Show HN: Godspeed is a fast, 100% keyboard oriented todo app for Mac

[DanielDe]

Hi everybody, today I'm launching version 1.0 of Godspeed, a todo manager built with two priorities in mind: speed and 100% keyboard orientation. Every action in Godspeed can be done from your keyboard and will respond instantly. It's like Superhuman for your todo list.

Godspeed has everything you expect in a todo manager like shared lists, labels, smart lists, boolean search operators, and cloud sync. If you're already a user of an app like Todoist or OmniFocus you should be able find everything you need in Godspeed.

I think the most appealing thing to most HN users would be the keyboard orientation. Literally every single action in Godspeed is doable from your keyboard. I'm so serious about this that I built "hardcore mode" to completely disable the mouse - this both helps you break the habit of reaching for your mouse, and keeps us honest about 100% hotkey support.

You can fully customize the hotkeys, but if you're into Vim or Emacs you'll feel right at home by default.

We've got a 2 week free trial with no limitations, and then offer subscription or one-time purchase options.

Thanks for checking out Godspeed, I'd love to hear your feedback!

https://godspeedapp.com/

[kareemm]

Love it. I've been increasingly dissatisfied with Things.

Specific things I'm looking for in a Todo manager:

1. iPhone <=> Mac apps and syncing

2. Hotkeys + Speed

3. Shared lists (you don't even mention this until I get into Guides, but I love it)

4. Smart lists

5. Nesting

6. Pasting images

7. Projects + subtasks

8. An inbox

9. Snoozing to the future

10. Focus mode (gets rid of everything else EXCEPT for the current task... really nice as a reminder when I start a task, hop into a meeting, and flip back to the todo list to see what I'm meant to be working on and it's staring me in the face vs. seeing a long list of items). Don't think you support this - first saw it in Amazing Marvin.

Concerns:

1. How painful will it be to import from Things?

2. What if the app goes away? I don't want to lose my stuff or switch again, it's a pain. How big is your company? Are you a going concern with real customers or is this a side project that will fall by the wayside?

3. I do love not paying a subscription for Things. I like the $150 one-off fee for 18m. Would consider that.

Regardless, going to play with it today. Seems very promising!

[monooso]

I'm curious how this is better than (or even significantly different to) Todoist [1], a well-established cross platform application which also supports natural language task creation [2] and a keyboard-driven workflow [3].

[1]: https://todoist.com/ [2]: https://todoist.com/features [3]: https://todoist.com/help/articles/use-keyboard-shortcuts-in-...

[2bitlobster]

What's the file format? I hope the best for your app, but I hope I can still use those files if something happens to the company. I converted to .txt files 10 years ago for everything todo, but wouldn't mind a specialized utility for it!

[DanielDe]

We use a proprietary sync engine, so there isn't some known file format you can edit. I totally understand your objection to this!

We do, however, store the data locally in a sqlite database (~/Library/Godspeed/godspeed-db.sqlite). You shouldn't directly edit it or things won't sync properly, but you can use it to easily read your tasks if you'd like!

[TehShrike]

I'm curious as well – if there was a SQLite file somewhere that I could read from to hook up e.g. an Alfred plugin or whatever, that would be valuable.

[niels_bom]

If I have todo items that are 10 years old it’s a sign I don’t really care about them.

For (PKM) notes it’s a whole different story.

[leokennis]

I will be unable to leave the stock iOS Reminders app:

- I do a lot of my tasks away from my desk, so when I have my phone with me but not my laptop - A todo item without a reminder/due date is “dead” to me, it’s the reminder to actually do the thing that adds the value

The stock Reminders app is the only app on iOS I know of that can keep persistent notifications on the Lock Screen, even after locking and then unlocking the phone. A reminder will stay on the Lock Screen as notification until marked as complete.

Any other todo app can give me a one time notification. But if I don’t act on it, the notification is gone (or hidden below the fold at best) and unless I open the app, the todo item is again “dead” to me.

This is definitely Apple allowing its own apps access to features closed off for others, but this unique capability is what will keep me on the stock Reminders app forever.

[sleight42]

Couldn't reminder apps implement "nagging" such that dismissed notifications are re-notified until some action is taken?

Agreed, this is Apple taking advantage of private APIs in much the same way that got Microsoft in so much hot water in the late 90s/early 00s.

[rahilb]

I too had this problem so I developed an app that integrates Reminders and Obsidian to solve it; I create all my notes & tasks in Obsidian and my app syncs them to Reminders.app so you get the best of both worlds :)

HN submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39764919

[kstrauser]

Coming from an OmniFocus user:

How do I script it? OF's automation is a must-have, as that's how I integrate it with my other apps. Extensive Shortcuts support (ala Things) is a minimum. AppleScript or JavaScript is better.

