex

backmark config set

Set configuration value.

backmark config set <key> <value>

Example:

backmark config set performance.useIndex true

Other Commands

backmark overview

Display comprehensive project statistics, team activity, velocity trends, and AI collaboration metrics.

Example Output:

backmark overview output part 1 backmark overview output part 2

backmark --version

Show BackMark version.

backmark --version

backmark --help

Show help for all commands.

backmark --help
backmark task --help
backmark task create --help

backmark task create-from-template

Create task from template.

backmark task create-from-template \
  <template> <title>

Command Tips

  • 💡 Use --help with any command for detailed options
  • 💡 Task IDs can be found with backmark task list
  • 💡 Combine multiple filters for precise queries
  • 💡 Use quotes for multi-word values: "In Progress"
  • 💡 Press Ctrl+C to exit watch mode
  • 💡 All commands support --verbose for debug output