Project Planner

A small planning system that lets you define project plans and tasks in either YAML or Python.

A plan can include optional top-level project metadata:

• portfolio: portfolio or parent program name.
• project: high-level project name.
• managers: list of manager names.
• pocs: list of point-of-contact names.
• summary: high-level plan summary.
• fiscal_range_begin and fiscal_range_end: optional fiscal year range covered by the plan, for example 27 through 31.
• execution: execution metadata. It can be a mapping with overview text and sections, where each section has label, description, and an optional stable id for task links. The older flat list of sections is still accepted.

Each task supports these fields:

• id: required string task id. Must contain only letters, numbers, or underscores, with no spaces.
• label: required string display name for the task.
• site: optional site or institution label.
• bnr: optional budget and reporting identifier.
• cost: optional task cost label, for example $100K.
• funding status or funding_status: optional funding state label.
• type: optional task type label.
• tags: optional comma-separated string or list of task tags.
• project: required string project name.
• execution_section: optional ID of a section under execution.sections. Linked tasks use that section's label and position for activity headings and task numbers in exports. An unknown ID is rejected.
• description: required string describing the task.
• start: required fiscal period string in M{month}Q{quarter}FY{year} format, where month is 1 to 3 within the quarter.
• deadline: required fiscal period string in M{month}Q{quarter}FY{year} format, where month is 1 to 3 within the quarter.
• completed: optional fiscal period string for work that is already complete. A task with status: complete and completed may omit planning-only fields: start, deadline, expected duration, milestone, priority, dependencies, and risk. Without completed, these fields are required.
• expected duration or expected_duration: required positive whole number of months.
• milestone: required string milestone name.
• priority: required string priority label such as low, medium, high, or urgent.
• status: required string status. Allowed values are pending, active, ongoing, blocked, and complete.
• dependencies: required list of task ids. Each dependency must reference another task id.
• risk: required risk entry or list of risk entries. Each entry has type, level, and mitigation, and may include description; level must be low, medium, high, or extreme.
• funding: optional mapping of fiscal year to funding level, for example fy27: 50K. A task is treated as unfunded for fiscal years not present in this mapping.

A task can also be a multi-part task by using parts instead of the per-task schedule fields on the parent. Parent fields such as project, execution_section, site, bnr, type, tags, and funding are inherited by each part, while each part provides its own id, label, description, start, deadline, expected duration, milestone, priority, status, dependencies, and risk. Part ids are expanded as {parent_id}_{part_id}. Dependencies inside a multi-part task can reference sibling part ids, and dependencies from other tasks can reference the parent id to depend on all expanded parts. Parent-level funding inherited by multiple parts is counted once in fiscal-year totals.

Quick start

Run from this directory:

planner validate planner/examples/tasks.yaml
planner list planner/examples/tasks.yaml
planner summary planner/examples/tasks.yaml
planner schedule planner/examples/tasks.yaml
planner export-docx planner/examples/tasks.yaml /tmp/plan.docx
planner export-svg planner/examples/tasks.yaml /tmp/plan.svg

If you set TUXFAN_PLANNER_DATAFILE, the CLI uses that file by default:

export TUXFAN_PLANNER_DATAFILE=planner/examples/tasks.yaml
planner validate
planner list
planner export-docx /tmp/plan.docx
planner export-svg /tmp/plan.svg

If you set TUXFAN_PLANNER_EXPORT_OPTIONS, the export commands use that file by default:

export TUXFAN_PLANNER_EXPORT_OPTIONS=planner/examples/export-options.yaml
planner export-docx planner/examples/tasks.yaml /tmp/plan.docx

You can also install it locally:

python3 -m pip install -e .
planner list planner/examples/tasks.yaml

The legacy tuxfan-planner command remains available as an alias. Run planner --help to see the current values of both planner environment variables alongside the command help.

Shell completion

The CLI can print completion scripts for bash, zsh, and fish:

planner completion bash
planner completion zsh
planner completion fish

For a one-session bash setup:

source <(planner completion bash)

The generated completion supports the basic planner subcommands, the tuxfan-planner alias, file path completion for task and output arguments, and --export-options for export commands.

