SMF·TICKTICK
Can a prompt replace TickTick?
Tasks & to-dos — personal tasks, routines and daily planning
Exhibit tracking slip
Verdict
A task list with due dates, basic recurrence, and a built-in Pomodoro timer and simple habit tracker — TickTick's actual bundle, beyond plain task management already covered by this catalogue's Todoist entry — is a genuine one-sitting build. What doesn't survive: cross-device real-time sync and calendar integration polish refined over years.
Exhibit A — The prompt
Received on31.07.2026Build a task manager bundling three things TickTick actually combines, beyond plain task management: a task list with due dates and recurrence, a Pomodoro-style focus timer, and a simple daily habit tracker. Use a local-first approach — Tauri with SQLite, or a simple web app if cross-device use matters more than offline-first — since real-time multi-device sync is explicitly out of scope. Implement tasks with due dates, priority, and basic recurrence rules (daily, weekly, every N days). Build a Pomodoro timer that can be linked to a specific task — start a 25-minute focus session against a chosen task, and log completed sessions per task. Add a simple habit tracker: named habits with a daily check-off, and a streak counter. Show all three — today's tasks, an optional active timer, and today's habits — on one combined daily view, since that bundled view is the actual point, not three separate apps. Do not build real-time cross-device sync, calendar integration, or shared or collaborative task lists — those are out of scope; this is a single-device, single-user tool. Requires a local database; no external API key needed.
Opening prefills the prompt — press enter to run it.
Exhibit B — What you lose
- B.1 real-time cross-device sync
- B.2 calendar integration polish
- B.3 collaborative shared task lists
- B.4 years of edge-case handling for recurring tasks
Prior art
Exhibit C — Why people still pay: cross-device reliability and workflow polish
A task list and a timer are simple; keeping them in perfect sync across every device you own, instantly, for years, is the infrastructure work underneath the bundle.
Questions
Does it sync between my phone and computer?
Not in this build — that's explicitly out of scope. Each device would run its own independent local copy, which is a real step down from TickTick's cross-device sync.
Is the Pomodoro timer actually linked to specific tasks?
Yes — sessions are tied to a chosen task, and completed sessions are logged per task, matching TickTick's own bundled approach rather than being a separate, disconnected timer app.
Can I share a task list with someone else?
No — this is a single-user, single-device tool with no collaboration feature.
What does it cost to run?
Nothing beyond running it locally — there's no subscription, since it's a single-device tool with no backend to host.
Related tools
Receipt