@ghostpaw/questlog

@ghostpaw/questlog

Agent tasks as quests that finish only with a written outcome.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GhostPawJS/questlog/main/install.sh | sh

A unified task and calendar model for Node.js, built on SQLite.

Questlog treats tasks, events, deadlines, recurring commitments, and loose intake as one coherent data model instead of separate systems. It ships as a single prebundled blob with zero runtime dependencies, designed for two audiences at once: human developers working directly in code, and LLM agents operating through a structured tool facade.

MCP server

Every client below starts the same stdio server: ghostpaw-questlog mcp. For npm-based environments, use npx -y @ghostpaw/questlog mcp (Node 24+). Data lives in ~/.ghostpaw/questlog.db unless the GHOSTPAW_QUESTLOG_DB environment variable (absolute path) or --db <path> says otherwise.

Claude Code

claude mcp add ghostpaw-questlog -- ghostpaw-questlog mcp

or as a plugin, which also installs the skill:

/plugin marketplace add GhostPawJS/questlog
/plugin install ghostpaw-questlog@ghostpaw-questlog

Codex CLI (~/.codex/config.toml)

[mcp_servers.ghostpaw-questlog]
command = "ghostpaw-questlog"
args = ["mcp"]

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json), Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json) or a project .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ghostpaw-questlog": {
      "command": "ghostpaw-questlog",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop users can also install server.mcpb from the latest GitHub release. A Dockerfile is included for container hosts: docker build -t ghostpaw-questlog . && docker run -i --rm -v questlog:/data ghostpaw-questlog.

The server speaks MCP 2026-07-28 (stateless, server/discover) and the initialize-based revisions 2025-11-25, 2025-06-18, 2025-03-26 and 2024-11-05.

CLI

Install the release binary for ghostpaw-questlog (questlog is an alias).

questlog add "Review release notes" --tag release --due 2030-01-02
questlog list --limit 10
questlog search release notes --limit 5
questlog show 1
questlog done 1 --outcome "Reviewed changes"
questlog list --view quests.resolved --json

add accepts comma-separated tags (--tag a,b) and repeated --tag flags, --objective (defaults to the title), --questline <id>, and --due as YYYY-MM-DD, DD.MM.YYYY, today, tomorrow, +3d, an ISO date-time with timezone, or milliseconds since epoch. Date-only values use local end of day. --objective is the one flag that reads a file: @path, @- for stdin, and @@text for a literal @text (help marks it (@file, @- stdin, @@ literal @)). Every other value, including titles, --outcome and per-tool flags, is literal. list defaults to available quests; list --help lists all supported views. Its --limit caps text output; JSON preserves the full review tool result. search --limit caps matches in both formats. show prints full quest detail. Lists show local due dates, overdue markers, and recorded outcomes. Plain JSON adds ISO UTC siblings for numeric timestamp fields ending in At. done stores --outcome with the finished quest; without it the command asks for one and exits 3.

Commands print text by default, including hooks, delivery views and each watch tick; call and direct tool commands return the raw tool result as JSON. Use --json for the full tool result and --compact for compact JSON. --db path works before or after the command. Each command accepts --help. Exit codes are 0 for success, 1 for invalid input or a tool error, 2 for usage errors, and 3 when clarification is needed or hook remove/hook test addresses a missing target. Missing quests and deliveries exit 1. hook label names the database, not an individual target.

questlog skill --short prints the compact cheat sheet; questlog skill --list lists guides. ISO date-times without a zone (for example 2026-10-29T09:00) use the local time zone.

The call command and the per-tool form still reach every tool and parameter:

questlog tools
questlog call capture_rumor '{"title":"Review release notes"}'
questlog search_questlog --query "release notes"

questlog mcp starts the stdio server.

The default database is ~/.ghostpaw/questlog.db. Override it with --db <path> or GHOSTPAW_QUESTLOG_DB; top-level help shows the selected path. New database files are reported on stderr. The npm entry requires Node 24+ and exits 2 with an installation hint on older Node versions, including for help and version.

Agent Skill

SKILL.md (repo root) and skills/questlog/SKILL.md follow the Agent Skills format and ship in the npm package. Copy skills/questlog/ into your agent's skills folder, or print it:

ghostpaw-questlog skill > SKILL.md

Install

Release binary (default)

Each line downloads the latest release asset, checks it against the release’s SHA256SUMS and installs it on the PATH (~/.local/bin on Linux/macOS; the Windows script adds its folder to the user PATH).

