diff --git a/cli/src/lib.rs b/cli/src/lib.rs
index 8b61c12f8..3b3258f21 100644
--- a/cli/src/lib.rs
+++ b/cli/src/lib.rs
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ mod errors;
 mod invocation;
 mod settings;
 mod table;
+mod tdb2;
 mod usage;
 
 /// See https://docs.rs/built
diff --git a/cli/src/tdb2/mod.rs b/cli/src/tdb2/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f91c8eca1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/tdb2/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,325 @@
+//! TDB2 is TaskWarrior's on-disk database format.  The set of tasks is represented in
+//! `pending.data` and `completed.data`.  There are other `.data` files as well, but those are not
+//! used in TaskChampion.
+use nom::{branch::*, character::complete::*, combinator::*, multi::*, sequence::*, IResult};
+use std::fmt;
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
+pub(crate) struct File {
+    pub(crate) lines: Vec<Line>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Clone, PartialEq)]
+pub(crate) struct Line {
+    pub(crate) attrs: Vec<Attr>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Clone, PartialEq)]
+pub(crate) struct Attr {
+    pub(crate) name: String,
+    pub(crate) value: String,
+}
+
+impl File {
+    pub(crate) fn from_str(input: &str) -> Result<File, ()> {
+        Ok(File::parse(input).map(|(_, res)| res).map_err(|_| ())?)
+    }
+
+    fn parse(input: &str) -> IResult<&str, File> {
+        all_consuming(fold_many0(
+            terminated(Line::parse, char('\n')),
+            File { lines: vec![] },
+            |mut file, line| {
+                file.lines.push(line);
+                file
+            },
+        ))(input)
+    }
+}
+
+impl Line {
+    /// Parse a line in a TDB2 file.  See TaskWarrior's Task::Parse.
+    fn parse(input: &str) -> IResult<&str, Line> {
+        fn to_line(input: Vec<Attr>) -> Result<Line, ()> {
+            Ok(Line { attrs: input })
+        }
+        map_res(
+            delimited(
+                char('['),
+                separated_list0(char(' '), Attr::parse),
+                char(']'),
+            ),
+            to_line,
+        )(input)
+    }
+}
+
+impl fmt::Debug for Line {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        f.write_str("line!")?;
+        f.debug_list().entries(self.attrs.iter()).finish()
+    }
+}
+
+impl Attr {
+    /// Parse an attribute (name-value pair).
+    fn parse(input: &str) -> IResult<&str, Attr> {
+        fn to_attr(input: (&str, String)) -> Result<Attr, ()> {
+            Ok(Attr {
+                name: input.0.into(),
+                value: input.1,
+            })
+        }
+        map_res(
+            separated_pair(Attr::parse_name, char(':'), Attr::parse_value),
+            to_attr,
+        )(input)
+    }
+
+    /// Parse an attribute name, which is composed of any character but `:`.
+    fn parse_name(input: &str) -> IResult<&str, &str> {
+        recognize(many1(none_of(":")))(input)
+    }
+
+    /// Parse and interpret a quoted string.  Note that this does _not_ reverse the effects of
+
+    fn parse_value(input: &str) -> IResult<&str, String> {
+        // For the parsing part of the job, see Pig::getQuoted in TaskWarrior's libshared, which
+        // merely finds the end of a string.
+        //
+        // The interpretation is defined in json::decode in libshared.  Fortunately, the data we
+        // are reading was created with json::encode, which does not perform unicode escaping.
+
+        fn escaped_string_char(input: &str) -> IResult<&str, char> {
+            alt((
+                // reverse the escaping performed in json::encode
+                preceded(
+                    char('\\'),
+                    alt((
+                        // some characters are simply escaped
+                        one_of(r#""\/"#),
+                        // others translate to control characters
+                        value('\x08', char('b')),
+                        value('\x0c', char('f')),
+                        value('\n', char('n')),
+                        value('\r', char('r')),
+                        value('\t', char('t')),
+                    )),
+                ),
+                // not a backslash or double-quote
+                none_of("\"\\"),
+            ))(input)
+        }
+
+        let inner = fold_many0(
+            escaped_string_char,
+            String::new(),
+            |mut string, fragment| {
+                string.push(fragment);
+                string
+            },
+        );
+
+        delimited(char('"'), inner, char('"'))(input)
+    }
+}
+
+impl fmt::Debug for Attr {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        f.write_fmt(format_args!("{:?} => {:?}", self.name, self.value))
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod test {
+    use super::*;
+    use pretty_assertions::assert_eq;
+
+    macro_rules! line {
+        ($($n:expr => $v:expr),* $(,)?) => (
+            Line{attrs: vec![$(Attr{name: $n.into(), value: $v.into()}),*]}
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn file() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            File::parse(include_str!("test.data")).unwrap(),
+            (
+                "",
+                File {
+                    lines: vec![
+                        line![
+                            "description" => "snake 🐍",
+                            "entry" => "1641670385",
+                            "modified" => "1641670385",
+                            "priority" => "M",
+                            "status" => "pending",
+                            "uuid" => "f19086c2-1f8d-4a6c-9b8d-f94901fb8e62",
+                        ],
+                        line![
+                            "annotation_1585711454" =>
+                                "https://blog.tensorflow.org/2020/03/face-and-hand-tracking-in-browser-with-mediapipe-and-tensorflowjs.html?linkId=83993617",
+                            "description" => "try facemesh",
+                            "entry" => "1585711451",
+                            "modified" => "1592947544",
+                            "priority" => "M",
+                            "project" => "lists",
+                            "status" => "pending",
+                            "tags" => "idea",
+                            "tags_idea" => "x",
+                            "uuid" => "ee855dc7-6f61-408c-bc95-ebb52f7d529c",
+                        ],