I won't use a to-do app without a start date. Don't remind me to renew my driver's license 3 years in advance. I don't even want to see that. Everything that's due far in the future that I couldn't be working on today even if I wanted to is just a distraction.

I can't deep link directly to an item. That means I can't use it with things like Hookmark, or have a note in another app that links back to its related project.

I can't legally use it without end-to-end encryption. That's a deal breaker for anyone in a regulated industry, and I don't want to have one to-do app for work and another for personal stuff.

This looks really cool! Each one of the above items would keep it out of the running for me, though.

[DanielDe]

> How do I script it?

We don't have a story for this yet, but we will. And I strongly agree about JavaScript. In fact, an idea I really like is making that API available directly in the developer console, which we have available anyway because we're an Electron app!

> I won't use a to-do app without a start date.

We've gotten this request before and its on our list! I also really liked this feature of OmniFocus.

> I can't deep link directly to an item

This is coming soon too, I find myself wanting it all the time.

> I can't legally use it without end-to-end encryption.

Totally understandable. Once again, this is on our list, and has been hotly requested.

I SUPER appreciate this feedback. Always valuable to hear about the blockers, and you can bet I'll follow up with you when we've addressed them all!

[lelandfe]

Without meaning disrespect towards your particular workflow (in fact - much respect), I personally view automation support as a pretty low priority for a new app's roadmap. AppleScript support arrived in Things in 1.1, for instance.

[rkwz]

> How do I script it? OF's automation is a must-have, as that's how I integrate it with my other apps. Extensive Shortcuts support (ala Things) is a minimum. AppleScript or JavaScript is better.

What's the usecase for scripting in todo apps? Are you using it like some kind of "cron job"?

[jamil7]

Great work! Keyboard wise, it works really well. I found the onboarding panel persisting there the whole time kind of annoying. I wanted to dismiss it but could only minimise it. It sort of forces you to go through every feature upfront, rather than progressively disclosing features to you.

Nitpicks, but some of the ways in which it doesn't behave like a mac app I don't like. I don't like the non-native looking font. The sidebar isn't collapsible or resizable like a mac app, but I guess you could add an editor-style shortcut to toggle that. If you have a mouse plugged in you get scroll bars everywhere. It seems to maintain its own undo/redo stack? The shortcuts for undo/redo work but the menu commands for them won't.

Edit: typos

[DanielDe]

Ah you can actually dismiss the onboarding panel from the command palette, sorry that wasn't more obvious!

The sidebars can be collapsed with ⌘+; and ⌘+', though we also intend to make them fully resizable soon too!

You're right about the undo/redo stack, we need to improve its integration with the system so those work properly.

Thanks so much for this feedback! Keep it coming!

[mrinterweb]

This looks great and I appreciate the demo period and the option to buy one-time. Do wish the buy one-time had a longer update length. The subscription looks like the better deal. The $149 / 18 months is $8.28/month. Guess the upside is you get to keep using the app without updates after the 18 months. I have subscription fatigue so I do appreciate the one-time purchase.

[booi]

Ok but are we overlooking the $150 for a todo app? There are entire suites of software that cost less than $150 to own. Microsoft Office Home, Windows 11, Photoshop Elements 2024, Premiere Elements 2024...

I'm just saying I think the buy to own price is an order of magnitude too high relative to other significantly more complicated pieces of software.

[pjerem]

OP could offer the same thing as JetBrains does : for X months of continuous subscription (here 18), you get a lifetime license for the current version. It satisfies both the customers who wants one time purchase but as a developper you still get your ARR.

[smcleod]

Yeah $110AUD/year is more than twice what I'd expect to pay.

[dijit]

Looks extremely nice. One thing that I’ve had serious difficulty with though is keeping my Jira/Asana and Google Tasks all linked up somehow.

I guess it’s a non-goal, but do you envision a future where you would integrate with those solutions? Of course any integration would hopefully sync lazily in the background instead of blocking the render…

[blowski]

My local, private todo list serves a different purpose to Jira. Keeping the two in sync is manual but not difficult.

Every morning I have a routine of selecting my tasks from Jira. During the day, I just try to keep Jira up-to-date. And then at the end of the day, I ensure Jira is up-to-date with my progress.

I've tried multiple times to automate them, but the automation ends up with more costs than benefits.

[kareemm]

Boy would I love an task manager to respect the fact that work happens in other tools, and provide a centralized layer on top of the tools I integrate with.

[smcleod]

Looks nice, then I saw the price… wow - that’s a lot of money for a subscription for a single tool.

[tailspin2019]

It’s quite similar to Omnifocus’ pricing FWIW

[Fnoord]

I'd love this for Nextcloud, having it sync to there, in an openly documented format. You see, I already got burned by Google Keep and their proprietary format once. So then it'd be worth it to buy an application like this with a good UI and decent keybindings. But not for this price... 150 USD for 1,5 years of software updates.

