Hello, World
Done Bear brings GTD, local-first sync, web access, and collaboration together for people who have outgrown single-player task managers like Things 3.
TL;DR: Done Bear keeps the calm of GTD, but adds the two things modern work keeps demanding: web access and collaboration, backed by local-first sync.
For a long time, the best task manager was the one you could trust alone.
That worked when your work lived on one device, your system was private by default, and collaboration happened somewhere else. It works a lot less well when your tasks start on your phone, continue on the web, and depend on other people.
That is the gap Done Bear exists to close.
We love the clarity of Things 3. It helped define what calm, focused task management can feel like. But for us, the missing pieces became impossible to ignore: the web and collaboration.
Those two things change the shape of the product.
GTD still matters
The core idea behind Done Bear is not new. It is GTD.
Capture everything. Clarify what it means. Put it where it belongs. Trust the system so your brain can let go.
That part still works. In fact, it matters even more now.
Modern work is noisy. You are juggling personal tasks, team follow-ups, project ideas, deadlines, and conversations that move across devices all day. A good system should reduce that noise, not add to it.
Done Bear is built around five simple views: Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Anytime, and Someday. The goal is not to create more knobs, labels, and ceremony. The goal is to help you decide what matters now.
Why web and collaboration matter
This is the simplest way to explain why we are building Done Bear.
Things 3 is excellent at being a polished personal task manager. But many people no longer work in a purely personal workflow.
You need to check your system from any machine. You need to share context with a teammate. You need a task list that can survive beyond one person's laptop.
That is where web access matters. Your trusted system should not disappear the moment you leave your desk or switch devices.
That is also where collaboration matters. Sometimes a task is not just yours. It belongs to a conversation, a project, or a shared plan. You should be able to work with other people without abandoning the calm and clarity that made GTD useful in the first place.
Done Bear is our answer to that tension: keep the focus of a personal task manager, but make it available where modern work actually happens.
Local-first is part of the product
We also think speed changes behavior.
If adding a task feels slow, you capture less. If checking your list feels brittle, you trust it less. If syncing feels uncertain, the system starts leaking stress back into your head.
That is why Done Bear is local-first. Your work should feel immediate. No waiting to type. No little moments of doubt about whether something saved.
Local-first sync is not there to sound technical. It is there because trust is the whole product.
A GTD app only works when it feels safe to put everything into it.
We are not building a heavier task manager
This part matters.
Adding web access and collaboration can easily turn a calm product into a noisy one. More views. More status fields. More process. More software standing between you and the thing you actually need to do.
We do not want that.
We want Done Bear to stay simple, opinionated, and fast. The product should help you capture, sort, and act. Collaboration should support that workflow, not bury it.
The bar is not "more features than Things 3." The bar is a better system for the way people work now.
Why now
The old split between personal productivity tools and collaborative work tools keeps breaking down.
People do not want one app for calm personal planning and another app for shared execution if both are really part of the same day. They want one trusted system that can handle both.
That does not mean every task needs comments, teammates, and dashboards. It means the system should be ready when work becomes shared, without forcing everything to feel like project management software.
That is the direction behind Done Bear.
What comes next
This is our hello world moment.
Done Bear starts with a simple belief: GTD is still the right foundation, but the modern version needs web access, collaboration, and local-first trust built in from the start.
If you have outgrown single-player task managers, we are building this for you.
And if we get it right, your task manager will feel calmer than the old tools, not busier — even when your work is shared.