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You kept going back to atxt file, so I made it faster. Tasks.txt is a free native macOS app for people who run tasks in atxt file. Plain text todo.txt format, keyboard shortcuts for everything. No cloud, no account.
'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.
@qifengzheng yeah i specifically tested that one - if file is edited in any other editor, the changes will be reflected instantly in Tasks.txt
@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.
Dial
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
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!
Dial
@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
@galdayan yeah, i was thinking exactly in the direction of "just point it at a folder", that indeed fits the philosophy behind this app
"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?
@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!
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?
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?
@localhost_ceo This is the same reply thread from before. Here's the reply, ready to post:
A manual shortcut to archive a "Done" task on demand would be more useful, honestly. Auto-archive at end of day covers the cleanup, but sometimes I want a task gone right after I finish it, not sitting there until midnight.
@irahimiam Hey Arash, i was thinking maybe add a chekbox to settings to hide 'Done' section, then the tasks will be moved to archived as soon as marked done. Will that cover the needs? Having a shortcut to archive tasks feels suboptimal. wdyt?
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.
@chielephant Yes, it uses precisely todo.txt format, file is always readable with any other text editor. Here's an example of file format.
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.
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.
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.