I'm looking for a Linux task app that syncs tasks with an existing CalDAV server.

I already have a CalDAV server set up (Baikal), and the relevant calendars have been set up with task support, so everything server-sided is ready. CalDAV servers are out-of-scope for the recommendations. For the record, on Android, I use DAVx5 and Tasks.org, which works fine out of the box.

On desktop, I've been using Thunderbird so far just for the calendar, but for reasons I'll get back to, it doesn't cooperate well with tasks. I'm now looking for alternative clients that support CalDAV-based tasks, and support a task hierarchy.

Requirements

• It has to support CalDAV tasks, and sync with CalDAV. CalDAV doesn't have to be the only option it supports, but it has to be an option.
  • It has to interface with my existing Baikal server, and not be a CalDAV server. Generally speaking, it should support CalDAV, not one or a few specific CalDAV implementation. For example Planify, mentioned later, does allegedly sync via CalDAV when using NextCloud tasks. However, this means NextCloud tasks is a CalDAV server, and Planify syncs with one specific implementation of CalDAV rather than any generic CalDAV server.
• It has to support subtasks, and it has to treat parent tasks like normal tasks (meaning the parent task and subtasks both have checkboxes)
  • Subtasks are supported by Baikal. The resulting calendar files contain a RELATED-TO;RELTYPE=PARENT:[task identifier] field, which is passed along to the clients. It seems Thunderbird simply doesn't use this field. It also doesn't support creating subtasks, so it isn't simply a matter of standard differences.
• It has to run on Linux, and has to have a GUI. I would prefer it being a Linux-native app, but I would accept a self-hostable^[1] webapp - as long as it has CalDAV sync to a CalDAV server that isn't part of the task webapp.
  • It doesn't have to exclusively be a task app. Some of the potential alternatives mentioned later aren't dedicated task apps, but full suites of semi-related tools (email + calendar + tasks is fairly common in some of the established alternatives).
• It must be open-source, or at the very least strongly privacy-oriented. Just on account of Linux being a requirement, I'd imagine open-source alternatives are more likely.

Nice-to-have

• A built-in calendar; not critical, but definitely nice-to-have. But: if it supports a calendar, tasks must (have an option to) show directly in the calendar.

What doesn't work

• Kontact: parent tasks are treated more like a category than a parent task. When making subtasks, the parent loses its checkbox. Annoyingly, this only affects top-level tasks, and not subtasks with subtasks

  

  For comparison, the expected behaviour would be identically to how tasks.org handles it:

  

  Infuriatingly, it meets every requirement, other than the handling of parent tasks.^[2]

• Thunderbird: as mentioned, it doesn't support subtasks, and the UX is pretty bad. Example of flattened task hierarchies:

  

• Evolution: Like Thunderbird, it doesn't seem to support subtasks, and flattens the hierarchy:

  

Honourable mentions

• Endeavour, Gnome's own task manager: while a good candidate, it does not yet support CalDAV. Solid future candidate if nothing else exists yet.
• Planify: Doesn't support generic CalDAV implementations. It only supports NextCloud, and though allegedly using CalDAV for syncing with NextCloud, I don't use NextCloud, so it's off the table until proper CalDAV support is implemented. Also a solid future candidate.

posted 2 months ago

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Zoe‭

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