Installation

Install with Cargo (Recommended)

This installs the tool globally so you can run it from anywhere:

# From the project directory
cargo install --path .

This installs the binary to ~/.cargo/bin/sidedraft-md-todo

Verify installation:

which sidedraft-md-todo
# Should output: /Users/yourusername/.cargo/bin/sidedraft-md-todo

sidedraft-md-todo --help

Create an Alias

Add to your shell config file (~/.zshrc for zsh or ~/.bashrc for bash):

# Add this line
alias sd-todo='sidedraft-md-todo'

# For a fixed file location
alias sd-todo='sidedraft-md-todo ~/todos.md'

Reload your shell:

source ~/.zshrc  # or source ~/.bashrc

Add to PATH

Copy the binary to a directory in your PATH:

# Build first
cargo build --release

# Copy to /usr/local/bin (requires sudo)
sudo cp target/release/sidedraft-md-todo /usr/local/bin/

# Or copy to ~/.local/bin (no sudo needed)
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cp target/release/sidedraft-md-todo ~/.local/bin/

# Make sure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

Create a Symlink

# Build first
cargo build --release

# Create symlink in /usr/local/bin
sudo ln -s $(pwd)/target/release/sidedraft-md-todo /usr/local/bin/sd-todo

# Or in ~/.local/bin
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
ln -s $(pwd)/target/release/sidedraft-md-todo ~/.local/bin/sd-todo

Recommended Setups

Single Global Todo List

# Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
alias sd-todo='sidedraft-md-todo ~/todos.md'

# Now 'sd-todo' always uses the same file
cd anywhere
sd-todo  # Always uses ~/todos.md

Project-Specific Todos

# Each project has its own todos.md
cd ~/projects/my-app
sidedraft-md-todo  # Uses ~/projects/my-app/todos.md

cd ~/projects/other-app
sidedraft-md-todo  # Uses ~/projects/other-app/todos.md

Multiple Named Lists

# Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
alias sd-todo='sidedraft-md-todo ~/todos.md'
alias sd-work='sidedraft-md-todo ~/work-todos.md'
alias sd-personal='sidedraft-md-todo ~/personal-todos.md'

Synced Across Devices

# Store in cloud-synced folder
alias sd-todo='sidedraft-md-todo ~/Dropbox/todos.md'
# or
alias sd-todo='sidedraft-md-todo ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/todos.md'

Starship Integration (Optional)

Show todo stats in your shell prompt. See the Starship Integration guide for details.

Uninstalling

# If installed with cargo install
cargo uninstall sidedraft-md-todo

# If copied to /usr/local/bin
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/sidedraft-md-todo

# If copied to ~/.local/bin
rm ~/.local/bin/sidedraft-md-todo

# Remove config
rm -rf ~/.config/sidedraft-md-todo

Troubleshooting

“command not found” after cargo install

Make sure ~/.cargo/bin is in your PATH:

# Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"

# Reload
source ~/.zshrc

Permission denied

# Make sure the directory is writable
ls -ld .

# Or use a different location
sidedraft-md-todo ~/todos.md