Know what’s next without reading your whole list.
Get it off your mind.It’ll come back when it matters.
The five that matter right now, and the reason each one is there.
TaskBeacon runs in a desktop browser. It isn’t built for a phone screen yet.
A TaskBeacon phone app is planned. Want an email when it’s ready?
One email when it launches, nothing else. We won’t share your address.Privacy policy
TaskBeaconYour tasks are yours.
No account or sign-up needed. Your tasks live in this browser or in a file you own on your own disk. Export everything as one plain JSON file any time, and nothing is sent anywhere unless you choose to send an error report.
No black box.
Every score on the Dashboard says what’s pushing it: the task’s own impact, its project’s, or a task that’s waiting on it. It’s a formula, not AI, and the reasons are one hover away.
You never rank your whole list.
A task only has to matter more than the others in the same project. Answer that, and the app works out where it lands among everything else. It doesn’t need a due date to surface.
Your list got too big to read. So you started working around it.
If you’ve built a real system, with projects, priorities and dependencies, you’ve probably built a second one next to it.
- You work from memory, because reading the whole list takes longer than guessing.
- The small stuff never makes it onto the list, so it lives in your head instead.
- You’ve given a task a due date it doesn’t have, just to keep it near the top.
- Your “today” list is a sticky note, and it’s out of date by ten.
That isn’t a focus problem. Your tools never failed at holding your work. They failed at giving it back, so the finding fell to you. TaskBeacon does the finding. You still do the deciding, but from five tasks instead of two hundred. The aim is that you stop needing a second system to protect you from the first.
Why this happens, and how to fix it with or without TaskBeaconA ranking that shows its reasons.
Every open task gets a score. Most of it comes from where the task lives: a project’s importance carries down to everything inside it, and the task’s own impact adjusts it from there. Due dates add pressure as they get close. Tasks that are blocked, or can’t start yet, stay off the Dashboard until they can.
- 0.91Own impactScore 0.91 — own impact VitalApprove the print vendor quoteThe task’s own impact is doing most of the pushing.
- 0.67Parent impactScore 0.67 — parent impactChoose the cabinet handlesIt lives in a project that matters more than the task does on its own.
- 0.80BlockingScore 0.80 — borrowed from Send the co-marketing deck to partners — this task is blocking itScore inherited from Send the co-marketing deck to partnersScore inherited from Send the co-marketing deck to partnersDraft the partner brief for SeptemberSomething important is waiting on it, so it borrows that task’s weight. The outline marks a borrowed score.
- 11.18OverdueScore 11.18 — 2 days late, parent impactFile Q2 expensesA date is the reason it’s here. Once a task is due, it outranks everything that isn’t.
The Dashboard is the top of that ranking, five or ten tasks, your choice. Five tasks is a list you can read before your coffee cools. You decide from five, not from two hundred.
When the order looks wrong, you fix it once, at the source. Lower a project’s impact and everything under it steps back, immediately. The correction lives in the system instead of in your head. Fix the impact, not the date.
From nothing to a Dashboard in three steps.
- 01
Import the starter tasks.
A short set of lessons walks you through it, one at a time, on a card in the corner, and you can delete them whenever you like. About 80 example tasks show what the Dashboard does with a list too long to read: point it at the Examples filter and it sorts the lot instantly.
Download starter-tasks.json - 02
Add your own.
Projects, impact, blockers, dates. As much structure as you already have, or as little as you want to start with.
- 03
Work from the Dashboard.
It recomputes in the background as the day goes on and things get done, so the order is current whenever you look. You don’t re-sort anything.
Built for people who already have a system.
TaskBeaconThe Dashboard
The top of the ranking, five or ten tasks. Blocked and not-yet-startable work is filtered out before anything is sorted. Point it at a saved filter to see only work, or only home.
Hierarchy
Domains, projects and tasks are the same thing at different depths, nested as deep as you need. A project’s importance reaches everything inside it.
Blocking
Say that one task can’t start until another is done. The waiting task leaves the Dashboard, and the one in its way picks up its weight.
File-backed storage
Connect a file on your disk and TaskBeacon saves to it as you work. It’s plain JSON, so you can back it up, version it, or read it. There’s no cloud account behind it. It works in Chrome, Edge, Brave and Arc, not in Safari or Firefox. Brave needs the feature switched on.
