Tasks.txt

I've been developing software for over 12 years and used almost every task tracker out there - Redmine, Jira, Trello, Clickup, etc. Yet I always found myself going back to a .txt file open in Sublime Text. Of course i still have to use whatever tool the enterprise requires to track my work, but I also need a place to keep track of all the things, prioritise them and plan my day. I also track my personal stuff like groceries or phone calls in that same place. I even made a post asking if others also do this, and turned out I'm not alone. Here's how my file looks: 20 Jun 2026 - test CI/CD - check Mark's PRs - call mom 21 Jun 2026 - send invoices ───────────────────── - call electrician before friday - update gitbook When comparing this against more specialised tools, the benefit is that it's almost invisible. There's no project setup, no configuration, no popups, no navigation between different pages, no loading spinners or wait time. It's always open, instant to edit, and you can see everything on a single view. Still there is some friction, like pressing cmd+S after every edit to save the file or manually archiving done tasks by deleting the old dates (or moving to another file in case I wanted a history of what I did last week). Also i have to enter dates by hand and there's no keyboard shortcut to mark something done. So I built tasks.txt to solve exactly those little things. It's keyboard-first, written in native Swift. No Electron, no web wrapper. Opens instantly, scrolls fast, doesn't lag on a keystroke. The format is plain text inspired by todo.txt - one line per task, readable in any text editor, grep-able in Terminal, version-controllable in Git, always on-device. The app is mostly a keyboard shortcut layer on top of a file you own. I also added a scratchpad for everything that isn't a task - notes, half-formed ideas, the things I'd otherwise open a new tab for. It's free. Would love feedback from anyone who's been using plain old txt files or is looking to simplify their workflow. Less is more. Show more

love the "almost invisible" framing, that's the right bar for a tool like this. question about the no-cloud/no-account choice though - if someone works between a laptop and a desktop, is the expectation that they drop the file in iCloud Drive or Dropbox themselves and just deal with the occasional sync conflict, or is single-machine use basically the intended use case and multi-device is out of scope on purpose

That sounds well judged. Keeping the raw text searchable while keeping the daily view clean feels like the right tradeoff for this kind of app.

@localhost_ceo good priority order honestly, iOS companion makes more sense once sync exists than the other way around. curious if the sync will just be "point it at a folder" (iCloud/Dropbox agnostic) or your own lightweight relay, since the first keeps it true to the no-account philosophy and the second starts turning it into a service

"Plain text you own, forever" is exactly why I never fully left a todo.txt file — every polished task app eventually wants an account and a sync I don't need. Keyboard shortcuts for everything on top of the todo.txt format is the combo I've been missing. Does it stay in sync if I edit the underlying file in another editor?

Congrats on shipping this, that native Swift choice instead of Electron is exactly the kind of decision people notice once they actually use it. The scratchpad for stray notes is a nice touch too. Curious if the archiving (deleting old dates) is still manual, or did you build a shortcut for that already?

Really like the decision to stay close to todo.txt instead of wrapping it in a heavy workflow. The no-cloud, no-account angle also feels right for this kind of app. One thing I'd be curious about is a very fast archive/review flow for completed days, since plain-text users usually want history without losing the minimal feel.

Thanks for checking it out @irahimiam ! The "Done" section is actually designed to auto-archive at the end of the day so you can see your daily progress before it clears out. I didn't include a shortcut to purge the archive because I figured people wouldn't need to do it often, but you're right - for a keyboard-first tool, no need for using a mouse is the whole point. Would you prefer a shortcut to clear the archive entirely, or just a shortcut to manually archive a "Done" task?

Thank you@sergbmw The app handles the cleanup for you - tasks completed today stay visible as a "win wall," and then get automatically moved to the Archive section at the end of the day. Because it's just a raw text file underneath, your history is always there if you want to Git-track it or Terminal-search it, but the app keeps it out of your sight line so you can focus on what's next.

Thank you so much, @galdayan ! Launching a basic version first was a conscious choice to see if people actually wanted a tool like this. Now that I've seen the feedback today, I have all the validation I need. Cross-device sync and an iOS companion app are officially the next big priorities. Thrilled to have you along for the ride while it's still a desktop-first tool!

Plain text is the only task setup I've never quit, because it outlives whatever app I was into that month. Does Tasks.txt follow a spec like todo.txt so my file stays readable if I stop using the app, or is it its own format? The lock-in question is what kills these for me.

'a shortcut layer on a file you own' is the whole pitch — so the tell is editing it in another editor while the app's open. whether that write reloads or clobbers is where owning it actually holds.

@qifengzheng This is the test I’d use too. If the file changes in another editor while Tasks.txt is open, I’d want it to reload safely or surface a conflict rather than silently decide which copy wins. “A file you own” becomes much more convincing when the app can coexist with the other tools that can edit it.

@galdayan yeah, i was thinking exactly in the direction of "just point it at a folder", that indeed fits the philosophy behind this app

@qifengzheng yeah i specifically tested that one - if file is edited in any other editor, the changes will be reflected instantly in Tasks.txt

@chielephant Yes, it uses precisely todo.txt format, file is always readable with any other text editor. Here's an example of file format. send business proposal to lead investor created:2026-06-04 upcoming:true Call design lead +freelance created:2026-06-15 upcoming:true

@localhost_ceo nice — external-edit→app is the direction that usually breaks, so good you nailed it. the one i'd still poke: the app writing its own state back over a change you just made in the other editor. reload-on-change is easy, last-writer-wins on a simultaneous edit is the sharp bit.

@lennoxbeflying Hey, thanks for such a great feedback, I appreciate. I am also a big supporter of no-vendor lock approach and i tried to follow that principle. Saying that, some people do ask for a cross-device sync, which would require some account. But for now i am thinking a basic apple-account and a iCloud for sync, for the same reason i just mentioned. As for syncing - yeah, it will sync and render the changes if the file is edited anywhere outside the app!