WhatToDo

A small, self-hosted to-do app for one person. It works in a desktop browser and on a phone, and you can install it to your home screen.

• Tasks have an optional plan date (when you'll do it), an optional deadline (when it must be done), and an optional time range (e.g. 10:00–12:00). Each task also has a priority, category, tags, notes, and a checklist of steps.
• Postpone any task from the ⏭ button: today, tomorrow, the weekend, next week, in 2 weeks, next month, or a date you pick. You can move either the plan date or the deadline.
• Unfinished planned tasks roll over: they stay in Today until you do them or postpone them, and they never turn red. Only missed deadlines count as overdue.
• Backlog lists tasks with no date at all. Today suggests a couple of them so they don't get forgotten.
• Projects group the tasks of a bigger goal and have their own deadline, notes and progress bar. Today shows each active project's next step, how much time is left, and a warning if it's falling behind or nothing was done on it in over a week.
• Recurring tasks (every N days/weeks/months/years): completing one creates the next occurrence.
• When you pick a date and time, the task form lists what else is planned that day and warns about overlaps.
• Views: Today, Upcoming, Calendar (day timeline with week strip; tap an hour to add a task there), Backlog, All open, Done, plus one view per project and per category.
• You can rename, recolor, reorder, add, or delete categories in Settings. It starts with Work, Life, Personal, YouTube.
• Export / import of all data as JSON, from Settings.
• Login with a single password.

Stack: Python (FastAPI) + SQLite with a plain HTML/CSS/JS frontend and no build step. Everything runs in Docker.

Run

Requirements: Docker with the Compose plugin. You don't need the source code: only docker-compose.yaml and a .env.

mkdir whattodo && cd whattodo
# copy docker-compose.yaml and .env.example from this repo into this folder
cp .env.example .env          # then edit .env: set APP_PASSWORD and SECRET_KEY
docker compose up -d

Open http://localhost:8080 and log in with APP_PASSWORD.

The database lives in ./data/whattodo.db.

Useful commands:

docker compose logs -f                    # follow logs
docker compose down                       # stop
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d   # update to the newest published version

To pin a version, set WHATTODO_TAG=<commit> in .env (default: latest).

Develop (build from source)

docker-compose.build.yaml builds the image from this checkout. Add this line to your .env so plain docker compose uses it:

COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose.build.yaml

docker compose up -d --build        # build and start
docker compose run --rm test        # run the test suite (in Docker)

Publishing the image

./publish.sh builds the last commit (uncommitted changes are left out) and pushes it to git.goyban.com/goyban/whattodo as :latest and :<commit>. ./publish.sh <tag|branch|commit> publishes another version. Log in once first with docker login git.goyban.com, using a Gitea token with package write access as the password.

Testing on your phone (same Wi-Fi)

Set BIND_ADDR=0.0.0.0 in .env, run docker compose up -d, then open http://<this-computer's-LAN-IP>:8080 on the phone. Browsers only allow "Install app" / "Add to Home Screen" with offline support over HTTPS (or on localhost). Over plain LAN HTTP the app still works, but it won't install as a full app.

Deploy to production

1. On the server, put docker-compose.yaml in a folder and create .env from .env.example. Use a new strong APP_PASSWORD and SECRET_KEY, and set COOKIE_SECURE=true.

2. docker compose up -d. The app listens on 127.0.0.1:${PORT}.

3. Put it behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS. For example, with Caddy:

   todo.example.com {
       reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:8080
   }
   

   If the proxy runs in another container instead of on the host, set BIND_ADDR/networking to match and set FORWARDED_ALLOW_IPS to the proxy's IP. The app then sees the real client IP, which login rate limiting uses.

Moving your data from this PC to production

1. Local app → Settings → Export data. The export includes tasks, projects and categories. This downloads whattodo-export-YYYYMMDD-HHMM.json.
2. Production app → Settings → Import, pick the file:
   • Replace deletes everything on that install and loads the file. Use this for the first move to prod.
   • Merge adds the file's tasks to what is already there. Categories with the same name are reused.

The export file contains your tasks. Keep it out of the repo (whattodo-export-*.json is git-ignored).

Backups

Export regularly from Settings, or copy ./data/whattodo.db while the app is stopped.

Security notes

• .env and data/ are git-ignored. Never commit them; the repository is public.
• Changing APP_PASSWORD or SECRET_KEY logs out all sessions.
• Failed logins are rate limited: 10 failures per 15 minutes per IP.
• Write requests require an X-WhatToDo header (CSRF protection). The app also sends a strict Content-Security-Policy.

Project layout

app/main.py          API: auth, tasks, categories, export/import
app/db.py            SQLite schema and setup
app/static/          frontend (index.html, app.js, style.css, PWA files, icons)
tests/               API tests (run with: docker compose -f docker-compose.build.yaml run --rm test)
tools/make_icons.py  regenerates the PNG icons