Ask HN: What Process/Applications Do You Use for Todo/Knowledge Management?

Like many of you, I have spent more time trying out different applications in the todo list/knowledge management space without finding a solution that has stuck. I've tried aggressive calendar scheduling, todo.txt, Vikunja, a paper planner, Logseq, Notion, and likely others along the way! I now have the suspicion that the issue I'm having isn't the tooling, but the process. The solution I've stuck with the longest has been Vikunja, but I felt limited by it as it is strictly a todo application, and doesn't support any form of knowledge management (by design, which makes sense!)

So I'm wondering, what processes do people follow for their todo list management and knowledge management? What resources have you learned how to use your applications of choice?

My requirements (in rough priority order):

- Mobile + Desktop support (PWA, web UI, native application, all fine!)

- Searchable

- Allows me to keep track of todos with priority ordering and sublists

- Allows me to easily capture one-off ideas, as well as expand them into richer, more detailed concepts

- FOSS + Self-Hostable

The issues I've faced with previous solutions are:

- No integration between my todos and knowledge!

- Not being able to search

- Not being able to quickly capture ideas/notes/todos

- Not having a clean(-ish) UX to navigate between points of info/see what my next priorities are

11 points | by conor_f 7 days ago

12 comments

  • ciaovietnam 5 days ago
    What kind of integration between your todos and knowledge? If you haven't found one, how about building your own todo app that fits your needs. I have a demo here https://community.sitegui.com/blog/creating-the-first-applic...
  • anh690136 4 days ago
    Struggling with info all over the place as well I'm using AI to search for info in my notes at https://saner.ai/ Eating my own dog food here lol but it works Preparing to add todo list into the app as well
    [-]
    • coldtrait 3 days ago
      Any desktop or mobile app in your roadmap?
  • maxbrydak 4 days ago
    Most recently Obsidian with PARA method.

    Obsidian isn't open source unfortunately, but I'd guess you could achieve a very similar setup with logseq.

    I'm planning on migrating to org-roam though

  • dannymi 6 days ago
    I use emacs org mode (and emacs org node and emacs org agenda), and Orgzly Revived on Android (the latter can do DAV sync). It's quite nice and can do integration, search and quick capture, TODOs. It's also endlessly customizable--but I almost don't customize it.
  • gdjskslsuhkso 5 days ago
    Zim - Wysiwyg for markdown files

    https://zim-wiki.org/

    My only complaints are that it uses .txt instead of .md and that I haven't been able to get it to work on Mac.

  • scarface_74 6 days ago
    Trello: I could care less about open source or self hostable. It’s a tool

    There is a Mac, Windows, Web, iOS, and Android app. Simple Kanban board like interface and I can add comments and descriptions in markdown for each entry.

  • sky2224 6 days ago
    Obsidian sounds exactly like what you're looking for. It's not a todo app out of the box, but community extensions can easily adapt it to fit your needs.
  • x11antiek 6 days ago
    Not FOSS, but check out Craft https://www.craft.do/
  • ale_jacques 6 days ago
    I'm using NotePlan (https://noteplan.co) and loving it.

    It's a macOS/iOS app (there's a somewhat limited Web version). IMO, the best balance between PKM and task manager/calendar management.

    I've also tried Amplenote (https://amplenote.com) that has some of the features you want but the tagging concept lost me.

  • conception 6 days ago
    I think there are some Workflowy clones that are OSS but I like the original.
  • java-man 7 days ago
    Standard Notes.
  • fullstackwife 6 days ago
    Excel / Google Spreadsheets?