Satori

A small, keyboard-first Getting Things Done app for macOS, with a terminal soul.
satorigtd.app

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Satori is a native task manager built around David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD), in the spirit of Things, but smaller, free, and designed to run entirely from the keyboard. It looks like a terminal (think Ghostty): monospaced type, [ ] checkboxes, a ❯ prompt for capturing, and a status line that always shows which keys work right now.

• Native & tiny: pure SwiftUI, no dependencies, under 10 MB.
• Private: no accounts, no tracking. Your tasks live in one readable JSON file, synced only if you choose.
• On your phone too: a tiny web app for iPhone that syncs through a private GitHub repo you own.
• Keyboard-first: every action has a shortcut, and the app teaches them as you go.
• Opinionated about GTD: inbox processing, contexts, projects that need a next action, and a weekly review.

Contents

• Install
• Build from source
• How Satori maps to GTD
• Using Satori
• Keyboard reference
• Phone & sync
• Your data
• FAQ
• Contributing
• License

Install

Homebrew

brew install --cask emcee5000/tap/satori

Upgrade later with brew upgrade --cask satori. The first time you open it, follow step 4 below.

Download

1. Grab Satori.zip from the latest release.
2. Unzip it and drag Satori.app into Applications.
3. Open it. macOS says it can't verify the developer; click Done.
4. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, click Open Anyway next to the Satori message, and confirm. You only do this once. (On macOS 14, right-clicking Satori.app and choosing Open also works.)

Satori is open source and signed locally rather than with a paid Apple Developer ID. That's why macOS asks before the first launch. If it still refuses to open, clear the download quarantine flag:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Satori.app

Release builds are universal: they run natively on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

Requirements

• macOS 14 Sonoma or later

Build from source

You only need the Swift toolchain. Xcode's Command Line Tools are enough (xcode-select --install); the full Xcode app is optional.

git clone https://github.com/emcee5000/satori.git
cd satori

./scripts/build-app.sh            # builds build/Satori.app
./scripts/build-app.sh --install  # also copies it to /Applications

For development, run it straight from SwiftPM:

swift run

You can also open Package.swift in Xcode and press ⌘R.

Set SATORI_DATA_DIR to use a separate data folder, for example SATORI_DATA_DIR=/tmp/satori-demo swift run. Sync is always off with a separate folder, so test data never reaches your real repo.

Tests

swift test                          # the Mac app (needs the full Xcode app for XCTest)
node --test Tests/web/*.test.js     # the phone app's data logic

The tests cover sync merging, the file format both apps share, undo, search, reminders and repeating to-dos. Tests/fixtures/recurrence.json holds the repeat cases both test suites check, so the Mac and phone always agree. Both suites run on every push.

How Satori maps to GTD

GTD step	In Satori
Capture	The Inbox, the menu-bar capture popover (from any app), and the capture box in the Weekly Review
Clarify	Process Inbox (⇧⌘I) walks each item through Allen's questions: actionable? → under 2 minutes? → project? → delegate? → defer
Organize	Next Actions (grouped by context), Projects, Waiting For, Scheduled (a tickler file), Someday/Maybe, Reference
Reflect	A guided Weekly Review checklist (Get Clear, Get Current, Get Creative) that flags stalled projects
Engage	Today (starred and due items) and Next Actions by context

A few GTD rules are built in:

• Every project needs a next action. Projects without one are flagged ! in the sidebar and in Projects.
• Start dates hide work until it's relevant. A to-do with a start date waits in Scheduled, then appears on that day.
• Someday projects stay quiet. Their actions don't clutter Next Actions until you activate the project.

Using Satori

Capture fast. Press Space (or ⇧⌘N) and type. Return adds the item and keeps the prompt open for the next one. Add a context inline by typing it: Call Bob @phone.

Process your inbox. Press ⇧⌘I. Each question has a key printed on its button: Return for the usual answer, ⌘1–⌘3 for the others, ⌘] to skip and ⌘[ to start over.

Triage from the keyboard. Select a to-do and press the first letter of where it should go: ⌘N next, ⌘W waiting, ⌘S someday, and so on. The next item is selected automatically, so you can sweep through a list without touching the mouse.

Edit details. Press Return to edit the selected to-do in the inspector, and Esc to go back.

Do the weekly review. Press ⇧⌘R. Move with the arrow keys, Space checks off a step, Return opens its list, and ⌘↩ finishes the review.

Capture from anywhere. Press ⌃⌥Space in any app, type, and press Return. It goes straight to your Inbox. You can also click the tray icon in the menu bar. (Turn the shortcut off in Settings → Capture & Reminders.)

Find anything. Press ⌘F and type a few words from a title or note. Use the arrow keys to choose and Return to jump to it.

Undo. ⌘Z undoes the last change, such as completing, moving or trashing a to-do; ⇧⌘Z redoes it. Undo only touches what you changed, so it never reverts changes that arrived from your phone.

Repeat to-dos. In the inspector, set Repeat to every day, weekday, week, month or year. When you complete it, the next one is added. Its dates move forward together; with no dates, it waits in Scheduled until it's next due. This works the same on the phone.

