AppleScript for getting Things tasks from Today list and associated Python script for converting the tasks to a daily schedule report

!Things Daily Schedule.md

The two scripts used in my shortcut to create a daily schedule for tasks from Things Today list.

• Get Today's Tasks.scpt is the AppleScript that gets today's tasks from Things in a format of "title:xxx tags:xxx", one task per line.
• things_schedule.py is the Python script which parses those tasks and builds a schedule and HTML report and then opens it in the browser.

Get Today's Tasks.scpt

on run {input, parameters}
	set todoList to {}
	set text item delimiters to "
"
	tell application "Things3"
		set theTodos to to dos of list "Today"
		repeat with aToDo in theTodos
			set theTitle to name of aToDo
			set tagNames to tag names of aToDo
			set theTask to "title:" & theTitle & " tags:" & tagNames
			copy theTask to the end of todoList
		end repeat
	end tell
	set tasks to todoList as text
	return tasks
end run

things_schedule.py

"""
Create a daily schedule report from Things Today tasks
"""
import re
import sys
import datetime
import argparse
import subprocess
from typing import Optional, Tuple, List

NO_TIME_ESTIMATE = -1

DT = datetime.datetime
TD = datetime.timedelta

def main():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    parser.add_argument('-s', '--start', help="Start time for schedule, default to next quarter hour")
    parser.add_argument('-d', '--duration', help="Default task duration, default is no duration", default=None, type=int)
    parser.add_argument('-b', '--buffer', help="Buffer time between tasks, default is 0 minutes", default=0, type=int)

    args = parser.parse_args()
    if not args.start:
        now = datetime.datetime.now()
        delta = 15 - now.minute % 15
        start = now + datetime.timedelta(minutes=delta)
    else:
        s = args.start
        if not ':' in s:
            s += ':00'
        time = datetime.datetime.strptime(s, '%H:%M').time()
        today = datetime.date.today()
        start = datetime.datetime(today.year, today.month, today.day, time.hour, time.minute)
    duration = datetime.timedelta(minutes=args.duration) if args.duration else None
    buffer = datetime.timedelta(minutes=args.buffer)

    timed_tasks, untimed_tasks = parse_things_tasks(duration)
    scheduled_items = build_schedule(timed_tasks, start, buffer)
    create_report(scheduled_items, untimed_tasks)


def parse_things_tasks(default_duration: Optional[TD]) -> Tuple[List[Tuple[TD, str]], List[str]]:
    timed_tasks, untimed_tasks = [], []
    for task in sys.stdin:
        m = re.match(r'^title:(.*) tags:(.*)$', task)
        if m:
            title = m.group(1)
            est_mins = parse_estimated_minutes(m.group(2).split(', '))
            if est_mins > 0:
                timed_tasks.append((datetime.timedelta(minutes=est_mins), title))
            elif est_mins == NO_TIME_ESTIMATE and default_duration is not None:
                timed_tasks.append((default_duration, title))
            else:
                untimed_tasks.append(title)
        else:
            print(f'unmatched: {task}')

    return timed_tasks, untimed_tasks


def build_schedule(timed_tasks: List[Tuple[TD, str]], start: DT, buffer: TD) -> List[Tuple[DT, TD, str, str]]:
    today = datetime.date.today()
    midnight = datetime.datetime(today.year, today.month, today.day, 23, 59)

    time = start
    schedule = []
    while time.date() == today and timed_tasks:
        if timed_tasks:
            sdt = midnight
            dur, text = timed_tasks[0]
            # add the task if it will fit in before the next event
            if time + dur + buffer <= sdt:
                schedule.append((time, dur, text))
                timed_tasks.pop(0)
                time += dur + buffer
                continue
        # didn't add either, tick forward by 5 minutes
        time += datetime.timedelta(minutes=5)
    return schedule


def create_report(scheduled_items, untimed_tasks):
    date = datetime.date.today().strftime('%A, %B %-d')

    lines = []
    for time, dur, text in scheduled_items:
        lines.append(TIMED_TASK_TEMPLATE.format(time=format_time(time), duration=format_timedelta(dur), text=text))
    scheduled_content = '\n'.join(lines)

    lines = []
    for text in untimed_tasks:
        lines.append(UNTIMED_TASK_TEMPLATE.format(text=text))
    other_content = '\n'.join(lines)

    filename = '_schedule_.html'
    with open(filename, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
        f.write(HTML_TEMPLATE.format(date=date, scheduled_content=scheduled_content, other_content=other_content))
    subprocess.call(['open', filename])


def parse_estimated_minutes(tags: List[str]) -> int:
    for tag in tags:
        if re.match(r'\d+m', tag):
            return int(tag[:-1])
    return NO_TIME_ESTIMATE


def run_command(cmd: List[str], input: str = '') -> Tuple[str, str]:
    p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
    stdout, stderr = p.communicate(input.encode('utf8'))
    out = stdout.decode('utf8')
    err = stderr.decode('utf8')
    if p.returncode != 0:
        raise ValueError(f"Error running script: rc={p.returncode}, out={out}, err={err}")
    return out, err


def format_time(time: DT) -> str:
    return time.strftime("%I:%M%p").lower()


def format_timedelta(td: TD) -> str:
    hrs, remainder = divmod(td.seconds, 3600)
    min, _ = divmod(remainder, 60)
    parts = []
    if hrs:
        parts.append(f'{int(hrs)}h')
    if min:
        parts.append(f'{int(min)}m')
    return ' '.join(parts)


TIMED_TASK_TEMPLATE = """
<tr>
    <td><div class="checkbox"></div></td>
    <td class="time">{time}</td>
    <td class="duration">({duration})</td>
    <td class="text">{text}</td>
</tr>
"""

UNTIMED_TASK_TEMPLATE = """
<tr>
    <td><div class="checkbox"></div></td>
    <td><span class="text">{text}</span></td>
</tr>
"""

HTML_TEMPLATE = """
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="utf-8">
        <title>Things Schedule</title>
        <style type="text/css">
            body {{ font-family: -apple-system, "SegoeUI" }}
            table {{ padding-left: 2em; }}
            td {{ padding-left: 0.5em; }}
            .checkbox {{
                display: inline-block;
                width: 15px;
                height: 15px;
                border-radius: 3px;
                border: 1px solid gray;
                vertical-align: middle;
            }}
            .time {{ font-weight: bold; }}
            .duration {{
                opacity: 0.6;
                font-style: italic;
                font-size: 90%;
                text-align: right;
            }}
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1>Schedule for {date}</h1>
        <h3>Scheduled Tasks</h3>
        <table>
            <tbody>
            {scheduled_content}
            </tbody>
        </table>
        <h3>Unscheduled Items</h3>
        <table>
            <tbody>
            {other_content}
            </tbody>
        </table>
    </body>
</html>
"""

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()