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Slate, a to-do list shaped like your week, not an endless backlog

Slate, a to-do list shaped like your week, not an endless backlog

by al3xandre·Jul 22, 2026·1 point·0 comments

AI Analysis

●●SolidCozySolve My Problem

Syncs drag-and-drop without race conditions using optimistic concurrency.

Strengths
  • Optimistic concurrency handling prevents sync conflicts during drag-and-drop.
  • No account wall lets users test the core workflow immediately.
  • Keyboard-first navigation matches the speed of thought.
Weaknesses
  • Another productivity app in a market saturated with Notion and Todoist clones.
  • AI features locked behind paywall limits the 'try before you buy' appeal.
Category
Target Audience

Individuals overwhelmed by infinite to-do lists

Similar To

Todoist · TickTick · Things 3

Post Description

Slate is a task planner that sits between a calendar and a to-do list. Tasks go on the day you actually plan to do them, no fake time blocks required, and anything not ready for a specific day yet sits in a separate backlog instead of cluttering the week.

Easy to try: no sign-up wall to poke around (though more advanced AI features would not be accessible)

I made this because I never trusted either extreme. A calendar makes you fake commit to a time slot... A to-do list takes anything with no judgment about what belongs this week, so it just grows forever.

Some of the harder parts to get right:

1- Sync + drag&drop: Drag and drop needed to feel instant, but everything also syncs live across devices through AppSync/DynamoDB with optimistic concurrency: Getting those two to not fight each other (a drag mid-flight racing a subscription echoing your own write back at you) took a few rewrites... crazy how those simple things can be so hard to get right.

2- UI: keeping the UI minimalist and nice on mobile after building this first for desktop.

I'm still down in the mine adding features nobody asked for (voice-to-task, add-task-through-whatsapp,...): please come be my first users so I have a reason to climb out, stop building and start talking to people instead

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