perf(gptodo): 59x faster task loading by avoiding git subprocess per task

[TimeToBuildBob]

Summary

• When tasks lack a modified field in frontmatter (common — all 87 tasks in Bob's workspace), load_tasks() was spawning 2 git log subprocesses per task to get timestamps
• With 87 tasks that's 174 subprocess calls, taking 20.5 seconds
• Fix: use file mtime as fast fallback for missing modified field instead of git log

Benchmark

• Before: 20.5s to load 87 tasks
• After: 0.35s to load 87 tasks (59x faster)
• gptodo status --compact: 21.5s → 0.3s (71x faster)

Test plan

• All 50 gptodo tests pass
• Verified gptodo status --compact shows correct task listing
• Modified dates still show reasonable values (file mtime-based)

---

Important

Optimize task loading in utils.py by using file mtime instead of git log for missing modified fields, improving performance by 59x.

• Performance Improvement:
  • In load_tasks() in utils.py, replaced git log subprocess calls with file mtime checks for tasks missing modified field.
  • Reduces task loading time from 20.5s to 0.35s for 87 tasks.
• Benchmark:
  • gptodo status --compact execution time reduced from 21.5s to 0.3s.
• Testing:
  • All 50 gptodo tests pass.
  • Verified correct task listing and reasonable modified dates using file mtime.

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[ellipsis-dev]

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[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

Replaced expensive git log subprocess calls with filesystem mtime for task timestamp loading when modified field is missing from frontmatter, achieving 59x performance improvement (20.5s → 0.35s for 87 tasks).

• Removed 2 git subprocess calls per task (174 total for 87 tasks)
• Now uses stats.st_mtime as fast fallback for missing modified field
• Still uses stats.st_ctime as fallback for missing created field
• All 50 gptodo tests pass
• Maintains reasonable timestamp values using file modification time

Confidence Score: 4/5

• Safe to merge with low risk - effective performance optimization with maintained correctness
• Code simplifies timestamp handling by removing complex git subprocess logic in favor of filesystem timestamps. All 50 existing tests pass, demonstrating that the behavior change is acceptable. The optimization is well-targeted at the actual bottleneck (missing modified field is common). Minor concern about st_ctime semantics on Linux (metadata change time vs creation time), but this was already present in fallback code.
• No files require special attention

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
packages/gptodo/src/gptodo/utils.py	Replaced expensive git subprocess calls with fast filesystem mtime fallback for task timestamp loading, achieving 59x speedup

Flowchart

flowchart TD
    A[load_tasks starts] --> B[Read task file]
    B --> C[Parse frontmatter metadata]
    C --> D{created field<br/>in metadata?}
    D -->|Yes| E[Parse created timestamp]
    D -->|No| F[Use st_ctime fallback]
    E --> G{modified field<br/>in metadata?}
    F --> G
    G -->|Yes| H[Parse modified timestamp]
    G -->|No| I[Use st_mtime fallback<br/>NEW: Fast path]
    H --> J[Create TaskInfo object]
    I --> J
    J --> K[Return task]
    
    style I fill:#90EE90
    style G fill:#FFE4B5
    
    L[OLD: Missing modified] -.->|Used to spawn| M[git log subprocess<br/>174 calls for 87 tasks<br/>20.5 seconds]
    M -.->|Removed| N[X]
    
    style M fill:#FFB6C6
    style N fill:#FF6B6B

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