Using TR-1

A complete guide to TR-1's interface, views, keyboard shortcuts, and features.

The Interface

TR-1 has a sidebar on the left for navigation and a main content area that shows your tasks. The sidebar includes your GTD views, projects organized by area, and account settings.

Quick Capture

Press Ctrl+N anywhere to open the capture dialog. Type a task title and hit Enter to add it and keep capturing, or Esc when you’re done. Tasks go to the Inbox by default — you can also capture directly into a project or status by using the + Add button within a specific view.

Press ⌘/ to open search. Search is full-text across task titles and notes.

Views

TR-1 is organized around GTD views. Each view shows tasks filtered by their status or state.

Inbox

Where everything starts. New tasks land here until you decide what to do with them. Process your inbox regularly — each item should move to Next Actions, a project, Someday/Maybe, or the trash. The inbox is not a to-do list.

Today

Tasks you’ve committed to for today. This is your daily working list. The Today flag is independent of status — a task can be in Next Actions and also flagged for Today.

Upcoming

Tasks with due dates or defer dates in the future. Gives you a calendar-like forward view of what’s coming.

Next Actions

Concrete tasks you can act on right now. This is the core GTD list — things that have been clarified, have a defined next step, and are ready to go.

Waiting For

Tasks you’ve delegated or that are blocked on someone else. Review these regularly to follow up.

Someday / Maybe

Ideas and possibilities you’re not committing to yet. Review during weekly reviews to see if anything should become active.

In Progress

Tasks you’ve explicitly started working on. Shows up in the sidebar when you have active work. Starting a task (shortcut P) flags it as both In Progress and Today.

Logbook

Completed tasks, most recent first. Your record of what’s been done.

Projects and Areas

Projects

A project is an outcome that requires multiple tasks. Projects have their own status (next, someday, etc.) and contain tasks. Every active project should have at least one next action — if it doesn’t, it’s stuck.

Create projects from the sidebar. Drag them between areas to organize. Double-click a project name to rename it.

Areas

Areas are ongoing areas of responsibility (e.g., “Work”, “Personal”, “Side Projects”). They contain projects and help you organize at a higher level. Areas don’t have a status — they’re always active.

Collapse and expand areas in the sidebar. Drag projects between areas. Drag area headers to reorder them.

Keyboard Shortcuts

TR-1 is designed for keyboard-first use. Most actions are a single keypress.

KeyAction
1–7Jump to view: Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Next, Waiting, Someday, Logbook
PProjects
SStats
AActivity
DToggle dark mode
Ctrl+NQuick capture
⌘/Search

Task Selection

KeyAction
or JMove selection down
or KMove selection up
EnterExpand selected task
EscClose / deselect
ClickSelect task
Cmd/Ctrl+ClickToggle select (multi-select)

Task Actions (when task is selected)

KeyAction
XComplete
PStart (In Progress + Today)
RReopen
TToggle Today flag
NMove to Next Actions
IMove to Inbox
WMove to Waiting For
OMove to Someday
MOpen Move panel (status + project)
SDefer / Schedule
L / E / HSet energy: Low / Medium / High
1 / 2 / 3Set priority: ! / !! / !!!
0Clear priority and energy
DeleteMove to Trash

After completing, moving, or deleting a task, the selection automatically advances to the next task so you can keep working through a list.

The Action Bar

When one or more tasks are selected, the action bar appears at the bottom of the screen. It shows the same actions available via keyboard shortcuts, plus the Move panel for changing status or assigning to a project, and the Set panel for energy and priority.

Features

Dark Mode

Toggle with D (when no task is selected) or the moon/sun icon in the sidebar footer.

Markdown Export

Each view and project has a copy button that exports the task list as markdown to your clipboard.

Drag and Drop

Reorder projects within and between areas by dragging them in the sidebar.

Due Dates and Defer Dates

  • Due date: When the task is due. Tasks with due dates show up in Upcoming.
  • Defer date: Don’t show this task until this date. Used with the Schedule action (S) to hide tasks until they’re relevant.

Energy and Priority

Tag tasks with energy level (Low, Medium, High) and priority (!, !!, !!!) to help decide what to work on based on your current state. Clear both with 0.

Real-Time Sync

When an AI agent makes changes via MCP, the UI updates automatically via Server-Sent Events. You’ll see a toast notification when an agent creates or updates tasks.

AI Agent Integration

TR-1 has a built-in MCP server. Connect AI agents (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT) to let them manage tasks alongside you. See Getting Started for setup instructions and MCP Tools Reference for the full tool list.

Weekly and Daily Reviews

TR-1 supports GTD review workflows. AI agents can run reviews via MCP — scanning projects for missing next actions, summarizing what’s in progress, and flagging items that need attention. See the GTD Primer for more on the review process.