The problem
If you ask an AI agent to track your tasks, it'll often store them in its memory file. That file travels with every conversation, so it can't grow without bound. It is trimmed automatically.
Why plain text, not an integration
I didn't want to sign up for a task SaaS just to hold a list, and I didn't want my tasks on someone else's server. I also didn't want to maintain an API integration for something this simple. Plain text avoids all of it. todo.txt (a 2006 format: one line = one task, with a small CLI) is a text file with a CLI interface.
Step 1: Install the skill
npx skills add aguilera-ee/todo.txt-skill
Step 2: Ask your agent to add a task
Tell it, in plain language: "add buy milk to my list." The agent runs the CLI and appends a line. Ask "what's on my list?" and it reads the file back.
Step 3: Prove it's just a text file
Open the file yourself:
$ cat todo.txt
(A) Call the dentist +health
buy milk @errands
Renew domain due:2026-07-01 +sideproject
That's the whole database. The agent and you are looking at the same file.
Why this holds up
A plain-text file you own is about the most durable interface an agent can have. The agent becomes optional: the file is useful on its own, and any other tool can read the same lines without asking permission.
Repo: https://github.com/aguilera-ee/todo.txt-skill
Install: npx skills add aguilera-ee/todo.txt-skill
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