Home

Will Be Done - modern offline-first self-hosted TickTick/Todoist alternative

$$8817
https://lemmy.world/u/quolpr posted on Mar 8, 2026 14:02

I’ve been building a self-hosted task manager focused on something I couldn’t find in one package: true offline support and fast sync across devices.

Most open source task apps I tried leaned toward either: - good offline support but weak multi-device sync with no API support - or good sync but limited offline functionality

Will Be Done is my attempt to solve both.

Demo: https://demo.will-be-done.app/

GitHub: https://github.com/will-be-done/will-be-done

Home page: https://will-be-done.app/

What is supported right now: - True offline mode — reads and writes happen in the local browser DB and sync to the server when it becomes available again (so you can still use it even if your homelab is down!) - Fast sync across devices - Tasks and projects with drag-and-drop support - Kanban inside projects - Weekly planner - Recurring tasks - Vim keybindings

Planned in the near future: - CalDAV integration - Import from Todoist / TickTick / Microsoft To Do - API support - MCP support - Desktop app with global quick-add shortcut

Why I built it:

This is my third attempt over the last 3 years to build my ideal task manager, and I now use it daily.

I’ve worked on local-first and sync-heavy systems professionally, so offline-first architecture is something I care a lot about getting right.

Installation:

Single Docker command, no docker-compose, no external dependencies, SQLite included.

docker run -d \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v will_be_done_storage:/var/lib/will-be-done \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  ghcr.io/will-be-done/will-be-done:latest

Then open http://localhost:3000/.

Would love feedback from people here, especially if you care about self-hosting, offline-first apps, or replacing proprietary task managers.

https://lemmy.world/post/43994429
Reply
$$8829
https://lemmy.world/u/Nednarb44 posted on Mar 8, 2026 14:19
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43994429

This looks solid. I’ve been using SuperProductivity for a while, but the json syncthing uses to sync between my computer and phone keeps breaking. Your project looks like it has a very similar interface, which I like. I’m looking forward to giving this a shot

https://lemmy.world/comment/22545766
Reply
$$8830
https://lemmy.world/u/cheese_greater posted on Mar 8, 2026 14:19
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43994429

Are infinite nesting/subtasks and drag/drop possibillities for the future?

I would kill for a Todoist replacement like that. GoodTask is pretty damn close but theres always still that itch that only Todoist scratched lol

https://lemmy.world/comment/22545767
Reply
$$8854
https://lemmy.world/u/quolpr posted on Mar 8, 2026 15:02
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22545767

Thanks for the feedback!

DnD is already here. You can reorder tasks/move to other projects. And as for nesting, it’s pretty complex feature. It will be hard to implement and maintain (especially maintain), so not planning right now, unfortunately. But at least I plan to add subtask list.

https://lemmy.world/comment/22546394
Reply
$$8855
https://lemmy.world/u/quolpr posted on Mar 8, 2026 15:07
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22545766

Yep, that’s why I don’t like SuperProductivity, it’s hard to make proper sync on top of json/caldav(especially with proper conflict resolution). As far as I know, SuperProductivity building its own cloud sync protocol, but it’s plan to be a paid feature anytime.

As for mobile version - yep, I plan to add them too. It’s already support PWA, so you can install app as a bookmark (and it opens pretty fast btw!). But I want to have proper notifications in future and maybe widgets, so andriod/ios will be, but not sure when.

Thanks for the feedback!

https://lemmy.world/comment/22546454
Reply
$$8858
https://lemmy.world/u/cheese_greater posted on Mar 8, 2026 15:12
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22546394

Thx for thoughts, ya its probably a but of a doozie in terms of complexity. Setimes i wonder if its better for me i dont have that capabillity anymore, gotta split things up rather

https://lemmy.world/comment/22546525
Reply
$$8910
https://lemmy.world/u/Nednarb44 posted on Mar 8, 2026 17:00
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22546454

Yeah I think them adding a cloud sync as a paid option is entirely fair, but not something I want.

Thanks again for sharing the project!

https://lemmy.world/comment/22548015
Reply
$$8920
https://lemmy.world/u/quolpr posted on Mar 8, 2026 17:35
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22548015

Yep, I agree too, it’s totally fair 👍

Thanks for your feedback!

https://lemmy.world/comment/22548494
Reply
$$9051
https://lemmy.zip/u/modular950 posted on Mar 8, 2026 22:18
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43994429

Going to give this a look-see!

Currently having an issue where launching from the PWA (via Vanadium on GrapheneOS) results in the manifest.json page rather than redirecting to login or cached session. I suspect this has more to do with my own browser configuration possibly, but once I get that sorted, I’ll be eager to take it for a drive!

https://lemmy.zip/comment/25122910
Reply
$$9107
https://lemmy.gf4.pw/u/ki9 posted on Mar 9, 2026 00:40
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43994429

Been meaning to make something like this, where every day has a list and I can swipe through days. I want uncompleted tasks to be moved to the next day at midnight. Finally, I want default (repeating) tasks every day or every week, which don’t carry over.

Been too lazy to make it myself so right now I have a daily todo list template (text file) that gets copied to $(date -I).md a month in advance. I keep a few days open in nvim tabs and access them on my phone via ssh/termux. Then the cronjob archives old lists. Kludgy but been using it for years.

https://lemmy.gf4.pw/comment/70828
Reply
$$9198
https://lemmy.ml/u/PointyFluff posted on Mar 9, 2026 06:05
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43994429

oh boy; yet another bloatware todo app; and it runs on container. Extra resource-nice!

https://lemmy.ml/comment/24420410
Reply
$$9315
https://lemmy.world/u/quolpr posted on Mar 9, 2026 13:58
In reply to: https://lemmy.gf4.pw/comment/70828

Yep, that’s actually what I am doing except moving task to next day. I am still not sure about automatic moving part, though I am doing this by hand. I will need to play with this auto-moving flow a bit and maybe will bring it as a setting option.

I also have some strong desire to make tui or just CLI, but don’t have resources for this right now.

Thanks for sharing your flow!

https://lemmy.world/comment/22561904
Reply
$$9316
https://lemmy.world/u/quolpr posted on Mar 9, 2026 14:00
In reply to: https://lemmy.ml/comment/24420410

Thanks for the honest feedback!

Could you share what specifically makes it feel like a bloated todo app to you? Also, what deployment or distribution method would you prefer over Docker?

https://lemmy.world/comment/22561936
Reply
$$9318
https://lemmy.world/u/quolpr posted on Mar 9, 2026 14:02
In reply to: https://lemmy.zip/comment/25122910

Oh, that’s interesting. Log in page as first page looks correct - once logged in you should always see your tasks on app launch.

But I think I should correct my manfest.json and hard-code open page to be /.

https://lemmy.world/comment/22561974
Reply
$$9501
https://lemmy.ca/u/PerogiBoi posted on Mar 9, 2026 17:28
In reply to: https://lemmy.ml/comment/24420410

People like you are miserable. Someone puts time and effort into making their own software, share it for free with other people, give them a very easy way to set it up themselves, and then you come in and complain? Loser behaviour.

https://lemmy.ca/comment/22114996
Reply
$$9571
https://lemmy.zip/u/baner posted on Mar 9, 2026 19:07
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43994429

Not gonna lie, this looks promising. Keep the good job.

https://lemmy.zip/comment/25140533
Reply
$$10180
https://lemmy.world/u/quolpr posted on Mar 10, 2026 16:38
In reply to: https://lemmy.zip/comment/25140533

Thanks! I am already building this iteration for one year, and I enjoy it! Both development and daily usage

https://lemmy.world/comment/22583760
Reply