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Customization

Huckleberry Task Manager offers multiple ways to customize its behavior and appearance to match your workflow preferences.

Configuration Options​

In addition to the settings that control Huckleberry's core functionality, there are several customization options available.

Custom Task Templates​

You can create custom templates for new tasks by defining a task template file in your workspace. Create a file at .huckleberry/templates/task.md with your preferred structure:

# ${id}: ${title}

**Priority**: ${priority}  
**Status**: ${status}  
**Created**: ${createdAt}  
**Updated**: ${updatedAt}  

## Description

${description}

## Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] Criterion 1
- [ ] Criterion 2
- [ ] Criterion 3

## Notes

${notes}

## Related Tasks

${relatedTasks}

When Huckleberry creates new tasks, it will use your custom template and fill in the variables with appropriate values.

Custom Status Workflows​

By default, Huckleberry supports the following task statuses:

  • Todo
  • In Progress
  • Done

You can define a custom workflow with additional statuses by creating a .huckleberryrc.json file in your workspace root:

{
  "taskManager": {
    "customStatusFlow": [
      "Backlog",
      "Ready",
      "In Progress",
      "Review",
      "Testing",
      "Done"
    ]
  }
}

After setting a custom status flow, you can use these statuses in your commands:

@Huckleberry Mark task TASK-001 as Review

Task Categories​

To organize tasks into categories, add a categories array to your .huckleberryrc.json file:

{
  "taskManager": {
    "categories": [
      "Frontend",
      "Backend",
      "Documentation",
      "Testing",
      "DevOps"
    ]
  }
}

You can then assign tasks to categories:

@Huckleberry Create a Frontend task to implement the login form

Custom Task ID Format​

By default, Huckleberry uses the format TASK-XXX for task IDs. You can customize this format by setting the taskIdPrefix in your .huckleberryrc.json file:

{
  "taskManager": {
    "taskIdPrefix": "HB"
  }
}

This would create tasks with IDs like HB-001, HB-002, etc.

Themeing and Visual Customization​

Huckleberry respects VS Code's theming system, so its UI elements will match your chosen theme. No additional configuration is needed.

Chat Response Formatting​

You can customize how Huckleberry formats its responses in chat by adding a chatFormatting section to your .huckleberryrc.json:

{
  "chatFormatting": {
    "successEmoji": "✅",
    "errorEmoji": "❌",
    "infoEmoji": "ℹ️",
    "warningEmoji": "⚠️",
    "useCodeBlocks": true
  }
}

Command Aliases​

To create custom shortcuts for frequently used commands, add an aliases section to your .huckleberryrc.json:

{
  "aliases": {
    "todo": "Scan for TODOs in the codebase",
    "done": "Mark task ${1} as complete",
    "high": "Mark task ${1} as high priority"
  }
}

This allows you to use shorthand commands:

@Huckleberry todo
@Huckleberry done TASK-001
@Huckleberry high TASK-002

Keyboard Shortcuts​

While Huckleberry doesn't define default keyboard shortcuts, you can set your own through VS Code's keyboard shortcuts settings:

  1. Open VS Code's keyboard shortcuts editor: File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts
  2. Search for "Huckleberry"
  3. Find the command you want to assign a shortcut to
  4. Click the plus icon and enter your preferred key combination

Extending Huckleberry​

Advanced users can extend Huckleberry's functionality by:

  1. Custom Scripts: Create scripts that interact with Huckleberry's task files
  2. Integration with VS Code Tasks: Create VS Code tasks that reference Huckleberry tasks
  3. Git Hooks: Add Git hooks that update task status based on commits or branches

Example: Pre-commit Hook​

Create a .git/hooks/pre-commit script that scans for TODOs before committing:

#!/bin/bash

# Scan for new TODOs and create tasks for them
code --extensionDevelopmentPath="path/to/huckleberry" --execute-command "huckleberry.scanTodos"

# Prevent commit if there are high priority tasks
HIGH_PRIORITY_TASKS=$(grep -l '"priority": "high"' tasks/*.json | wc -l)
if [ $HIGH_PRIORITY_TASKS -gt 0 ]; then
  echo "Warning: You have $HIGH_PRIORITY_TASKS high priority tasks remaining."
  echo "Run 'code --execute-command \"huckleberry.listTasks\"' to see them."
fi

Best Practices for Customization​

  1. Start with defaults: Use Huckleberry with its default settings initially to understand its workflow
  2. Workspace-specific settings: Apply customizations at the workspace level to maintain consistency within projects
  3. Document customizations: If working in a team, document any custom settings in your project README
  4. Version control configuration: Include your .huckleberryrc.json and templates in version control
  5. Consistent categories: Establish clear naming conventions for task categories