These lines never edit ~/.profile or other shell startup files: export PATH applies to the current shell only. To keep it in new shells, use the ~/.profile line below.

linux-x64:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GhostPawJS/questlog/main/install.sh | sh -s -- --target linux-x64 && export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

linux-arm64:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GhostPawJS/questlog/main/install.sh | sh -s -- --target linux-arm64 && export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

darwin-arm64:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GhostPawJS/questlog/main/install.sh | sh -s -- --target darwin-arm64 && export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

darwin-x64:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GhostPawJS/questlog/main/install.sh | sh -s -- --target darwin-x64 && export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

windows-x64 (PowerShell; persistently adds its folder to the user PATH):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GhostPawJS/questlog/main/install.ps1 | iex

Pinned to a release:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GhostPawJS/questlog/main/install.sh | sh -s -- --target linux-x64 --version 0.11.1 && export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Also adding ~/.local/bin to ~/.profile (edits ~/.profile once; skipped if it already mentions ~/.local/bin; zsh login shells read ~/.zprofile instead, so use that file name there):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GhostPawJS/questlog/main/install.sh | sh -s -- --target linux-x64 && { grep -qs '.local/bin' ~/.profile || echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.profile; } && export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

To skip the persistent Windows user PATH edit (the installer still installs and prints the folder to add):

$env:GHOSTPAW_NO_MODIFY_PATH=1; irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GhostPawJS/questlog/main/install.ps1 | iex

$ ghostpaw-questlog --version
questlog 0.11.1 (binary, linux-x64)

Scripts that compare versions should use --version --short or --version --json.

Standalone binaries are available from GitHub Releases.

A session with the 0.9.1 linux-x64 binary against a fresh database:

The same session as an animated GIF.

Other release installers:

mise use -g github:GhostPawJS/questlog
ubi --project GhostPawJS/questlog --exe ghostpaw-questlog --in ~/.local/bin
eget GhostPawJS/questlog

For aqua, define a github_release package in aqua.yaml:

registries:
  - name: questlog
    type: local
    path: questlog-registry.yaml
packages:
  - name: GhostPawJS/questlog@v0.8.0
    registry: questlog

questlog-registry.yaml:

packages:
  - type: github_release
    repo_owner: GhostPawJS
    repo_name: questlog
    asset: ghostpaw-questlog-{{trimV .Version}}-{{.OS}}-{{.Arch}}.tar.gz
    format: tar.gz
    replacements: { amd64: x64 }
    overrides:
      - goos: windows
        asset: ghostpaw-questlog-{{trimV .Version}}-windows-{{.Arch}}.zip
        format: zip
    files:
      - name: ghostpaw-questlog

Install scripts verify SHA256SUMS. To verify a downloaded archive's build attestation:

gh attestation verify <archive> -R GhostPawJS/questlog

Set GHOSTPAW_VERIFY=attestation for attestation verification in install.sh. Binaries are unsigned; macOS binaries carry an ad-hoc signature. For a browser download on macOS, remove quarantine with xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/ghostpaw-questlog. Linux binaries require glibc 2.28+; use npx on Alpine. See the binary build workflow.

npx / npm (for npm-based environments)

The npm package requires Node 24+:

npx -y @ghostpaw/questlog --help
npm install -g @ghostpaw/questlog

Library (for harnesses embedding it in code)

npm install @ghostpaw/questlog

import { initQuestlogTables, read, write } from '@ghostpaw/questlog';

See library usage. The library uses built-in node:sqlite with zero runtime dependencies.

Quick Start

import { DatabaseSync } from 'node:sqlite';
import { initQuestlogTables, read, write } from '@ghostpaw/questlog';

const db = new DatabaseSync(':memory:');
initQuestlogTables(db);

// Capture incoming work as a rumor before committing to shape
const rumor = write.captureRumor(db, {
  title: 'Legal says the vendor terms changed',
  details: 'Need to understand pricing delta and termination clause.',
});

// Settle the rumor into real work once the shape is clear
write.settleRumor(db, rumor.id, {
  settledAt: Date.now(),
  questline: {
    title: 'Vendor Renewal',
    description: 'Commercial, legal, and approval work.',
  },
  quests: [
    { title: 'Collect redlines', objective: 'Obtain the latest legal markup.' },
    { title: 'Review pricing delta', objective: 'Compare current vs. proposed cost.' },
  ],
});

// Drive the day from derived views, not from memory
const available = read.listAvailableQuests(db);
const dueSoon = read.listDueSoonQuests(db, 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
const results = read.searchQuestlog(db, 'vendor');

Docs

The live demo runs the library in your browser against an in-memory SQLite database. Each view below opens a different part of it:

• Dashboard: open, available, overdue and pending work
• Intake: capture rumors and triage them into quests
• Quests: start, block and finish quests with an outcome
• Planning: questlines and scheduling
• Search: full-text search across the log

The Model

Seven concepts, strict separation of concerns:

Concept	Purpose
Rumor	Incoming signal that may or may not become real work
Questline	Shared context and rollup for a group of related quests
Quest	One concrete commitment with lifecycle, timing, and outcome
Repeatable Quest	Recurring template that spawns fresh quests on a schedule
Unlock	Hard prerequisite: quest B stays blocked until quest A succeeds
Reward	Descriptive outcome attached to completed work, with a claim lifecycle
Tag	Cross-cutting label for filtering and reporting

The unified model means one entity type covers every temporal intention:

What it looks like	What it actually is
A todo item	A quest with no temporal metadata
A deadline	A quest with dueAt
A calendar event	A quest with scheduledStartAt and scheduledEndAt
A recurring commitment	A repeatable quest with an RRULE
A completed action	A quest resolved via finishQuest

State is derived, not toggled. A quest's availability comes from its lifecycle, timing fields, and unlock graph — computed at read time, never stored as a status flag.

Lifecycle at a glance

Questlog computes WoW-style markers on every read. They change as work moves through its lifecycle:

 

Intake

$\color{Goldenrod}{\textsf{❗}}$	Legal says the vendor terms changed	rumor · open
	↓   settle into questline + quests

Quest progression

$\color{Goldenrod}{\textsf{❗}}$	Review pricing delta	open · available
$\color{Gray}{\textsf{❓}}$	Review pricing delta	in progress
$\color{Goldenrod}{\textsf{❓}}$	Review pricing delta	done · reward unclaimed
✓	Review pricing delta	done · reward claimed

Other markers

$\color{CornflowerBlue}{\textsf{❗}}$	Weekly standup notes	repeatable · due
$\color{Gray}{\textsf{❗}}$	Plan Q3 roadmap	open · deferred
$\color{Gray}{\textsf{❓}}$	Obtain finance approval	open · blocked

 

Marker IDs are semantic strings (attention.available, progress.complete, ...) computed at read time, never stored. The markers namespace maps each to its symbol, color, label, and CSS class for consistent rendering across HTML, TTY, and plain text.

Two Audiences

Human developers

Use the read and write namespaces for direct-code access to every domain operation:

import { read, write } from '@ghostpaw/questlog';

write.createQuest(db, { title: 'Ship release notes', objective: 'Draft and publish.' });
write.startQuest(db, questId);
write.finishQuest(db, questId, 'Published to blog and changelog.');

const blocked = read.listBlockedQuests(db);
const overdue = read.listOverdueQuests(db);

See HUMAN.md for the full human-facing guide with worked examples.

LLM agents

Use the tools, skills, and soul namespaces for a structured runtime surface designed to minimize LLM cognitive load:

import { tools, skills, soul } from '@ghostpaw/questlog';

// 12 intent-shaped tools with JSON Schema inputs and structured results
const allTools = tools.questlogTools;
const searchTool = tools.getQuestlogToolByName('search_questlog')!;
const result = searchTool.handler(db, { query: 'vendor', mode: 'browse' });

// 25 reusable workflow skills for common multi-step scenarios
const allSkills = skills.questlogSkills;

// Thinking foundation for system prompts
const prompt = soul.renderQuestlogSoulPromptFoundation();

Every tool returns a discriminated result with outcome: 'success' | 'no_op' | 'needs_clarification' | 'error', structured entities, next-step hints, and actionable recovery advice. No thrown exceptions to parse, no ambiguous prose.

See LLM.md for the full AI-facing guide covering soul, tools, and skills.

Tools

Twelve tools shaped around operator intent, not raw storage operations:

Tool	What it does
search_questlog	Cross-entity full-text search
review_questlog	Filtered list views (available, overdue, due soon, ...)
inspect_questlog_item	Detailed inspection of any single entity
capture_rumor	Record incoming work before committing to shape
shape_work	Create quests, questlines, settle rumors into structure
plan_quest	Set timing: due dates, defer dates, scheduled windows
run_quest	Start, finish, abandon, log effort
organize_work	Move quests between questlines, manage questline lifecycle
manage_repeatable	Create and maintain recurring quest templates
tag_work	Classify quests and repeatables with tags
reward_work	Attach, update, claim, or remove rewards
retire_work	Soft-delete or archive things that should leave the active surface

Each tool exports runtime metadata — name, description, JSON Schema, input descriptions, side-effect level — so agent harnesses can wire them without reading docs.

