GTD with AgenToDo

Getting Things Done is a productivity method by David Allen. The idea is simple: get everything out of your head and into a system you trust. AgenToDo was built for exactly that.

GTD has five steps. AgenToDo handles all of them — and for most, you don't need to think about the system at all.

1. Capture

Get it out of your head. All of it.

The first rule of GTD: your brain is for having ideas, not holding them. Every thought, task, reminder, or half-formed plan needs to land somewhere external — fast.

How AgenToDo does it

• Quick Entry — a global keyboard shortcut opens a floating window from any app. Type your thought, hit Return. Done in under two seconds.
• Multi-entry mode — press Shift+Return to keep adding. Brain dump without friction.
• Voice input — tap the mic and speak. Your words become tasks instantly. All processing stays on your device.
• Smart parsing — type Call dentist tomorrow at 3pm #health and AgenToDo fills in the date, time, and tag automatically.
• CLI quick add — from the terminal: agentodo quickadd "Buy milk due:tomorrow #errands"
• Share from any app — forward an email, share a link from Safari, select text and share. It becomes a task in your Inbox instantly.

Everything you capture lands in the Inbox — a single holding area. No decisions required at capture time. Just get it down.

2. Clarify

What is this, actually? What's the next action?

Capturing is easy. The real work is deciding what each item means. GTD calls this "processing" — going through your inbox, one item at a time, and asking: Is this actionable? What's the very next step?

How AgenToDo does it

• 📥 Inbox perspective — all unclarified items in one place. Nothing hides, nothing gets lost.
• AI triage — tell AgenToDo to "sort my inbox" and it suggests projects, tags, dates, and priorities for each item. You review the suggestions, approve or tweak, and move on.
• Preview before action — the AI never changes anything without showing you first. Every suggestion is a proposal, not a decision.
• CLI triage — agentodo inbox process walks you through items one by one with single-key commands.

The goal: an empty inbox. Not because you did everything — because you decided about everything.

The GTD decision tree

For each inbox item, ask yourself:

• Not actionable? → Delete it, file it as reference, or add it to a "Someday/Maybe" project.
• Takes less than 2 minutes? → Do it now. Don't even make it a task.
• Someone else should do it? → Delegate it. Move to Waiting On with a person attached.
• Has a specific date? → Set a due date or defer date.
• Multiple steps? → It's a project. Create one, then define the next action.
• Single action? → Assign to a project or leave as a standalone task.

3. Organize

Put things where they belong so you can find them when it matters.

Once you've clarified what something is, it needs a home. GTD uses lists — AgenToDo gives you a structure that maps directly to those lists.

GTD lists → AgenToDo features

Next Actions → Projects (Parallel)

Tasks you can do right now, with no dependencies. In AgenToDo, create a parallel project where all tasks are visible at once. Tag them by context (#calls, #errands, #deep-focus) so you can filter by what you can do right now.

Projects → Projects

Anything requiring more than one step is a project in GTD. AgenToDo projects come in three types:

• Sequential — tasks appear one at a time. Perfect for step-by-step work where order matters.
• Parallel — all tasks visible. Tackle in any order.
• Single-actions — a loose list. No sequence, no end date. Good for ongoing areas like "Home Maintenance."

Waiting For → ⏳ Waiting On perspective

Delegated items live here. Assign a person and AgenToDo tracks who owes you what. Check this list before every meeting.

Repeating Tasks

Some work recurs. AgenToDo supports repeating tasks (daily, weekdays, weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly) and repeating projects. Set the schedule once — Fixed Date or After Completion — and it handles itself.

Someday/Maybe → Ideas

Create a "Someday" project (single-actions type) for ideas you're not committing to yet. Review it weekly.

AgenToDo has a dedicated item kind for this: Ideas. Mark something as an idea (⌥⌘2) and give it a revisit date. It'll surface in your Today view when the time comes — no separate list to maintain.

Calendar → 📅 Calendar perspective

Hard landscape — things that must happen on a specific date or time. AgenToDo reads your system calendars and shows events alongside tasks. Drag tasks onto time slots to block time for them.

