I kept outgrowing to‑do lists, so I built one

I’m Max. I started Tatask because flat lists didn’t fit work that has parts, and the parts have parts. I still make it on my own, and I still use it to plan my own work.

The story

I’d tried most kinds of task app. Lists, starting with Wunderlist, were fine for homework and groceries but not for anything big. Kanban boards looked productive, but moving a card to “doing” didn’t make it any smaller. Calendars were for meetings, and blocking out every hour fell apart the first time the day slipped.

What worked was a big text file of nested lists: a project, broken into areas, broken into tasks, broken into steps small enough to start on. It had been my system since university. It just wasn’t pleasant to use on a phone, and I couldn’t drag things around.

I’d searched for the perfect task management app for years. In the end I gave up and built my own.

That was 2022. The first version took a weekend. People signed up, which surprised me, and paid for it, which surprised me more. Since then Tatask has grown into a web app and apps for iPhone and Android, but the idea hasn’t changed: any task can hold its own list, and you keep breaking things down until the next step is obvious.

I wrote the whole story in Why I built the world’s 6,072,311th task management app.

What I care about

Small enough to start
Every feature I add exists to help you break work down until the next step is obvious. If a feature would add setup before you can write something down, I leave it out.
Calm by default
There are no streaks, points or notifications nagging you back. A to-do list is stressful enough already.
Yours, everywhere, even offline
Your tasks live on every device you use and work without a connection. You can delete your account and everything in it from Settings.
Honest about what it isn’t
Tatask is for one person’s work and life. It doesn’t do teams, calendars or integrations, and I’d rather say so than half-build them.
Paid for by the people who use it
One plan, no ads. Your subscription pays for the servers and for my time to keep improving it.

So far

  1. 2022

    I start Tatask as a weekend project: my text file of nested tasks turned into a small web app, with a landing page and a subscription plan.

  2. 2023

    I write the first blog posts, explaining why a task tree beats a flat list.

  3. 2024

    I move the web app to Svelte 5 and push it live on a Friday night in September.

  4. 2026

    I rebuild the web app and the native mobile apps, both offline-first, sharing one account and one subscription.

The details are in the changelog.

Get in touch

Max Girkins

Founder, designer and developer

Email me at [email protected]. I read and reply to every message myself.

Try the app I built for myself.

If you plan the way I do, in nested lists, you’ll feel at home within a day.

Start free trial

Tatask for iPhone and Android

Point your phone’s camera here. It opens the right store.
Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

30 days free, then $5 a month or $50 a year. Card required to start.