Documentation

Sphinx documentation lives in docs/. See the developer setup and checks for the current dependency and HTML build commands.

On GitHub, the Documentation workflow builds the same Sphinx output and publishes it to the gh-pages branch. Configure the repository Pages settings to serve from the gh-pages branch root.

Updating the virtual environment

Follow Install or upgrade dependencies in the developer guide to update the root .venv and check the result.

YAML format

Top-level can be either a list of tasks or a mapping with a tasks key. The mapping form can also include plan-level metadata such as portfolio, project, managers, pocs, summary, fiscal_range_begin, fiscal_range_end, and execution.

portfolio: Advanced Simulation and Computing
project: Task-Parallel Project
managers:
  - Alice Example
pocs:
  - Casey Example, PI
summary: >
  High-level planning context for the task collection.
fiscal_range_begin: 27
fiscal_range_end: 29
execution:
  overview: >
    Overall execution context for the plan.
  sections:
    - id: deliverable_a
      label: Deliverable A
      description: >
        Narrative execution detail for this deliverable.

tasks:
  - id: DraftArchitecture
    label: Draft architecture
    bnr: DP1518130
    cost: $100K
    funding status: funded
    site: LANL
    type: labor
    tags:
      - architecture
    project: Planning System
    execution_section: deliverable_a
    description: Produce the first architecture draft.
    start: M1Q3FY26
    deadline: M2Q3FY26
    expected duration: 2
    milestone: Design
    priority: high
    status: complete
    dependencies: []
    risk:
      - type: scope
        level: medium
        description: Integration requirements may change during implementation.
        mitigation: Review the architecture with stakeholders before implementation starts.
    funding:
      fy27: 50K
      fy29: 100K

  - id: BuildParser
    label: Build parser
    project: Planning System
    description: Load task definitions from YAML and Python files.
    start: M2Q3FY26
    deadline: M2Q3FY26
    expected_duration: 1
    milestone: Implementation
    priority: high
    status: pending
    dependencies:
      - DraftArchitecture
    risk:
      - type: integration
        level: medium
        mitigation: Add schema validation tests for both YAML and Python task sources.

  - id: MultiYearDelivery
    label: Multi-year delivery
    site: LANL
    project: Planning System
    funding:
      fy27: 50K
      fy28: 100K
    parts:
      - id: A
        label: First phase
        description: Complete the first phase.
        start: M1Q1FY27
        deadline: M3Q2FY27
        expected duration: 6
        milestone: Phase A
        priority: high
        status: active
        dependencies: []
        risk:
          - type: schedule
            level: low
            mitigation: Review progress monthly.
      - id: B
        label: Second phase
        description: Complete the second phase.
        start: M1Q3FY27
        deadline: M3Q4FY28
        expected duration: 18
        milestone: Phase B
        priority: medium
        status: pending
        dependencies:
          - A
        risk:
          - type: technical
            level: medium
            mitigation: Keep integration tests current.

Python format

Define PLAN or plan in a .py file for metadata plus tasks. The legacy TASKS or tasks list still works.

PLAN = {
    "portfolio": "Advanced Simulation and Computing",
    "project": "Task-Parallel Project",
    "managers": ["Alice Example"],
    "pocs": ["Casey Example, PI"],
    "summary": "High-level planning context for the task collection.",
    "fiscal_range_begin": 27,
    "fiscal_range_end": 29,
    "execution": {
        "overview": "Overall execution context for the plan.",
        "sections": [
            {
                "id": "deliverable_a",
                "label": "Deliverable A",
                "description": "Narrative execution detail for this deliverable.",
            }
        ],
    },
    "tasks": [
        {
            "id": "DraftArchitecture",
            "label": "Draft architecture",
            "bnr": "DP1518130",
            "cost": "$100K",
            "funding_status": "funded",
            "site": "LANL",
            "type": "labor",
            "tags": ["architecture"],
            "project": "Planning System",
            "execution_section": "deliverable_a",
            "description": "Produce the first architecture draft.",
            "start": "M1Q3FY26",
            "deadline": "M2Q3FY26",
            "expected_duration": 2,
            "milestone": "Design",
            "priority": "high",
            "status": "complete",
            "dependencies": [],
            "risk": [
                {
                    "type": "scope",
                    "level": "medium",
                    "mitigation": "Review the architecture with stakeholders before implementation starts.",
                }
            ],
            "funding": {"fy27": "50K", "fy29": "100K"},
        }
    ],
}

