Nudge

The guide

A gentle place to put the things your brain won't hold onto.

Nudge isn't a productivity system. It's not asking you to optimize your day, protect a streak, or feel bad about what's still sitting there. It exists for one reason: your brain is busy holding everything at once, and it needs somewhere safe to put things down.

How it works

Before it slips away

Type it straight into the box, or tap the mic and say it — whichever's faster right now. Type it and it's already on your list, no extra step. Say it and it lands in your Inbox first, a quick look before it's official.

Or Nudge notices for you

Connect Gmail and Nudge quietly checks on its own — anything that actually needs a reply or an action becomes a task, waiting in your Inbox for you to say yes. Nothing skips that step just because a machine noticed it first.

Or just get it out of your head

Not everything needs to become a task. Offload is for the rest of it — your thoughts, what today needs to look like, or a brain-dump before bed. Nudge keeps the audio and a transcript; turn it into tasks later if there's something in there, or just leave it as a record of what was on your mind.

You decide

Accept it and it becomes a real task. Dismiss it and it's gone — no explanation needed.

Said two things at once? You'll get two

"Remind me to call the plumber tomorrow, and also pick up the dry cleaning" doesn't get squashed into one task or trimmed down to whichever thing you said first — it comes back as two separate items, each sorted into the right place on its own. For a couple of days afterward, each one quietly notes it was captured together with the other, so the connection's easy to find again.

Today comes up front

Nudges is your one list, ordered by when things are actually due: anything overdue at the top, then today, then the days ahead, with undated work last. Today is simply the top of it — there's no second screen to switch to.

Or let Nudge walk you through it

Review my day talks you through your list one task at a time by voice — mark it done, snooze it, ask a quick question, or hear back exactly what you originally said. For days when reading a list feels like more than you've got.

When something's too much

It doesn't have to disappear, and it doesn't have to nag you either.

  • Snooze it — 1 day, 3 days, a week. That moves its date, so it simply sits further down your list at its new day. Nothing disappears, and it never comes back already overdue.
  • Tuck it away — no deadline, no countdown. It waits until you're ready, not the other way round.

When you're ready, focus

Start a timer — 5, 10, 15 or 25 minutes. A gentle check-in every five minutes, a soft chime when you're done — and an audible alarm too, if you turn that on, so a session can end even if you're not looking at your phone.

Sometimes it's just a nudge, not a task

"Remind me to call the plumber at 10" doesn't need accepting or clearing — it's a Reminder, its own quiet list. A one-off fades away on its own once its time passes; set one to repeat and it just keeps coming back. If it turns into something bigger, one tap turns it into a real task. If you've connected Google Calendar, a reminder with a real time puts itself on there the moment it's created, and takes itself back off the moment it fires and clears — nothing to switch on, nothing to remember.

Priorities that mean what you say

Every task can carry a Priority — a label you define yourself, not a fixed "urgent/normal/low" someone else picked. Each one carries its own reminder schedule, so a High-priority task can nudge you a day before, an hour before, and ten minutes before, while something lower-stakes gets none at all.

A quick word about a task, without leaving it

Every task has its own Assistant — a running chat about just that one thing. Ask it something, and if it thinks the title, notes, or due date should change, it'll suggest it — never applies anything on its own, you always get the final say.

When it's actually finished

Mark it Nailed it — not the clinical "Completed," a small warm pulse instead. Small thing, deliberate choice.

Or just done for now, finished or not

Clear it. Clearing isn't giving up and it isn't failure — it's taking something off your plate whether you changed your mind or it stopped mattering, without claiming you finished it. Everything you've cleared or nailed lives in one place if you ever want to look back or bring something back.

Letting someone else in, on your terms

Add someone to your Circle of Trust and they can send things straight into your Inbox — a partner reminding you about something, an assistant passing on a request. It only ever runs one way: they can drop a task in for you, but they can never see your list, what you've tucked away, or anything else that's yours. You can remove them at any time, and every task landing this way still waits in your Inbox for your own Accept or Dismiss, same as anything else.

Related things, grouped on their own

Threads quietly groups tasks that clearly belong together — a run of errands, several things about the same project — once there's genuinely enough there to be sure. Never a guess, just a bit of the tidying you'd otherwise have to do yourself.

Momentum, not a scoreboard

Once in a while it's worth seeing that you are getting things done — not as a test, just as a fact. Momentum shows today against yesterday, this week against last, no judgment either way. If a task doesn't belong in the count, mark it "don't track" and it stays invisible to the numbers.

A couple of smaller things worth knowing: connect Google Calendar and Nudge can put tasks straight onto it (your choice, on or off per task) and Reminders onto it automatically; the mobile app has its own Calendar view for browsing or searching what's already on there; and anyone using Nudge can suggest and vote on ideas for what gets built next on the Wishlist.

The terms, if you want them

Inbox
Things waiting for your yes or no.
Offload
A place to just talk — no task, no deadline, until you decide otherwise.
Reminder
A quick, quiet nudge that isn't a task — no accept, no clear, just fades away or repeats.
Nudges
Your one list, soonest first — overdue at the top, today under it, undated at the bottom.
Topic
What a nudge is about — a person, a company, a project. Nudge usually works it out for you.
Snooze
Moves a nudge to a later day. It doesn't hide it — it just sits further down the list.
Tucked away
Set aside indefinitely, no pressure.
Nailed it
Actually finished — the warm version of "Completed."
Cleared
Off your plate without claiming you finished it — changed your mind, or it stopped mattering.
Momentum
A quiet look at what you're getting done.
Priority
Your own label, with its own reminder schedule attached.
Assistant
A per-task chat that can suggest edits — it never changes anything without you saying yes.
Circle of Trust
People who can send things into your inbox — never the other way round.
Threads
Tasks grouped together once the system is genuinely sure why.
Wishlist
Where anyone using Nudge can suggest and vote on what gets built next.

Why it's built this way

Because "just make a to-do list" doesn't work for everyone. Because forgetting something isn't a character flaw. Because sometimes the kindest thing a task list can do is disappear until you're ready to look at it again.

Nudge is built to be lived with, not managed. There's no streak to protect and no red badge counting your failures. If something needs your attention, it'll be there. If it doesn't, it'll wait.