Look at Sublime Text. Sublime Text 3 was released in 2013, and Sublime Text 4 in 2021. That is approx 8 years of software updates for a big piece of software, top of line. For what was it like 100 USD? If you bought it later in the dev cycle, you'd get a discount on next. And it is cross-platform and native (no Electron). So you really are looking at 1 USD per month. A bargain.

I've been looking at Obsidian and Zettlr (not exactly same) but these too are just Electron apps. Although they seem to be cross-platform, and the document format is just MD. Zettlr is even FOSS.

What Nextcloud doesn't have (for me at least) is that the MD files can be edited and viewed by me and my wife at the same time. So with regards to one use case (grocery store shopping list) that is a minus. On Google Keep it worked, sort of.

Maybe if you have a high income this is peanuts to you, but for me, it just isn't. Especially not right now.

[replete]

We already have CalDAV, but few implement it. I prefer using a caldav server (e.g. email host) because if you have a life in task items, and your software is proprietary and they don't care about import/export - it sucks. 2Do or OmniFocus, not seen anything better yet. I tried for ages to make tasks work in Obsidian, all the plugins, dataview setup - it just felt clumsy and kludgey to work with, so I gave up and let obsidian do what its good at, notes and templates

[thornjm]

Not sure if you already have this but something you could steal from the medical world is shortcuts to describe relative dates / time:

n+60 (is now + 60m)

n-10 (is 10m ago)

t+1 (is today + 1d)

w+2 (is two weeks from now)

m+12 (is 12 months from now)

[syvl]

Our date picker already supports similar queries: 60m, 1d, 2w, 12mon. You can even combine them, like `2w+3d`.

(I skipped n-10 because it doesn't support picking dates in the past.)

Thanks for sharing, it's interesting to learn about the medical shorthand regardless :)

[blipmusic]

Wouldn't a "month" risk being many days off the intended target date, since it's a non-fixed timespan? E.g. how many days is "1 month from today" (March 20)? You mention medicine, so I assume there's something obvious I'm missing (then again, perhaps the constantly shifting dates for health care appointments where I live say otherwise ;D).

[pgt]

Consider making an Obsidian[^1] plugin, or writing to Obsidian-compatible Markdown files :)

I use Obsidian + Rollover Todos[^2] plugin with Cmd+Enter set to cycle through checkbox states for todos.

[^1]: https://obsidian.md/

[^2]: https://github.com/lumoe/obsidian-rollover-daily-todos

[replete]

This could be good, however it would need an amazing panel UI to do GUI management - text only isn't quite enough IMO.

I tried hard to make task management in Obsidian a thing, and gave up, it just isn't good at it. Tasks, Checklists, all way too clumsy to rely on every day, at least for me

[paradite]

Sadly I use Macbook with Android.

[syvl]

Android, Windows, and a web version are on the roadmap! If you'd like, you can drop your email address at the bottom of the page and we'll let you know when they're available. (We won't spam you with small product updates / marketing, just the major updates like a new platform.)

[ahstilde]

same! We're pretty rare.

[ricardobeat]

This looks amazing, but oh do I miss the days where small productivity apps cost $9.99 for a perpetual license. Maybe $29 tops for something more feature-packed.

[subpixel]

I'm interested but I have recently learned that making lists is easy, playing with lists is fun, but actually scheduling work on my calendar is the only thing that gets it done.

[James_K]

Am I the only one who feels a sort of tension between the silicon-valley-chic of this website and the simplicity of the software being presented? It seems to just be a list of things with some slight structure added. The big selling-point is responsive UI, but I feel that should be the minimum we expect from software. I personally prefer a pen an paper for this kind of thing. I guess this is primarily for collaborative use, but I'm not seeing much on the site about how good it works as a ticketing system. Perhaps some testimonials from organisations/teams that have used it would be a better thing to lead with than a strange technical statement which most users won't understand. I'm a fairly technical sort of guy myself and I don't exactly know off the top of my head what 50ms latency feels like or how it compares to other note taking software.

[syvl]

> The big selling-point is responsive UI, but I feel that should be the minimum we expect from software.

Agreed! That's a big part of what motivated us to build Godspeed.

> Perhaps some testimonials from organisations/teams that have used it would be a better thing to lead with than a strange technical statement which most users won't understand. I'm a fairly technical sort of guy myself and I don't exactly know off the top of my head what 50ms latency feels like or how it compares to other note taking software.

Appreciate that feedback! Today is our 1.0 launch, we'll definitely add some testimonials in the coming weeks.

For what it's worth, a response time of 100ms is perceived as instantaneous [0].

[0] https://www.pubnub.com/blog/how-fast-is-realtime-human-perce...