Keyboard-first
Move, open, complete and create without reaching for the mouse. Press ? in the app for every shortcut.
Before you open it.
Is it really free?
Yes. The app is free, and the app you use today stays free. We plan to add a mobile app, also free, and paid sync for keeping your tasks on more than one device.
Do I need an account?
No. Open it and start. There’s nothing to sign up for and nothing to install. If we add sync later, an account will be needed only for that; TaskBeacon on your own computer will always work without one.
Where are my tasks stored?
On your computer. By default they live in your browser. If you connect a file, they’re saved to that file, in a folder you choose, where you can back it up like any other document. Nothing about your tasks is sent anywhere unless you choose to send an error report, and you decide what goes in it. TaskBeacon is designed for one device. If you keep your file in a synced folder like iCloud or Dropbox, other devices can open it too, and TaskBeacon checks before every save so nothing is overwritten, but syncing this way isn’t officially supported. If we add sync, it will be optional, and encrypted so only you can read your tasks.
Does TaskBeacon use AI to rank my tasks?
No. It ranks them using the impact ratings, dates and blockers you give it, and you can see exactly why each task is where it is. Nothing reads your tasks to decide for you.
Will TaskBeacon make me work on the weekend?
No. You choose what you’re looking at. By default, the Dashboard ranks everything across your whole life, but you can pick a filter, like one that leaves out work, and see what matters most outside it, for a hobby, a side project or the house.
And when it does show something you’d rather not do right now, that’s still useful: you can see what you’d be setting aside, and choose with your eyes open. If its suggestions keep feeling wrong, adjust a task’s impact, its project or its dates, or your filters, and it comes into line and stays that way.
Which browsers does it work in?
TaskBeacon runs in any modern desktop browser. Saving to a file on your computer works in Chrome, Edge, Arc and Brave. In Brave, it needs one setting switched on, and the app shows you how. In Safari and Firefox, your tasks stay in the browser’s own storage, so export a backup regularly.
Why is TaskBeacon a web app?
So every improvement reaches you without installing or updating anything. A new version comes out every week, and the next time you open TaskBeacon, you have it. A downloadable desktop app is planned too, for when you’d rather it had a place of its own on your computer. Either way, your tasks stay on your computer.
Why does my browser ask for permission to use a file?
When you connect a file, your browser asks whether TaskBeacon may read it and save changes to it. That’s what keeps your tasks in a file you control. TaskBeacon can only reach the one file you choose, nothing else on your computer. If you said no by mistake, click the icon to the left of the address bar and switch on File editing. Your browser may ask again after it restarts. To stop that in Chrome, click the same icon, open File editing, and tick Allow on every visit.
Is my data safe if I keep it in the browser?
Mostly, but a browser can delete what it stores. Clearing your browser data removes your tasks, and Safari clears a site’s data once you’ve gone seven days of using Safari without opening it, on a Mac, iPhone or iPad. To make sure you don’t lose them:
- On a computer, use Chrome, Edge, Brave or Arc and connect a file, so your tasks live in a file you keep. Clearing the browser doesn’t touch it.
- On an iPhone or iPad, add TaskBeacon to your Home Screen, which Safari doesn’t clear. Your tasks don’t move across by themselves, so download a backup in Safari first, then restore it there.
- Wherever you use it, download a backup from Settings now and then.
Can I use it on my phone, or on more than one computer?
Not yet. TaskBeacon opens in a phone browser, but it isn’t designed for small screens, so use it on a computer with a keyboard. Your tasks stay on the computer you use. A mobile app, a downloadable desktop app and sync are planned.
How do I get help or send feedback?
Email feedback@taskbeacon.net. If something goes wrong in the app, you can also send an error report from inside it. You choose what to include, and nothing is sent until you press Send.
Spend the day on what matters, not on working out what matters.
I’m a project manager, and I run everything on TaskBeacon: work, home, and building TaskBeacon itself.The app is free, and stays free. A free mobile app, and paid sync for more than one device, are planned.
TaskBeacon runs in a desktop browser. Send yourself the link for later.
Free. No account needed. Minutes to your top five.The app is free, and stays free. A free mobile app, and paid sync for more than one device, are planned.