The Case for a Dumb Idea App

Every productivity app eventually becomes Notion.

It starts simple. A clean interface, one job done well. Then someone requests folders. Then tags. Then recurring tasks, kanban boards, calendar integration, collaboration, templates, an API, and a plugin system. Before long you need a YouTube tutorial to figure out how to add a note.

I think there’s a different approach for ideas specifically. Ideas aren’t tasks. They don’t need due dates, priorities, assignees, or dependencies. An idea is a spark. It needs to be captured fast, given a possible first step, and then either acted on or let go.

That’s why idea.log has four statuses and that’s it: Pending, Did First Step, Did It, Abandoned.

◊ The capture screen: just the idea, an optional first step, and tags.

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No priority levels. No due dates. No folders or nested hierarchies. No collaboration features. The app does exactly three things: capture ideas, suggest first steps, and track whether you follow through.

I kept having to fight the urge to add features while building it. Wouldn’t it be nice to set reminders? No. Wouldn’t it be nice to have sub-tasks? No. Wouldn’t it be nice to sync across devices? Maybe eventually, but not at the cost of needing an account.

The result is an app I actually open. That’s the bar. Not “most powerful” or “most flexible” but “do I actually use this thing?” Every feature that adds friction to the capture flow is a feature that means one more idea that doesn’t get written down.

◊ The ideas list with status-based sorting.

The one place I allowed complexity is the output side. When you’re ready to act on an idea, Share with Agent generates a structured prompt you can paste into Claude or ChatGPT. It includes the idea, your notes, the current status, and a tailored request based on where you are with it. That’s not feature creep. That’s making the simple input useful on the other end.

A few people have asked me why this needs to be its own app instead of a note in Obsidian or a row in a spreadsheet. The answer is the same reason you don’t track your weight in a spreadsheet even though you could: dedicated tools reduce friction. And for ideas, friction is the enemy.

idea.log is $1.99 on the App Store. One-time purchase, no subscription, no account required. Local-only. The terminal aesthetic is a bonus.