Goals

Outcomes on the canvas — above the day-to-day noise.

Table of contents

  1. What goals are
  2. Managing goals
  3. Assigning tasks to goals
  4. Goal smart-tiles on the canvas
  5. Goal progress

What goals are

A goal in taskpapr is an outcome — something you’re working towards, not a task to be ticked off.

Goals are not projects in the traditional sense. They don’t have subtasks, phases, or timelines. They’re labels that connect ordinary tasks to a larger intention. The goal itself never gets “done” directly — tasks assigned to it do.

Examples:

  • “Launch MVP”
  • “Get fit”
  • “Move to the new house”
  • “Close the Series A”

Managing goals

Go to /goals to create, rename, and delete goals.

Access it from: user avatar dropdown → ⊙ Goals

The goals page shows each goal with a task count badge:

  • Blue badge — goal has linked tasks
  • Grey badge — goal has no tasks yet

Creating a goal: Type a name and submit. Goals can also have optional notes — useful for capturing the “why” behind an outcome.

Deleting a goal: Click delete. Tasks linked to it are not deleted — they simply lose their goal assignment (goal_id is set to null).

Assigning tasks to goals

There are two ways to link a task to a goal:

From the task detail panel: Open a task (single click) → use the Goal dropdown to assign it. You can also create a new goal inline: select ＋ Add new goal…, type the name, and press Enter — the goal is created and assigned without leaving the board.

From the context menu: Right-click a task → Assign Goal → pick from the list.

A task can be assigned to at most one goal. To unlink, set the goal dropdown back to “None”.

Goal smart-tiles on the canvas

Press G (or click ⊙ Goals in the header) to toggle goal smart-tiles on the canvas.

One smart-tile appears per goal, auto-positioned below your regular tiles. Smart-tiles are:

  • Blue-tinted border and header so they’re visually distinct from regular tiles
  • Freely draggable (position is saved for the session)
  • Show all tasks linked to that goal, sorted: WIP → active → done
Diagram: goal smart-tile with blue header Launch MVP and example tasks including one WIP and one done.
Stylised goal smart-tile: blue chrome, tasks sorted WIP → active → done.

Clicking a task row in a smart-tile opens the task detail panel for that task, just like clicking it in its home tile.

Press G again, or press Escape, to dismiss the smart-tiles.

The ⊙ Goals button is dimmed and the G key does nothing if no goals exist yet. Create a goal first at /goals.

Goal progress

Progress is shown as task counts — visible on the smart-tile and on the /goals page. There’s no separate progress bar or percentage view; the task list is the progress view.

The goal notes field (set on the /goals page) is a good place to capture what “done” looks like for that goal, or why it matters.