Status values

Use one of:

• pending
• active
• ongoing
• blocked
• complete

Fiscal period values

start and deadline must use M{month}Q{quarter}FY{year}:

• month is 1 to 3 within the quarter
• quarter is 1 to 4
• year is a 2-digit fiscal year, for example FY26

Fiscal years begin on October 1:

• Q1 = October through December
• Q2 = January through March
• Q3 = April through June
• Q4 = July through September

Examples:

• M1Q1FY26 = October 2025
• M2Q3FY26 = May 2026
• M3Q4FY26 = September 2026

Commands

• validate: checks required fields, invalid status values, invalid fiscal period or duration values, invalid ids, duplicate ids, missing dependencies, and dependency cycles
• list: prints task details in deadline order by default, including fiscal start and deadline values and expected duration in months
• summary: groups tasks by project and milestone and prints funding totals when task funding is present
• schedule: prints tasks in dependency order and marks them as READY, BLOCKED, ACTIVE, or COMPLETE
• export-docx: generates a Word document with the schedule and a detailed task table. Use --export-options PATH or TUXFAN_PLANNER_EXPORT_OPTIONS to control which optional task attributes appear in the summary table and in the per-task narrative metadata. The table starts on a new page with its section headings. When fiscal years are configured, it includes one column per fiscal year with each task's funding level or a blank cell when the task is not funded in that year, plus a final total row.
• export-svg: generates a graphical SVG plan with the same activity letters and task numbers as Word. It shows configured fiscal-year funding totals, completion years, and dependency task numbers. Fill color reflects status, border color uses the Word risk colors, and an accent bar reflects priority. Export options select which optional task attributes appear on cards; custom column labels and alignment apply only to Word.

Export options

Export options files can be YAML, YML, or Python. The current supported settings are task_table_attributes and task_table_columns, which control the optional task attribute columns included in the Word export summary table and the attributes shown on SVG task cards. Custom labels and alignment apply only to Word. The .docx table always starts with an unlabeled column containing generated task numbers; it does not include a Project column. An Activity A, Activity B, etc. row precedes each activity's tasks, which appear in numeric task order. When tasks link to execution sections, the activity row includes the section label and its letter follows section order (for example, Activity B: Specialization Work with Task B.1). Unlinked tasks follow in project-based groups; plans without links keep their existing project-based grouping. Each activity label occupies one left-aligned cell spanning the table. The column header repeats only when the table continues onto another page; Activity rows appear at their normal group transitions. All table cells center their content vertically. Fiscal-year columns are added automatically when plan fiscal years are configured, with a final Total Funding row that sums each year and counts inherited multipart funding once. For completed tasks, those columns become one green-filled cell labeled with the completion year (for example, Completed FY26) when a completed period is available, or Completed otherwise; the other cells remain black on white. The other task metadata columns and per-task attribute narrative are limited to the attributes listed here.

In the Word risk mitigation section, the bold risk label is green for low, yellow for medium, orange for high, and deep red for extreme. Mitigation text remains black.

Top-level Word section labels, including Tasks:, are bold and underlined.

Supported attribute names:

• bnr
• cost
• funding or funding_status
• site
• type
• tags

Simple YAML:

task_table_attributes:
  - site
  - bnr
  - funding
  - tags

Shorthand YAML with custom labels:

task_table_attributes:
  - bnr: BNR
  - funding: Status
  - tags: Keywords

Recommended explicit YAML when you need labels or alignment:

task_table_columns:
  - attribute: bnr
    label: BNR
  - attribute: funding
    label: Status
  - attribute: tags
    label: Keywords

Supported column alignment values:

• left
• center
• right

alignment is optional and defaults to center.

Example CLI usage:

planner export-docx planner/examples/tasks.yaml /tmp/plan.docx --export-options planner/examples/export-options.yaml