Get reminders. Satori sends a notification on the morning a to-do is due (9 am by default; change it in Settings → Capture & Reminders). The first time, macOS asks you to allow notifications.

Keyboard reference

Press ? (or ⌘/) inside Satori for a cheat sheet. Hover over almost anything to see its shortcut.

Moving around

Keys	Action
↑ ↓	Move through lists or to-dos
← →	Switch between the sidebar and the list
Tab	Next area (prompt, list, inspector)
Space	New to-do
Return / →	Edit the selected to-do
Esc	Back to the list, or close the inspector

Lists

Plain ⌘ + letter moves the selected to-do; ⌥⌘ + the same letter goes to the list.

List	Move selected	Go to
Inbox	⌘I	⌥⌘I
Today	⌘T (press again to remove)	⌥⌘T
Next Actions	⌘N	⌥⌘N
Scheduled	⌘D (starts tomorrow)	⌥⌘U (⌥⌘D belongs to macOS)
Waiting For	⌘W	⌥⌘W
Someday/Maybe	⌘S	⌥⌘S
Reference	⌘R	⌥⌘R
Project	⌘P (type, ↑↓, Return)	⌥⌘P (Projects)

Everything else

Keys	Action
⇧⌘N / ⌥⇧⌘N	New to-do / new project
⇧⌘I	Process Inbox
⌘K	Complete the selected to-do
⇧⌘K	Complete or reopen the project you're viewing or have selected (⌘K also works in the Projects list)
⌫	Move to Trash
⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z	Undo / redo
⌘F	Find a to-do or project
⌃⌥Space	Capture to the Inbox from any app
⇧⌘R / ⌥⌘L / ⇧⌘⌫	Weekly Review / Logbook / Trash
⌃⌘I	Show or hide the inspector
⌘+ (or ⌘=) / ⌘− / ⌘0	Bigger text / smaller text / actual size
⇧⌘W	Close the window (⌘W is Waiting For)

Phone & sync

Satori for iPhone is a lightweight web app: satorigtd.app/app. Open it in Safari and tap Share → Add to Home Screen. It runs full-screen, works offline, and keeps your to-dos on the phone. It covers capturing, your lists, projects and editing; inbox processing and the weekly review stay on the Mac.

Added it before October 2026? The phone app moved from emcee5000.github.io/satori/app to satorigtd.app/app. Delete the old Home Screen icon, add the app again from the new address, then paste the setup link from Satori for Mac (Settings → Sync → Connect iPhone). Your to-dos come back on the first sync.

Set up sync (about 3 minutes)

Satori syncs through a private GitHub repository you own. There's no Satori server or account.

1. Create a private repo on GitHub, for example you/satori-data. Leave it empty.
2. Create a token at github.com/settings/personal-access-tokens/new:
   • Repository access: Only select repositories → your satori-data repo
   • Permissions → Repository permissions → Contents: Read and write
3. On your Mac: Satori → Settings (⌘,) → Sync. Turn it on and enter the repo (you/satori-data) and the token.
4. On your phone: on the Mac, click Connect iPhone… in the Sync settings and Copy Link. On the phone, open Satori, go to More → Sync & Settings, paste into Setup link and tap Save & sync. (Or type the repo and token in yourself.) The link contains your token, so only paste it on your own devices.

Changes show up on the other device within a few seconds. Each app uploads about a second after you make a change and checks for changes every 3 seconds while it's open. Checks that find nothing new are free, so this doesn't use up your GitHub API allowance.

How merging works: each to-do and project keeps whichever copy was edited most recently, and anything deleted on either device stays deleted. Every sync is a commit to your repo whose message says what changed (for example "Sync from phone: 1 added, 2 completed"), so you can always look back or restore.

Security: the token can only access that one repo. On the Mac it's stored in the Keychain; on the phone it's kept in the web app's local storage, so use a token scoped as above.

Your data

Everything is stored in one file:

~/Library/Application Support/Satori/data.json

• It's plain, pretty-printed JSON, so it's easy to read, back up, or keep in version control.
• To sync between Macs, symlink the folder into iCloud Drive or Dropbox. Only run Satori on one Mac at a time.
• If the file ever can't be read, Satori copies it aside (data-unreadable-<timestamp>.json) instead of overwriting it.
• Settings (⌘,) shows the file's location and lets you edit your contexts.

Satori makes no network connections unless you turn on sync, and then only to the GitHub repo you choose.

FAQ

Why does macOS warn me when I first open it? Releases aren't notarized with a paid Apple Developer account. See Install for the one-time fix, or build it yourself.

Is there an iPhone app or sync? Yes. There's a lightweight web app for iPhone, and both sync through a private GitHub repo. See Phone & sync.

Can I use light mode? Not yet. Satori uses a dark, terminal-style theme. Contributions are welcome.

Can I import from Things, OmniFocus or Todoist? Not yet. The JSON format is documented in docs/ARCHITECTURE.md if you'd like to write an importer.

Contributing

Bug reports, ideas and pull requests are welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md, and please follow the Code of Conduct. The architecture notes explain how the code fits together.

License

MIT © 2026 Michael Clarke

Getting Things Done® is a registered trademark of the David Allen Company. Satori is an independent project and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by the David Allen Company or Cultured Code.