Work with tasks
Tasks group an outcome with the context and steps needed to finish it. Keep titles outcome-oriented and put supporting notes, images, recordings, and time records inside the task.
On desktop, the task list remains visible beside the selected task so you can move through work without losing context. On mobile, selecting a task opens its detail view full-screen. Cover art follows the task everywhere it appears, including the task list and linked Daily OS agenda items.
Cover art is optional, but it can make a dense workspace much easier to scan. Use it for a useful visual cue, a product reference, or a memorable metaphor for the work. The Project Waddle illustrations in this manual are only an example: a cover can be as practical, playful, or wonderfully weird as you want. See Generate task cover art to create one from the task's own context and reference images.
The same task can hold a description, category, labels, due date, time records, checklist items, images, links, and audio recordings. It can also carry a persistent AI assistant with its own summary, wake state, and proposed changes — see Assign a task agent.
Priority
Lotti uses four compact priority levels:
| Priority | Meaning | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| P0 | Urgent | Work that genuinely needs attention next |
| P1 | High | Important work that should happen soon |
| P2 | Medium | The normal default |
| P3 | Low | Work that can wait |
Open a task and use the priority control in its header to change the level. Existing tasks without an explicit priority behave as P2.
The picker spells out the compact codes, while the priority glyphs add a visual cue in both light and dark themes. Treat the P0–P3 codes as the meaning; color helps scanning but should never be the only signal you rely on.
Filter and order the task list
Use the filter control beside the task search field to focus the list. Choose one or more statuses, priorities, categories, labels, and—when Projects are enabled—projects. Category and label selectors also offer Unassigned for work that still needs that organizing detail. The Agent choice distinguishes tasks with an assigned agent from tasks without one.
Choices within one filter are alternatives: selecting P0 and P1 shows either priority. Different filters narrow the result together: selecting P0 or P1 and Penguin Operations shows only matching work. Use Clear all to return to an unconstrained view rather than trying to undo each choice individually.
Choose Due Date, Created, or Priority in the same sheet to change the ordering. Priority order is P0 through P3, with newer tasks first within a priority unless another sort is active. On desktop, an enabled vector-search setup can also offer semantic search alongside normal full-text search.
When you regularly return to the same focused view, save the active filter from the sheet and give it a clear name. Reopen it from the task list, then update the saved filter when its criteria change.
Use checklists for the next layer down
A checklist item should be smaller and more concrete than its task. “Publish the manual” is a task; “verify every navigation link” is a checklist item. Checklists can be edited directly and may also be proposed by configured AI skills from task context.
Add task context
Use the task's Add action to attach a checklist, another task, an audio recording, a timer, a text entry, or an image without leaving the task. The available actions depend on the current platform and context.
See Add entries and context for when to use each entry type.
Explore task connections
On desktop, use the graph action in a task header to open its knowledge-graph workspace. The main Graph view shows a readable local neighbourhood around the current task instead of squeezing the entire journal into one diagram. Select a node to walk to it. Use Back and Forward to retrace the path, or select a point in the small topology map to jump to another part of the graph.
Choose Connections when you prefer a list. It groups full, untruncated entry titles by relationship and direction, and selecting a row moves to the same new focus as the graph. Both views share the density, one-hop/two-hop, relationship, entry type, category, recency, and task-status filters. Dense groups and task photos collapse into exact-count nodes in the graph; select one to expand it.
The task inspector keeps the full title visible. When available, it places cover art first in a scrollable row with the task's related photos, and keeps the longer AI summary collapsed until you choose to read it. With a keyboard, use the arrow keys to move the graph selection, Enter or Space to follow it, and Escape to go back.
Link related tasks
Open the task's Linked section and choose to link an existing task. Search the picker, then select the related outcome. Lotti excludes the current task and tasks that are already linked in that direction.
Task links are directional: the current task points to the task you choose. Both sides remain reachable through their linked-entry sections, while each task keeps its own status, schedule, and attachments.
Use voice without losing control
Record a note inside the task when it is faster to explain the situation aloud. With transcription and task skills configured, Lotti can turn that context into text and proposed checklist changes. Review the result, especially names, dates, and destructive changes. See Record audio for the recording controls and processing options. Create your first task has a narrated walkthrough of the same dictate-review-confirm flow.
Use P0 sparingly. If everything is urgent, the label stops carrying information.