Track task-list (checkbox) progress

Goal: Count how many - [x] items are checked off out of the total in a Markdown task list — e.g. to report progress on a TODO list or project checklist.

Prerequisites: -A, since the counts are computed across the whole document at once.

Query

List only the completed items:

$ mq 'select(.list.checked == true)' TODO.md

Count done vs. total:

$ mq -A 'let total = count_by(fn(x): x | select(.list);)
| let done = count_by(fn(x): x | select(.list.checked == true);)
| s"${done}/${total} done"' TODO.md

Input

# TODO

- [x] Write docs
- [ ] Add tests
- [x] Fix bug
- [ ] Ship release

Output

2/4 done

Notes

• Shorthand: .done and .todo select checked/unchecked task-list items directly — .done is equivalent to select(.list.checked == true), and .todo to select(.list.checked == false). The counting query can use select(.done) in place of select(.list.checked == true) the same way.
• .list.checked is true/false for task-list items and absent (None) for a plain bullet or numbered item — so select(.list) alone counts every list item regardless of whether it’s a checkbox.
• Swap == true for == false (or .done for .todo) to list what’s left to do instead of what’s done.