Getting started
The interface
Find your way around the sidebar, the main views and the windows.
Todebaran keeps your work in a single window: a floating sidebar on the left, a focused main view on the right. Everything is keyboard-first, so you can move through your day without reaching for the mouse.
The sidebar#
The sidebar is your map. From top to bottom it holds:
- Agenda views — Today, Inbox, Tomorrow, Upcoming, Someday, and the Calendar.
- Your structure — areas with the projects and collections inside them, plus any shared spaces.
- Smart lists — your rule-based views.
- Slips — your reusable templates.
- Completed and Trash at the bottom.
You can reorder and hide sections, and give items custom colors, in Settings → Sidebar. Collapse the sidebar with ⌘⇧← and expand it with ⌘⇧→.
Moving between views#
Every agenda view has a number shortcut:
| View | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Today | ⌘1 |
| Inbox | ⌘2 |
| Tomorrow | ⌘3 |
| Someday | ⌘4 |
| Upcoming | ⌘5 |
| Calendar | ⌘6 |
| Completed | ⌘7 |
| Trash | ⌘8 |
Press ⌘K to search across everything, and ⌘N to create a new item in the current view. The full list lives in Keyboard shortcuts.
Windows#
- Main window — where you live. Open another with ⌘O.
- Quick Add — a floating capture card you can summon from anywhere. See Capturing with Quick Add.
- Settings — opens in its own window with ⌘,.
Menu bar and Dock#
Todebaran integrates with macOS the way a native app should:
- A Dock badge can show your remaining Today or Inbox count (or both).
- An optional menu-bar icon shows a live task count and can be clicked to open the app or Quick Add.
- The Dock progress bar fills while a slip is printing.
Tune all of this in Settings → General.
Make it yours#
Todebaran is built to be shaped to your taste — themes and accent colors, a background image (⌘I), adjustable list width, and fully remappable shortcuts. Start with the defaults; change what gets in your way.