Install dstask on Ubuntu 26.04

The dstask is a terminal-based task manager that uses Git to keep task data organized and version-controlled. It supports projects, priorities, tags, due dates, and task tracking from the command line. This tutorial shows how to install dstask on Ubuntu 26.04.

Prepare environment

Before starting the installation, make sure Git is available on the system. If Git has not been installed yet, refer to a separate installation guide to set it up first.

Install dstask

Download the latest dstask binary from its latest GitHub releases page:

sudo curl -sSLo /usr/local/bin/dstask https://github.com/naggie/dstask/releases/latest/download/dstask-linux-amd64

Next, grant the downloaded file executable permissions:

sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/dstask

Confirm that dstask is installed correctly by displaying its version:

dstask version

Testing dstask

The dstask keeps its task data inside a Git repository. Create the default dstask directory and initialize it as a Git repository:

mkdir ~/.dstask && git -C ~/.dstask init

Add a couple of sample tasks to verify that task creation works as expected:

dstask add 'Finish dstask testing' project:work P1 due:2026-09-04

dstask add 'Read dstask documentation' project:learning due:2026-09-05

Run dstask without additional arguments to view the current task list:

dstask

The output should look something like that:

ID  Priority  Tags  Due        Project   Summary
1   P1               4 Sep     work      Finish dstask testing
2   P2              yesterday  learning  Read dstask documentation

2 tasks.

Uninstall dstask

When dstask is no longer needed, remove the installed executable with:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/dstask

The local Git repository containing dstask task data can also be removed:

rm -rf ~/.dstask