The run_quest tool refuses to start a quest with unmet unlock prerequisites and returns the blocking quests with inspection hints. Set force: true to start anyway with a warning. The library startQuest function remains permissive.

Key Properties

• Zero runtime dependencies. Only node:sqlite (built into Node 24+).
• Single prebundled blob. One ESM + one CJS entry in dist/. No subpath exports, no code splitting.
• Pure SQLite storage. FTS5 full-text search, CHECK-constrained state transitions, trigger-maintained indexes. Bring your own DatabaseSync instance.
• Derived state. Availability, blocking, deferral, overdue, and markers are computed at read time from fields and relationships, never stored as flags.
• Intention-shaped writes. captureRumor, settleRumor, startQuest, finishQuest, abandonQuest — operations that say what happened, not generic CRUD.
• RFC 5545 recurrence. Standard RRULE strings for recurring work. No custom recurrence format.
• WoW-style markers. Semantic marker IDs (attention.available, progress.complete, ...) computed on every read, renderable to any channel.
• Colocated tests. Every non-type module has a colocated .test.ts file. The behavior described in docs is backed by executable coverage.

Performance

Measured with npm run bench on Node 24.14.0, Linux, Intel Xeon (shared cloud vCPU), 10,000 quests in a file-backed database:

Operation	p50	p95
search_questlog (tool)	0.06 ms	0.07 ms
MCP tools/call search, stdio framing included	0.07 ms	0.08 ms
read.searchQuestlog, one matching quest	0.07 ms	0.08 ms
read.searchQuestlog, all 10,000 quests matching	26.6 ms	41.9 ms
write.createQuest	0.22 ms	0.69 ms

The library search returns every match with a highlighted snippet, so a query that matches the whole log pays for building all of those rows. Cold start (process spawn to first response, median) is about 30 ms for --version and the MCP server.

Package Surface

import {
  initQuestlogTables,  // schema setup
  read,                // all query functions
  write,               // all mutation functions
  tools,               // LLM tool definitions + registry
  skills,              // LLM workflow skills + registry
  soul,                // thinking foundation for system prompts
  markers,             // marker derivation and lookup
} from '@ghostpaw/questlog';

All domain types are also available at the root for TypeScript consumers:

import type {
  QuestlogDb,
  QuestState,
  QuestDetail,
  CreateQuestInput,
  QuestlogSearchResult,
  QuestlogToolDefinition,
  QuestlogSkill,
  QuestlogSoul,
} from '@ghostpaw/questlog';

Documentation

Document	Audience
HUMAN.md	Human developers using the low-level read/write API
LLM.md	Agent builders wiring tools, skills, and soul into LLM systems
docs/README.md	Architecture overview: model, invariants, lifecycle, markers
docs/entities/	Per-entity manuals with exact public API listings

Development

npm install
npm test            # node:test runner
npm run typecheck   # tsc --noEmit
npm run lint        # biome check
npm run build       # ESM + CJS + declarations via tsup

The repo is pinned to Node 24.14.0 via .nvmrc / .node-version / .tool-versions / mise.toml / Volta. Use whichever version manager you prefer.

Support

If this package helps your project, consider sponsoring its maintenance:

Anonyfox • MIT License

Webhooks

Configure opt-in outbound wakes with the release binary. No server or scheduler is started. With no targets, tick makes no network calls. Targets and retry state live in the database.

questlog hook add https://example.org/wake --min-gap 60
questlog hook add https://example.org/team --tag work --events quest.due,quest.overdue --secret-stdin
questlog hook label work
questlog hook list
questlog tick --dry-run
questlog tick
questlog watch --interval 60
questlog hook test 1
questlog review deliveries
questlog show 12
questlog hook remove 1

Save the signing secret printed once by hook add (including its --json result). --secret-stdin reads a supplied secret from standard input; there is no secret flag. Secrets and custom header values are stored in the database. On POSIX, new database files and their WAL/SHM siblings use mode 0600, and directories created for them use 0700. Existing database permissions are preserved; Windows uses its existing access controls.

Add repeatable custom headers with --header "Authorization: Bearer value" or --header-stdin (one Name: value line per header, keeping values out of shell history). For example: questlog hook add https://example.org/wake --header "X-Key: value". Headers accompany every delivery and test. Header names are shown with values replaced by ***; values are never included in list, show, test, tick, watch, or tool output. Names must be HTTP tokens; host, content-length, content-type, and x-questlog-* are reserved (case insensitive). To change headers, remove the hook and add it again. Use separate invocations for --header-stdin and --secret-stdin. URL userinfo is rejected; use a custom header or query key instead. questlog show d_… prints delivery status, attempts, HTTP status, next attempt, redacted target URL, and event ids; add --json for JSON.

