Todoist: Export to Google Sheets

UI Extension for Todoist that exports projects to Google Sheets

Running it All

After you pull the code, do the following actions to start the backend component:

1. Copy example.env to .env and ensure the values have been filled in correctly (see below)
2. npm install
3. npm run start:dev

This should yield a backend running at http://localhost:3000

Local environment variables

To tailor your dev environment, create a .env file and put in the relevant settings:

• PORT: The port the backend will run on
• BASE_URL: This is the domain for accessing static files (like images)
• VERIFICATION_TOKENS: This is the comma-separated list of valid tokens the integration will require to validate when it's called.
• DB_HOST: Database host
• DB_PORT: Database port
• DB_USERNAME: Database username
• DB_PASSWORD: Database password
• DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY: The db is encrypting sensitive columns, provide the key here.
• DB_ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM: The algorithm used for the encryption.
• DB_ENCRYPTION_IV_LENGTH: The length of the initialization vector used by the encryption.

Database

In order to run the database locally, please run npm run database:run and this will create a mysql docker container (if one doesn't already exist).

Migrations

If the database model changes, you need to create a new migration.

First, install ts-node globally:

npm install -g ts-node

You can then run npm run migration:create ./src/migrations/<name> (name should be the migration name you want to give it, don't include spaces). This will create an empty migration in the migrations folder. You can go ahead and edit it there. The migrations are run at app start (this is set up via the Typeorm module in app.module.ts)

There's also the option to let typeorm generate the migration for you automatically. In this case, you need to run npm run migration:generate ./src/migrations/<name> (name should be the migration name you want to give it, don't include spaces). For more information, visit https://typeorm.io/#/migrations

Google App developer account setup

1. Create a new Google app (click the dropdown next to the page title, then choose New Project) link
2. Give the project a name, then click Create
3. Once created, select that app, then click on Enable APIs and Services
4. Search for "Sheets" then click on the Google Sheets API result, then Enable it
5. Go back to the dashboard and click on OAuth consent screen down the left hand side
6. Click on Clients, down the left hand side then Create client.
7. Application type should be "Web application", then fill in the remaining details. Authorized redirect URIs to be [BASE_URL from .env file]/auth. Click Create
   • If running locally, provide your ngrok link in the authorized domains, click Save and continue
8. Once having created the client, click into it via the Clients menu down the left hand side
9. Under Additional Information, copy the Client ID and put it in your .env file
10. Click on Add secret, copy the generated API key, and add to your .env file
11. Click on Data Access down the left hand side
12. Click Add or remove scopes, the scopes you need are /auth/userinfo.profile, /auth/userinfo.email, and auth/spreadsheets. Click Save and continue
13. Click Audience down the left hand side then Add users
14. Add your email address (and any others that may need access). Click Save, then Back to dashboard

Note Client ID and Client Secret add them to .env as GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID and GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET.

Accessing your extension

You will need to use something like ngrok, or localtunnel, in order for Todoist to be able to access your backend. Whichever service you use, the resulting URL is what should be used in the BASE_URL setting. It will also be what you add to your UI Extension in your integration at the App Console. For this extension it will be <Your Base URL>/process.

Creating the Integration

• Go to https://todoist.com/app_console
• Create a new integration
• Scroll down to the UI Extensions section of that integration and add a new one. This should be of type Context menu. The URL should be a locally running ngrok or localtunnel instance (https://<your ngrok/localtunnel url>/process).
• Select the data:read scope and save.

Displaying the UI Extension

To display the UI extension:

• Copy the verification token from the integration created previously and put it in your .env file in the VERIFICATION_TOKENS field.
• Start the extension service (npm run start:dev) and start ngrok/localtunnel.
• Go to https://todoist.com
• Click a context menu of a project, then extensions, then whatever you called your UI extension