Use Cases

Here are concrete examples of how people use Tasks in their day-to-day lives. Use them as inspiration or follow them step by step.

Personal productivity — the daily top-3

The simplest system that actually works: every morning, identify the three tasks that matter most today.

1. Open the Today view — it shows every task with a deadline of today.
2. Scan the list and pick your top three. Set the others to Waiting if you know you won't get to them.
3. Work through them in order. Change status to In Progress when you start, Done when you finish.
4. At the end of the day, open All Tasks → overdue filter to catch anything that slipped.
5. Move un-done items to This Week by editing their deadline preset.

Recommended setup:

• A personal circle for private tasks
• No collections needed at first — just use the date-based lists
• Add time estimates so you know when the day is truly full

Weekly review ritual

Keep your backlog healthy and your week planned with a regular review.

1. Create a Model called "Weekly review" with items like:
   • Review inbox tasks
   • Clear overdue tasks
   • Plan next week's priorities
   • Update ongoing collections
2. Every Friday (or Sunday), go to Models and click Create Collection from the model.
3. Work through the checklist. The collection auto-archives when you're done.
4. Set a TTL of 72 hours on the collection — it disappears automatically after the weekend.

Project management — feature launch

Manage a multi-step project without needing a separate tool.

1. Create a Collection called "Feature: User onboarding" in your Work circle.
2. Set the view type to Hide Now so completed tasks fade into the archive tab.
3. Add all the tasks: design, backend, tests, documentation, deploy.
4. Set a deadline preset on each task: backend tasks get This Week, docs get Next Week, deploy gets a specific week.
5. Monitor progress via the collection's Active tab — only the remaining work is visible.
6. Use the Kanban board (filtered to this month) for a visual status check during stand-ups.
7. When everything is done, let the collection sit as a record, or delete it to keep the workspace clean.

Recurring checklist — deployment steps

You run the same 10-step deployment checklist every release. Never miss a step again.

1. Go to Tasks → Models and create a model called "Deployment checklist".
2. Add each step as an item: "Run migrations", "Smoke test staging", "Notify team", etc.
3. On release day, click Create Collection from model — name it "Deploy v2.4" and choose your Work circle.
4. Work through the steps, checking them off as you go.
5. Set the collection TTL to 48 hours so it disappears after the release is stable.

The model stays ready for the next release, unchanged.

Family chores — shared circle

Keep the household running with a shared task list everyone can see and update.

1. Create a shared Family circle and invite all household members.
2. Create a collection called "Weekly chores" with Hide Now view type.
3. Add each chore as a task. Assign rough time estimates (vacuuming: 30 min, dishes: 15 min).
4. Each person picks a task, sets it to In Progress, and marks it Done when finished.
5. Everyone can see the Active tab shrink as the week progresses.
6. On Sunday, archive the collection (or use TTL of 7 days) and create a fresh one from a Model for the next week.

Inbox capture — quick tasks

Some tasks don't have a deadline yet — you just need to capture them before they slip away.

1. Press N from anywhere to open the new task form.
2. Type the task name only. Don't set a deadline or estimate — just save it.
3. The task lands in Quick Tasks (tasks without a deadline).
4. During your weekly review, open Quick Tasks and decide: assign a deadline, add to a collection, or delete if irrelevant.

This keeps your focused views (Today, This Week) clean while ensuring nothing gets lost.

Onboarding a new team member

Make onboarding consistent and trackable across every new hire.

1. Create a Model called "New team member onboarding" in your Work circle.
2. Add every step: account setup, tool access, introductions, first tasks, 30-day check-in.
3. When someone new joins, go to Models → Create Collection and name the collection after the person ("Onboarding: Alice").
4. The collection is pre-populated instantly — share it with your new colleague via Link Share so they can see their own onboarding progress.
5. As tasks are completed, the Hide Now view keeps the focus on what's still pending.

Packing list — TTL collection

You're heading on a trip and need a packing checklist that doesn't clutter your workspace afterward.

1. Create a Collection called "Weekend trip — Berlin".
2. Set the TTL to 72 hours (the collection auto-deletes after three days).
3. Add everything you need to pack or prepare.
4. As you pack, mark each task Done — they move to the archive tab automatically.
5. Board the train. Forget about it. The collection is gone by the time you're back.

Importing a collection from a template file

Your team maintains a standard sprint template as a JSON file in your repository.

1. Go to Collections → Import.
2. Select your .json template file (max 512 KB).
3. Choose the target circle.
4. Click Import — the collection is created with all tasks, deadlines, and estimates intact.
5. Rename the collection for the current sprint and start working.

The JSON format supports task names, descriptions, statuses, deadlines (yyyy-MM-dd), and estimated durations in minutes. See the features page for the full schema.