Reference → Notes and tags

Not everything is a task. Use task notes for reference material, or tag reference items so you can find them later.

Contexts

GTD uses "contexts" — where or how you can do something. AgenToDo handles this two ways:

• Tags — create tags like #calls, #computer, #errands, #home. Tags nest: #work/deep-focus/writing.
• 📍 Nearby perspective — location-aware tasks surface automatically when you're in the right place. Running errands? See everything tagged for that area.

4. Reflect

Step back. Look at the whole picture. Are you on track?

This is where most productivity systems fall apart — not because the tool fails, but because people skip the review. AgenToDo makes it hard to skip.

The Weekly Review

The single most important habit in GTD. Once a week, sit down and go through your system:

1. Get inbox to zero — clarify everything that's piled up.
2. Review each project — is it still relevant? What's the next action? Is anything stuck?
3. Check Waiting On — anyone owe you something? Time to follow up?
4. Review your calendar — what's coming next week? Any prep needed?
5. Review Someday/Maybe — anything you want to activate? Anything to drop?

How AgenToDo does it

• 👁️ Review perspective — walks through each project one at a time. Is this still relevant? Any next steps? Takes five minutes when your system is maintained.
• AI-guided review — ask AgenToDo to "guide my weekly review" and it walks you through each step, surfacing stale projects, overdue items, and tasks without next actions.
• 📅 Forecast perspective — see what's coming this week, next week, and beyond. Tasks and events together.
• Commitment meter — the Today view tells you if your day is realistic. Stop overcommitting before it's too late.

5. Engage

Do the work. With confidence that you're doing the right thing.

When your system is current, choosing what to do next becomes easy. You're not worried about forgetting something or doing the wrong thing — you can see everything that matters.

How AgenToDo helps you choose

• ⭐ Today perspective — your tasks and calendar, side by side. This is your daily cockpit.
• 🚩 Flagged perspective — the stuff that matters most, across all projects.
• Context filtering — filter by tag to see only what you can do right now. In a meeting? Filter #agenda. At the grocery store? Filter #errands.
• 📍 Nearby — location-aware tasks appear automatically. No filtering needed.
• Command Bar — type what you want in plain language. "Flag all tasks due today" or "move everything from Launch to next week." Seven changes from one sentence.

The four criteria for choosing

GTD says when you're deciding what to do, consider:

1. Context — What can you do here? (Tags + Nearby)
2. Time available — How much time do you have? (Calendar integration)
3. Energy — What's your energy level? (Use tags like #deep-focus vs #low-energy)
4. Priority — What has the highest payoff? (Flags + project priority)

The Full Picture

Here's how every GTD component maps to AgenToDo:

GTD Concept	AgenToDo Feature
Capture	Quick Entry, Voice Input, Share Extension, CLI quickadd, Inbox
Inbox / In-tray	📥 Inbox perspective
Clarify / Process	AI triage, CLI inbox process
Next Actions	Tasks in parallel projects, filtered by context tags
Projects	Projects (sequential, parallel, single-actions)
Waiting For	⏳ Waiting On perspective
Someday / Maybe	Ideas (⌥⌘2) + dedicated project (single-actions type)
Calendar	📅 Calendar perspective + system calendar integration
Contexts (@phone, @office…)	Tags + 📍 Nearby perspective
Weekly Review	👁️ Review perspective + AI-guided review
Reference	Task notes, nested tags
Tickler / Deferred	Defer dates + 📅 Forecast perspective

Why AgenToDo + GTD Works

Most GTD apps make you do the bookkeeping yourself. AgenToDo does two things differently:

1. AI handles the busywork. Triaging your inbox, reorganizing your week, flagging stale projects — the tedious parts of GTD maintenance happen through natural language. You focus on deciding, not dragging and dropping.
2. The app stays free. GTD only works when your system is always with you. AgenToDo is free on Mac, syncs through iCloud, and doesn't lock core features behind a paywall. The AI is optional — powered by Setapp AI+ when you want it.

The best productivity system is the one you actually use. AgenToDo makes GTD effortless enough to stick.