todos - TODO/HACK Comments

Overview#

The todos command finds all TODO and HACK comments in your C# code. This helps you track technical debt, action items, and areas that need improvement. It’s useful for code reviews, sprint planning, and identifying work that needs to be done.

Syntax#

nmbl todos <ProjectFileOrDirectory>

Arguments#

• ProjectFileOrDirectory - Path to a .csproj file or directory containing C# files

Output#

Lists all TODO and HACK comments with their locations (file and line number), making it easy to find and address them.

Examples#

Find TODOs in a Project#

nmbl todos src/MyProject/MyProject.csproj

Shows all TODO and HACK comments in the project.

Find TODOs in a Directory#

nmbl todos src/

Recursively searches all C# files in the directory tree.

Export to File for Tracking#

nmbl todos src/ > technical-debt.txt

Save the list to track over time.

Count Technical Debt Items#

# Count TODO comments
nmbl todos src/ | grep -c "TODO"

# Count HACK comments
nmbl todos src/ | grep -c "HACK"

Get a count of technical debt items (Unix/Linux).

Compare Before and After#

# Before cleanup
nmbl todos src/ > todos-before.txt

# After addressing items
nmbl todos src/ > todos-after.txt

# See what was fixed
diff todos-before.txt todos-after.txt

Comment Formats Detected#

The command finds comments like:

• // TODO: description
• // HACK: description
• /* TODO: description */
• /* HACK: description */

Use Cases#

Sprint Planning#

nmbl todos src/ > sprint-planning/technical-debt.txt

Review TODO items when planning work for the next sprint.

Code Review Checklist#

# Check for new TODOs in a feature branch
git checkout feature-branch
nmbl todos src/ > todos-feature.txt

git checkout main
nmbl todos src/ > todos-main.txt

diff todos-main.txt todos-feature.txt

Ensure new features don’t add excessive technical debt.

Technical Debt Tracking#

# Weekly report
nmbl todos src/ | wc -l > metrics/todo-count-$(date +%Y-%m-%d).txt

Track the number of TODO items over time.

Pre-Release Cleanup#

# Before a release, address critical TODOs
nmbl todos src/ | grep -i "critical"
nmbl todos src/ | grep -i "before release"

Find items that must be addressed before shipping.

Best Practices#

Writing Good TODO Comments#

// ✅ Good - specific and actionable
// TODO: Replace magic number with constant after refactoring config system

// ❌ Bad - vague
// TODO: fix this

Prioritizing TODOs#

// TODO [P0]: Critical - must fix before release
// TODO [P1]: Important - should fix soon
// TODO [P2]: Nice to have - fix when time allows

Using HACK vs TODO#

• TODO: Future work, improvements, or known limitations
• HACK: Quick fixes or workarounds that should be refactored

Related Commands#

• regions - Find region directives
• cc - Find complex methods
• cogc - Find hard-to-understand code