Your first day

The fastest way to understand Todebaran is to use it. This short walkthrough takes you from a blank app to a planned day and a focused work session. It should take about five minutes.

1. Capture a few tasks#

Press ⌘N and type a task title, then ↵. Add a handful — whatever's on your mind. They land in your Inbox (⌘2), Todebaran's catch-all.

2. Give one a plan#

Open a task and:

• Press ⌘S and choose today to schedule it. It now appears in Today (⌘1).
• Press ⌘E to set a deadline if it's actually due by a date.
• Press ⌘T to add a tag like @errand.

The difference between scheduling and a deadline is worth knowing — see Scheduling.

3. Build a little structure#

Not everything belongs in a flat list. Create a project to group related tasks toward an outcome, and move a task into it with ⌘R. Projects live inside areas — broad parts of your life like Work or Home. Read Projects for the full picture.

4. Let a list build itself#

Instead of filing everything by hand, create a smart list and give it a rule like Tag · includes · @errand. It gathers matching tasks automatically and keeps itself up to date. See Smart lists.

5. Focus and finish#

Pick your most important task and press ⌘G to enter focus mode — a timer built into the task itself. Work a session, then tick the task off. See Using focus mode.

Screenshot coming soon

Where to next#

You now know the core loop: capture → plan → organize → focus. From here:

• Make it yours with themes & appearance.
• Learn the keyboard shortcuts that speed everything up.
• Explore slips — Todebaran's reusable templates for printing, exporting or automating.