[replete]

I signed up to over 20 todo apps yesterday, and it was miserable how clumsy UI is. If you're using task management to run your life, you are dealing with tasks hundreds of times a day and it needs to be flippin' quick and versatile enough that you can actually achieve a workflow - GTD is an excellent benchmark here. Oh and all these apps don't have start date, many of them don't even have the ability to star.

Not hosting my own data is a dealbreaker though unfortunately, so I stick with 2Do which I think is massively under-rated and has brilliant sync options. 2Do is a one man band and I'm worried we might not see another version. Making smart lists based on tags, due dates, starred, and then being able to make multiple smartphone widgets for multiple lists is not something I've seen anywhere done anywhere near as good.

Godspeed OP, this looks like a great first release and hope you make it work.

[lifeisstillgood]

I am currently rethinking my awful home organisation

A dropbox folder for each “case”/“project”.

A dropbox folder for each outside compmay

A password manager

Some gaffing with scripting to tie it together

I think pythonista ought to be part of it too

Edit: @DanielDe - apologies for that brain dump.

You built an app and launched it - fantastic. Honestly That’s an achievement most of us on HN cannot even claim. - my honest congratulations

I hope you find a niche and make 10,000 true fans happy.

I would love to hear your views on how to stay organised in life (or rather, how shall I put this, I don’t see organised as a pre-active thing but a post-active thing. It’s like project management - it supposed to remind you of the important things, to follow you around and capture the right information (#) not control or constrain your actions.)

Anyhow - congrats. Break a leg :-)

(#) the most obvious is monitor my communications - like capture my phone calls and keep that alongside the name of the contact in my phone list. But because iOS no-one can do that. I get it but also I don’t.

Anyhow I think I want a unicorn.

[DanielDe]

I have no problem with a brain dump :)

Really appreciate the kind words! Indeed, actually launching is hard. Like everyone, I've got a big pile of abandoned side projects sitting in a folder somewhere.

I think we're pretty aligned on staying organized. For me, the most important bit is "capture". I need to be able to get tasks out of my head and into a task tracker from as many places as possible. Then later I can triage them.

Godspeed attempts to help with this by offering a global hotkey for quick entry, and an iOS app with Siri and shortcuts support. We also intend to add "log a task by email" soon.

[smoldesu]

I remember Projectpad being really close to what I wanted in this regard: https://github.com/emmanueltouzery/projectpad2/

Shame it appears to be abandoned.

[devrob]

u/lifeisstillgood look into "Building a Second Brain" and Tiago's PARA method, could help?

[KingGeedorah]

> However, 18 months after a one-time purchase, you'll no longer get access to new or updated features.

Is this normal for SaaS?

[1123581321]

It's increasingly common. This particular one is a bit of a headscratcher since typically pay-once-for-an-update period is presented as a de facto subscription, but this also has a subscription.

In this case, you'd pay $150 for an 18-month window of updates, or $144 for two years of updates (or, if you like, $72*1.5 for the same 18-month window, assuming you're going to pay another $150 at month 19 for something interesting.)

Contrast that with Agenda, which is $35 to buy with 12 month of updates, or about $100 for a life-time of updates. The tradeoff is more straightforward as you're just deciding whether to bet on more than three years of features.

Or contrast with OmniFocus which is $150 for the major version, which typically is on a 4-5 year cicle, or $5/mo. In that case you're just betting that you'll use the current major version more than 2.5 years.

(I'm ignoring cashflow discount; you get the idea.)

(The app itself is fun and fast to use, and I'm not complaining or demanding special treatment. I'm just interested in how these things are priced.)

[jarrettcoggin]

I've seen this a handful of times with libraries and other software. Typically, it's a year of updates, so 18 months is on the more generous side of things with this model.

[input_sh]

It's definitely more popular on MacOS than elsewhere.

[chr-s]

I wonder what kind of pain is involved with maintaining every new feature release with bug and compatibility fixes forever*.

[zharknado]

Congrats on the launch! Some weird, random feedback—-I found the background music in your demo video surprisingly distracting! That probably seems petty but for me it was the strongest impression from interacting with your post.

The super bubbly chime vibe didn’t match my expectations for your brand based on the copy, value prop, fact that you’re posting on HN, etc. Reminded me a bit of the flat, corporate videos I’ve seen from B2B orgs, like “look, our tool is compliant and exciting, really!” (Just the music, overall it’s fine).

Music also doesn’t match the low, quiet LockpickingLawyer-esque voiceover. Which I thought was fine, seemed sincere, scrappy, matches the brand.

I’d experiment with different royalty-free music options, and maybe lower the level a bit more and/or boost the voiceover to make it easier to understand. Hope this is helpful!

[DanielDe]

SUPER helpful, thank you! Honestly, I was pretty torn about the music choice, so it's good to hear this feedback. Will definitely consider a change in the future.

And good to know I sound "sincere". That'd be at the top of my list for how I'd like to come off!