Several reasons. 1. If you live in a terminal it's easier to stay in that terminal instead of switching to a new window to deal with your task manager, then switching back to your terminal. 2. It's quicker to type one command with all it's options instead of using a GUI and selecting multiple options. 3. IN my case as a blind programmer I find it easier to use as many command-line tools as possible instead of dealing with possible accessibility issues in a GUI.

4. Personal preference

For me, it is window focus. I am readily in a terminal somewhere in my development flow so I can CRUD my task list there. Personally, I also added tb into my .zshrc so that I have an overview of tasks in-flight and in-queue when I open a new shell. I kind of need that harassment at times to keep on top of things that need to be kept on top of!

Some reasons I prefer command line tools: 1) Don't have to use the mouse. This is a major plus for me. Even when I am not in the CLI, I prefer apps that have heavy KB shortcuts. 2) For ToDo apps, I think it's a good interface, because it forces simplicity. 3) CLI tools usually keep a simple text style DB (not always true, but true of this app at least). This is nice especially since it allows for multiple sharing/syncing patterns. 4) Integration and extensibility. I don't need to wait for the developer to implement a filter tool. I can pipe the output, or the contents of the "DB" to grep and do that. I don't need the developer to add bulk edit features. I can use awk to do that myself. I don't need the developer to implement scheduled tasks. I can write a cron job that does that for me.

Many of us live in the terminal most of the day. The less we have to reach for a mouse the better.

A CLI interface is automatically extendable by virtue of always being scriptable. If a tool can be scripted you can create higher level abstractions on top of it.

This is a hugely understated paradigm.

CLI apps are generally lightweight and don't get in your way too much, just get the job done quickly and effectively