From 7ad27f6fcaf5c29f816a0712f932f8bd045a5d9b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Barrett Ruth <62671086+barrettruth@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2026 12:07:52 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] fix: empty buffer placeholder and checkbox pattern fixes
 (#82)

* fix(buffer): use `default_category` config for empty placeholder

Problem: The empty-buffer fallback hardcoded the category name `TODO`,
ignoring the user's `default_category` config value (default: `Todo`).

Solution: Read `config.get().default_category` at render time and use
that value for both the header line and `LineMeta` category field.

* fix(diff): match optional checkbox char in `parse_buffer` patterns

Problem: `parse_buffer` used `%[.%]` which requires exactly one
character between brackets, failing to parse empty `[]` checkboxes.

Solution: Change to `%[.?%]` so the character is optional, matching
`[]`, `[ ]`, `[x]`, and `[!]` uniformly.
---
 lua/pending/buffer.lua | 6 ++++++
 lua/pending/diff.lua   | 6 +++---
 2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lua/pending/buffer.lua b/lua/pending/buffer.lua
index 8fdcbe1..827ff82 100644
--- a/lua/pending/buffer.lua
+++ b/lua/pending/buffer.lua
@@ -303,6 +303,12 @@ function M.render(bufnr)
     lines, line_meta = views.category_view(tasks)
   end
 
+  if #lines == 0 and #_filter_predicates == 0 then
+    local default_cat = config.get().default_category
+    lines = { '# ' .. default_cat }
+    line_meta = { { type = 'header', category = default_cat } }
+  end
+
   if #_filter_predicates > 0 then
     table.insert(lines, 1, 'FILTER: ' .. table.concat(_filter_predicates, ' '))
     table.insert(line_meta, 1, { type = 'filter' })
diff --git a/lua/pending/diff.lua b/lua/pending/diff.lua
index 5df332f..6b79b8a 100644
--- a/lua/pending/diff.lua
+++ b/lua/pending/diff.lua
@@ -33,14 +33,14 @@ function M.parse_buffer(lines)
 
   for i = start, #lines do
     local line = lines[i]
-    local id, body = line:match('^/(%d+)/(- %[.%] .*)$')
+    local id, body = line:match('^/(%d+)/(- %[.?%] .*)$')
     if not id then
-      body = line:match('^(- %[.%] .*)$')
+      body = line:match('^(- %[.?%] .*)$')
     end
     if line == '' then
       table.insert(result, { type = 'blank', lnum = i })
     elseif id or body then
-      local stripped = body:match('^- %[.%] (.*)$') or body
+      local stripped = body:match('^- %[.?%] (.*)$') or body
       local state_char = body:match('^- %[(.-)%]') or ' '
       local priority = state_char == '!' and 1 or 0
       local status = state_char == 'x' and 'done' or 'pending'