List output redacts URL userinfo and query strings. Removal deletes the target and its deliveries. A target covers the database unless --tag restricts it to quests with that tag; rumors have no tags and reach database targets only. --events defaults to all five events. The label defaults to the database filename without directory or extension (questlog for memory). Only use labels suitable for disclosure to the receiver.

For cron:

* * * * * questlog tick

Cron's PATH may need $HOME/.local/bin/questlog tick --db /path/to/quests.db. watch repeats tick (default 60 seconds, minimum 5), finishing its current tick on SIGINT/SIGTERM. Tick exits 0 after running even when deliveries need retrying. Dry runs roll back all changes, including repeatable materialization, and make no network calls.

Events are detected from the model at tick time:

• quest.due: an unresolved, undeleted quest reaches its effective due time (own due_at, otherwise its undeleted questline's due time).
• quest.overdue: that effective deadline is strictly earlier than now and the quest remains unresolved.
• quest.unblocked: an unresolved quest is available, all active prerequisites have succeeded or been deleted, and at least one prerequisite succeeded after its unlock was installed. Occurrence time is the latest active prerequisite success or not-before time, whichever is later.
• repeatable.spawned: a concrete repeatable instance was created; occurrence time is its creation time. Tick first materializes due anchors through the existing spawn operation.
• rumor.captured: an undeleted rumor was created; occurrence time is its creation time, even if subsequently settled or dismissed.

Each type, entity and occurrence timestamp has a persistent unique event key. Repeated ticks and restarts do not create another occurrence. Changes removed before any tick cannot be reconstructed. Occurrences earlier than target creation are excluded, preventing backlog floods. Tags are evaluated when assigning an event. Already assigned events retain their batch membership.

One POST batch per target per tick contains only identifiers, types, timestamps, and the DB label:

{"type":"questlog.events","db":"work","deliveryId":"d_…","sentAt":"2026-10-28T10:00:00.000Z","events":[{"id":"e_…","type":"quest.due","questId":12,"occurredAt":"2026-10-28T09:59:00.000Z"}]}

Headers are content-type: application/json, user-agent: questlog/<version>, x-questlog-delivery: <deliveryId>, x-questlog-timestamp: <unix seconds>, and x-questlog-signature: sha256=<hex HMAC-SHA256(secret, timestamp + "." + rawBody)>. No titles, objectives, details, or tag text are sent. hook test sends a logged hook.test event immediately, ignoring the min gap. Add and test are CLI-only in the tool facade; manage_hooks supports list, remove, tick (with dry_run), and deliveries.

2xx delivers the batch. Requests time out after 5 seconds. Other responses, timeouts, and network errors retry after 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 4 minutes, and so on, capped at 1 hour, plus less than 1 second jitter. The target's min gap also applies to retries. Eight unsuccessful attempts mark a delivery failed. Retries retain the delivery id and events. Pending batches wait behind retries. Only the last 500 delivered entries per target are kept; pending and failed entries are retained. Transactions and two-minute leases prevent overlapping ticks from claiming the same delivery. A crash after receipt but before recording success can cause another request: receivers must dedupe by delivery id.

Verifying a delivery

Compute HMAC-SHA256 over timestamp + "." + rawBody with the secret and compare in constant time. Reject timestamps older than 5 minutes (and timestamps too far in the future), then dedupe on x-questlog-delivery. Use durable deduplication storage in a production receiver. This 15-line Node example uses an in-memory set:

import { createHmac, timingSafeEqual } from 'node:crypto';
import { createServer } from 'node:http';
const secret = process.env.WEBHOOK_SECRET, seen = new Set();
createServer(async (req, res) => {
  const chunks = []; for await (const chunk of req) chunks.push(chunk);
  const rawBody = Buffer.concat(chunks), h = req.headers;
  const timestamp = h['x-questlog-timestamp'], id = h['x-questlog-delivery'];
  const age = Date.now() / 1000 - Number(timestamp);
  const expected = createHmac('sha256', secret).update(timestamp + '.').update(rawBody).digest();
  const signature = String(h['x-questlog-signature'] || '');
  const actual = Buffer.from(signature.slice(7), 'hex');
  if (!id || !/^\d+$/.test(timestamp) || age > 300 || age < -300 || !/^sha256=[a-f0-9]{64}$/.test(signature) || actual.length !== expected.length || !timingSafeEqual(actual, expected)) { res.writeHead(401).end(); return; }
  if (!seen.has(id)) { seen.add(id); console.log(JSON.parse(rawBody)); }
  res.writeHead(204).end();
}).listen(8080, '127.0.0.1');