To-do
The To-do window holds your backlog: tasks in lists, and lists split into steps. Its dock entry is Todo Backlog. Open it from the menu bar or with Ctrl+4.
The window was redone in 2.0.0. It asks three questions of the same file, one per tab.
Today
Today is what to do now. A task shows up here when it is in progress, due, late or marked important. It is the default tab whenever it holds something. A long Today folds, and a button shows the rest.
When Today is empty it says so with the real counts, for example Nothing for today. followed by the number of open tasks and projects. An empty Today never means the backlog is empty.
The field at the foot adds a task to the list named beside it.
Projects
Projects draws one tile per list. A tile shows its progress, its work by status, what comes next, and when the list last moved. Lists with work done and nothing left fold at the bottom, under their own count.
Open a tile and the list appears by step, in the plan's own order. A step shows its count and folds once it is done. Done tasks wait behind a count per step. Back to projects returns to the tiles. New project creates a list.
The review of asleep tasks lists the open tasks untouched for 30 days or more, oldest first. Each one takes one answer: Still relevant, Today, Later, Done or Drop.
To triage
To triage holds what an agent or your voice filed and nobody has looked at yet. Each task takes one of four answers: Keep, Today, Later or Drop. A button keeps the whole batch at once: it marks every task as looked at, and the tasks stay where they are.
A task is never deleted by Drop. It is set aside as not planned.
Overview and search
The Overview button shows the whole backlog on one screen. On top sit three counts: Late, Asleep and Open. Below, every project is a tile. It is the view for a maximized window.
Search takes A word or a task number. Every task has a number, so
#42 finds task 42, even when it sits in the history.
A task in detail
Details opens the editor of a task:
- Status: To do, In progress, Waiting or Later.
- Priority: Important, Normal or Low.
- Step: the step of its list, or No step.
- Due: a date. A due task also shows in the Agenda.
- A note, not a task to do: a note sits apart and counts in no number.
The editor also says where the task came from: Added by hand, filed by an agent, Said aloud, or From a conversation.
Attachments
A task can hold files and folders. File and Folder open the system picker, or you drop them on the task. A file opens with its own application. A folder unfolds inside the task, read live from the disk.
Only the path is stored in the task. The app opens and lists only what sits under your home folder or a watched folder. Some file types are never opened, for safety; the task offers Show in the file explorer instead. A task holds 20 attachments at most.
Reminders
Set a reminder opens the reminder editor. A reminder rings every N minutes, hours, days or weeks. You pick the Ring (Chime, Bell, Blip, Arpeggio or Klaxon), its length and its Volume. Hear it plays it.
When it rings, a card appears on the edge of the screen. Later silences this one and waits a full interval. The snooze wheel picks a length or a date.
Pinning a task to the canvas
Pin to the canvas puts a task on the canvas as a card of its own. When a pinned task is done, the app can remove its card. The list manager sets that rule under When a pinned task is done: Ask, Remove the card or Keep the card.
Lists
Manage the lists opens the list manager. There you add a list, rename it, give it a colour and drag lists to reorder them. Delete this list works only on an empty list. The three original lists cannot be deleted.
Its own vault writes a readable page of the backlog into a vault of its own. You can then ask your memory what you worked on months ago. That vault is never mixed with your other vaults.
Done, undo and history
A tick can ask for confirmation first. The setting Before ticking a task offers Ask for confirmation or Tick straight away.
Either way, Ctrl+Z takes back the last tick or tidy-up. A bar shows it too, with Undo.
Archived tasks go to the History. From there a task goes back to its list, or is deleted for good. Empty the history asks before it acts.
A list brought to zero shows Stage clear!. The header counts the days in a row with at least one task finished, and the total finished.
From far away
Zoom the canvas out below 70% and the window shows a count: open tasks, and the share done. Next up names the next task. Which list to count picks one list or All lists. Add a task adds one without zooming back in. Full-screen overview opens the overview.
By voice
The voice assistant reaches the To-do when a sentence starts with a gesture and talks about tasks or lists. It can add a task, read Today, tick a task, start it or set it aside. Say a task by its number: speech recognition blurs words, and a number comes through intact.
A task added by voice waits in To triage until you look at it. The voice never deletes and never archives. See the voice.
For your agents
An agent connected through the MCP bridge files tasks with
mnemosyne_todo_add. It reads them back with mnemosyne_todo_list, and
changes them with mnemosyne_todo_update and mnemosyne_todo_categories.
What it files waits in To triage, and a card tells you Tasks filed by
an agent. See Tasks from your coding agent.
Task assistance
Settings › Notifications › Task assistance adds two rules. They are saved in the to-do file, so agents follow them too.
- Cap on open tasks: an alert at the cap, a few more tasks allowed, then adding locks until the list drops to the unlock level. A locked add says Not added: your task cap is full. Unticking a task and undoing are never refused.
- Suggest what to do: a Do now card at the top of the window, with one to three tasks and the reason for each. Another one sets a task aside for now.
When there is nothing to show
- No workspace configured yet. Pick a memory folder in Settings and the backlog lands there.
- The backlog file could not be read. It was left untouched.