TypeError in today(): '<' not supported between NoneType and str during sort

[donaldpiret]

Bug Description

things.today() raises a TypeError when there are overdue tasks (with no start date) mixed with regular today tasks.

TypeError: '<' not supported between instances of 'NoneType' and 'str'

Root Cause

In things/api.py, line 527:

result.sort(key=lambda task: (task["today_index"], task["start_date"]))

The today() function merges three task lists:

1. regular_today_tasks — have a start_date
2. unconfirmed_scheduled_tasks — have a start_date
3. unconfirmed_overdue_tasks — queried with start_date=False, so start_date is None

When Python tries to sort tuples containing a mix of None and str values, it raises TypeError. This happens whenever you have at least one overdue task (no start date) mixed with regular today tasks.

Suggested Fix

Use None-safe sort keys:

result.sort(key=lambda task: (task["today_index"] or 0, task["start_date"] or ""))

Other Affected Sorts

There are two other similar sorts in the same file that could also fail with None values:

• logbook(): result.sort(key=lambda task: task["stop_date"], reverse=True) — could fail if stop_date is None
• deadlines(): result.sort(key=lambda task: task["deadline"]) — less likely but still possible

Environment

• things.py v1.0.0
• Python 3.14
• macOS
• Triggered via things-mcp v0.7.2

[mikez]

Thanks for the report, @donaldpiret.
In case this was generated by an LLM, what model/version?

I can't reproduce this on my machine, that is, have two tasks that have:

1. the same today_index;
2. different data types, that is, both None and "2026-02-28".

It would be good to get your specific scenario, to see how Things.app natively sorts in those situations and mimic it in our code.

For now, a task["start_date"] or "" fix seems like a pragmatic approach. I just committed that fix.

The other suggested changes to "Suggested Fix" as well as "Other Affected Sorts" make less sense to me—logbook items will always have a stop_date, deadlines will always have a deadline, and today_index will always be a number.