+                        line![
+                            "description" => "testing",
+                            "entry" => "1554074416",
+                            "modified" => "1554074416",
+                            "priority" => "M",
+                            "status" => "pending",
+                            "uuid" => "4578fb67-359b-4483-afe4-fef15925ccd6",
+                        ],
+                        line![
+                            "description" => "testing2",
+                            "entry" => "1576352411",
+                            "modified" => "1576352411",
+                            "priority" => "M",
+                            "status" => "pending",
+                            "uuid" => "f5982cca-2ea1-4bfd-832c-9bd571dc0743",
+                        ],
+                        line![
+                            "description" => "new-task",
+                            "entry" => "1576352696",
+                            "modified" => "1576352696",
+                            "priority" => "M",
+                            "status" => "pending",
+                            "uuid" => "cfee3170-f153-4075-aa1d-e20bcac2841b",
+                        ],
+                        line![
+                            "description" => "foo",
+                            "entry" => "1579398776",
+                            "modified" => "1579398776",
+                            "priority" => "M",
+                            "status" => "pending",
+                            "uuid" => "df74ea94-5122-44fa-965a-637412fbbffc",
+                        ],
+                    ]
+                }
+            )
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn empty_line() {
+        assert_eq!(Line::parse("[]").unwrap(), ("", line![]));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn escaped_line() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            Line::parse(r#"[annotation_1585711454:"\"\\\"" abc:"xx"]"#).unwrap(),
+            (
+                "",
+                line!["annotation_1585711454" => "\"\\\"", "abc" => "xx"]
+            )
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn escaped_line_backslash() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            Line::parse(r#"[abc:"xx" 123:"x\\x"]"#).unwrap(),
+            ("", line!["abc" => "xx", "123" => "x\\x"])
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn escaped_line_quote() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            Line::parse(r#"[abc:"xx" 123:"x\"x"]"#).unwrap(),
+            ("", line!["abc" => "xx", "123" => "x\"x"])
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn unicode_line() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            Line::parse(r#"[description:"snake 🐍" entry:"1641670385" modified:"1641670385" priority:"M" status:"pending" uuid:"f19086c2-1f8d-4a6c-9b8d-f94901fb8e62"]"#).unwrap(),
+            ("", line![
+                "description" => "snake 🐍",
+                "entry" => "1641670385",
+                "modified" => "1641670385",
+                "priority" => "M",
+                "status" => "pending",
+                "uuid" => "f19086c2-1f8d-4a6c-9b8d-f94901fb8e62",
+            ]));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn backslashed_attr() {
+        assert!(Attr::parse(r#"one:"\""#).is_err());
+        assert_eq!(
+            Attr::parse(r#"two:"\\""#).unwrap(),
+            (
+                "",
+                Attr {
+                    name: "two".into(),
+                    value: r#"\"#.into(),
+                }
+            )
+        );
+        assert!(Attr::parse(r#"three:"\\\""#).is_err());
+        assert_eq!(
+            Attr::parse(r#"four:"\\\\""#).unwrap(),
+            (
+                "",
+                Attr {
+                    name: "four".into(),
+                    value: r#"\\"#.into(),
+                }
+            )
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn backslash_frontslash() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            Attr::parse(r#"front:"\/""#).unwrap(),
+            (
+                "",
+                Attr {
+                    name: "front".into(),
+                    value: r#"/"#.into(),
+                }
+            )
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn backslash_control_chars() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            Attr::parse(r#"control:"\b\f\n\r\t""#).unwrap(),
+            (
+                "",
+                Attr {
+                    name: "control".into(),
+                    value: "\x08\x0c\x0a\x0d\x09".into(),
+                }
+            )
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn url_attr() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            Attr::parse(r#"annotation_1585711454:"https:\/\/blog.tensorflow.org\/2020\/03\/""#)
+                .unwrap(),
+            (
+                "",
+                Attr {
+                    name: "annotation_1585711454".into(),
+                    value: "https://blog.tensorflow.org/2020/03/".into(),
+                }
+            )
+        );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/cli/src/tdb2/test.data b/cli/src/tdb2/test.data
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f57b9101b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/tdb2/test.data
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+[description:"snake 🐍" entry:"1641670385" modified:"1641670385" priority:"M" status:"pending" uuid:"f19086c2-1f8d-4a6c-9b8d-f94901fb8e62"]
+[annotation_1585711454:"https:\/\/blog.tensorflow.org\/2020\/03\/face-and-hand-tracking-in-browser-with-mediapipe-and-tensorflowjs.html?linkId=83993617" description:"try facemesh" entry:"1585711451" modified:"1592947544" priority:"M" project:"lists" status:"pending" tags:"idea" tags_idea:"x" uuid:"ee855dc7-6f61-408c-bc95-ebb52f7d529c"]
+[description:"testing" entry:"1554074416" modified:"1554074416" priority:"M" status:"pending" uuid:"4578fb67-359b-4483-afe4-fef15925ccd6"]
+[description:"testing2" entry:"1576352411" modified:"1576352411" priority:"M" status:"pending" uuid:"f5982cca-2ea1-4bfd-832c-9bd571dc0743"]
+[description:"new-task" entry:"1576352696" modified:"1576352696" priority:"M" status:"pending" uuid:"cfee3170-f153-4075-aa1d-e20bcac2841b"]
+[description:"foo" entry:"1579398776" modified:"1579398776" priority:"M" status:"pending" uuid:"df74ea94-5122-44fa-965a-637412fbbffc"]