Todo List

An Online Todo List is a task management tool that lives in your browser tab, providing immediate task capture and organisation without the overhead of installing an app, creating an account, or navigating a complex project management system. It uses the browser's localStorage to persist your tasks across sessions, making your list available every time you return to the page on the same device.

The psychology of todo lists

The todo list is one of the most research-backed productivity tools available. The cognitive science behind it is clear: the human working memory (the mental capacity that holds currently active information) can only hold 4–7 items simultaneously. When you have more active tasks than working memory can hold, the brain experiences a phenomenon called cognitive load — the constant, low-level mental effort of trying not to forget things. This background processing reduces focus and increases stress.

Writing tasks down offloads them from working memory to external storage. Once captured, your brain can stop trying to remember them and focus on the current task. This is the fundamental insight behind GTD (Getting Things Done), Zettelkasten, and every task management methodology: externalise to free cognitive resources.

When a simple browser todo list beats a complex app

Notion, Trello, Asana, and Jira are powerful project management tools — and they're completely overkill for personal daily task management. Opening Notion to add a single task means loading a web app, navigating to the right page, and dealing with formatting options. An online notepad-style todo list eliminates all that friction: it's a tab away, and adding a task takes two seconds.

Daily task lists: Writing down today's top 3–5 priorities in the morning and checking them off as the day progresses is a simple, effective personal productivity practice.

Meeting action items: Capturing action items during a meeting in the todo list immediately, before they're forgotten.

Shopping and errand lists: A shared browser tab can serve as a temporary family shopping list when you don't need the full overhead of a dedicated app.

Checklists for recurring processes: Procedures you follow repeatedly (deployment checklist, weekly review) can live as a persistent todo list template that you work through each time.

All tasks are saved in localStorage and remain available across browser sessions on the same device. No account, no server, no data transmitted.