Focusboard

Local Ubuntu desktop app for reminders and task tracking. Add tasks on a calendar, see all open work plus what is due today / in the next 3 days / in the next 7 days, track time from Start to Finish, and keep a logbook of what you completed or missed.

Data stays on your machine (~/.local/share/focusboard/focusboard.db). No accounts, no cloud.

Install

cd ~/apps/focusboard
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Run

source ~/apps/focusboard/.venv/bin/activate
python -m focusboard

Or, after the venv is on your PATH:

focusboard

On first launch the app:

• opens the main window
• puts a Focusboard icon in the top bar (system tray)
• installs a menu entry under Focusboard
• can start at login from the tray or File → Start at login

Close the main window to hide it; the top-bar icon keeps the app running. Click the icon to see All / Today / 3-day / 7-day tasks. Quit from the tray or File → Quit. Starting Focusboard again closes the previous instance first, so only one copy runs.

What it does

• Focus — All tasks, Today (overdue + today), Tomorrow to +3 days, and Days 4–7 (no overlap). Tick Next, Ongoing, and/or Finished. Unticking all three snaps back to Next+Ongoing.
• Calendar — month view; days with tasks are highlighted; add or edit by day
• Logbook — completed and missed tasks for the selected week, with duration, estimate, and delay reason
• Top bar — click the icon for Reminders (due today and due in 3 days, with times), then All / Today / 3-day / 7-day lists, new task, theme, autostart, and quit
• Theme — File → Theme or the tray menu: System (default, follows Ubuntu light/dark), Light, or Dark. The choice is remembered.
• Reminders — while the app is running, it checks once a minute. On the first check each day you get a “What needs doing” digest (today + next 3 days). When a task’s due time is reached you get “Task due”. Ongoing work pings again after 2 hours. Changing a due time arms a new due notification.
• Undo — Undo Start returns Ongoing → Next. Reopen returns Finished or Missed → Next.

Statuses: To do (Next) → Ongoing (Start) → Done (Finish). Duration is the time between Start and Finish. If you finish after the deadline, or mark a task Missed, you pick a reason.

Ubuntu notes

• GNOME may hide tray icons unless AppIndicator / Ubuntu AppIndicators is enabled. Notifications still work via notify-send.
• Autostart writes ~/.config/autostart/focusboard.desktop pointing at the Python used to launch the app (your venv).

Uninstall

rm -f ~/.config/autostart/focusboard.desktop
rm -f ~/.local/share/applications/focusboard.desktop
rm -f ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/focusboard.svg
# optional: delete your tasks
rm -rf ~/.local/share/focusboard