Tasks and subtasks

- [/] Homepage design [Stage:: Design] [Budget:: 400] [est:: 6h] ⏫ 📅 2026-11-20
  - Two directions so far: warm/rustic and clean/modern
  - ⏱ 2026-11-02 09:15-12:30 (3h15m)
  - [ ] Pick a typeface pair
  - [ ] Mock up the hero section

The first line is the task. The plain bullet is a note, the ⏱ line is logged time, and the indented checkboxes are subtasks. A bare - [ ] task is a complete task too.

• On a board: press ⌘N or click the + on a list. The task joins that board.
• Anywhere else in the app: ⌘N puts it in the Inbox.
• From any app: press ⌥Space for Quick Add.
• From the menu bar: type in the capture field at the foot of the popover.
• On iPhone: tap + ▸ New Task, or + inside a board.

All of these read the same shorthand, described next.

Press ⌥Space in any app, type the task and press Return. Press ⌘Return instead to add it and keep the panel open for the next one. Chips under the field show what nokko understood before anything is written.

#print        a tag, kept in the task's text
!high         priority: !highest !high !medium !low !lowest
@bakehouse    a board, by any part of its name; >bakehouse works too
~2h           an estimate: ~45m ~2h30m
*bug          a type: *bug *feature *idea *meeting
every week    a repeat: every day, every 2 weeks, every month
fri           a due date, at the very end of the line only

So this sentence:

Call the printer #print !high ~30m every week @bakehouse fri

adds this line under ## Tasks in the Bakehouse board:

- [ ] Call the printer #print [est:: 30m] ⏫ 🔁 every week ➕ 2026-11-04 📅 2026-11-06

With no @, the line goes to Inbox.md. ➕ records the day you added it and can never make a task overdue. A task with no typed date gets no due date. Dates, repeats and reminders lists the date words.

Nothing you type is rejected. A dashed chip marks something nokko noticed and could not read, and those words stay in the task's text. An @ word that matches no board stays in the text too, and the task goes to the Inbox.

If ⌥Space does nothing, another app may hold that shortcut. Change it at Settings ▸ General ▸ Quick Add ▸ Shortcut, where a failed shortcut also says why.

Click any task to open the panel. Esc, the ✕ or a click outside closes it. The left side holds the title, notes, Subtasks, Time, Files and, in a shared workspace, Comments.

The right side holds the status control, then People, Dates, Work, Rules, Fields and Project. Click a caption to fold its block. Pin to Next Up sits at the foot.

Select a task and press ⌥⌘N, or click Add Subtask in the panel. nokko adds an indented checkbox line under the parent. The parent shows a count such as 2 of 5, and its chevron folds them away.

A parent is never ticked for its subtasks; only your click does that. A subtask moves with its parent, so Task ▸ Move to Project works on the parent. On iPhone you can see and tick subtasks, and you add them on the Mac.

Each status is a lane on the Board. Drag a card to change it, or press ⌘← and ⌘→. In the panel, click the status control.

For your own stages, choose Edit Statuses… at the foot of that menu to reach the Pipeline section. Each stage belongs to a group: to do, active, done or cancelled. The checkbox keeps the group, and the name goes on the line as [status:: In Design]. A board with no pipeline of its own uses its space's.

An assignee is a label, and a name needs no account. See People and conflicts. Estimates add up in list footers, on cards and in the project header.

Open the waiting task and use Rules ▸ Blocked by ▸ Add…. The menu lists the other top-level tasks on the same board. nokko gives the blocker a 🆔 and adds ⛔ with that id to the blocked task, and the Timeline draws the arrow.

A dependency is a marker. nokko shows it and does not stop you completing the blocked task.

Add a note… in the panel writes an indented bullet under the task. The iPhone can add notes too.

Attach a file… in Files stores a path as [files:: Briefs/logo.pdf]. The file itself is not copied, and it must be inside the workspace. A file outside it, or a path with a comma or bracket, is refused with a notice.

• Complete: press Space or click the circle. nokko writes [x] and ✅ with today's date. On iPhone, swipe right.
• Cancel: pick Cancelled in the status control. nokko writes [-] and ❌ with today's date. A board with its own pipeline offers this only if one of its stages is in the cancelled group.
• Delete: Task ▸ Delete Task (⌘⌫) removes the line.
• See finished tasks in place: tick Finished on a List. On a Board, it shows the Cancelled lane.
• See what got done: View ▸ Completed Log… (⇧⌘L) opens a window of completed tasks by day.

The Completed Log covers the last 14 days, and Show More reaches back as far as 90. It lists tasks with a ✅ date, so cancelled tasks are not in it.

⌘Z takes back your last 64 edits, one step at a time. The history clears when you switch workspace or quit nokko. On iPhone, tap Undo on the banner or shake the phone.

If a task's line changed in another editor since the edit, the undo stops with a notice and leaves the file alone. Nothing is overwritten.

For older mistakes, use File ▸ Restore a File from a Snapshot…. The Mac keeps a daily copy of your Markdown for 14 days, and the replaced file goes to the Trash.