SMF·TODOIST
Can a prompt replace Todoist?
Tasks & to-dos — task manager
Exhibit tracking slip
Verdict
A personal task manager — projects, recurring due dates, natural-language quick-add, reminders — is a real one-sitting build over a local database. What's harder to match is Todoist's polish: native apps on every platform, reliable push notifications, and years of small UX refinements that make capture fast.
Exhibit A — The prompt
Received on30.07.2026Build a personal task manager: projects, priorities, due dates, and recurring tasks (stored as a recurrence rule, not a fixed date) in a real database, with a fast natural-language quick-add — 'call Sam tomorrow 4pm #home p2' should set the due date, project, and priority from one line. Build Today and Upcoming views, with overdue tasks pinned at the top. Add a background job that checks for due tasks and sends a push notification to your phone through a lightweight push service (ntfy is a good option — no account needed, just a topic name), plus a daily digest of the day's list. Add a one-line CLI for quick capture from a terminal, since fast capture is the actual point.
Do not build native mobile or desktop apps, real-time collaboration on shared projects, or cross-device offline sync — those are genuinely deep engineering, not a weekend feature. Push notifications through a phone-side app for the notification service are the honest substitute for a native mobile app here, not a replacement for one.Opening prefills the prompt — press enter to run it.
Exhibit B — What you lose
- B.1 native mobile and desktop apps
- B.2 built-in collaboration on shared projects
- B.3 offline sync across devices
- B.4 third-party integrations
- B.5 years of UX polish around fast capture
Prior art
Exhibit C — Why people still pay: sync/polish
Task capture has to be instant everywhere and reminders can't be missed — people pay for native apps and dependable notifications, not for the task list itself.
Questions
Can I import my existing Todoist tasks?
Yes — Todoist exports your tasks and projects to CSV, and that maps cleanly onto this build's schema. Recurring-task rules and labels need a small amount of manual cleanup after import.
Will it work on my phone?
For reminders, yes — push notifications reach your phone through the notification service. For actually managing tasks, no: there's no mobile app, so adding or editing tasks means the web page or the CLI.
What does it cost to run?
Hosting and a database, typically a few dollars a month; the push notification service used here is free for personal use.
What's the one thing that doesn't survive the rebuild?
Multi-device reliability without thinking about it. Todoist syncs instantly across every device and never drops a reminder; a personal build is one server you maintain, and an outage means a missed reminder.
Related tools
Receipt