Due-date colour bands
Overdue, today, the next three days, and later each read differently at a glance — in the grid and in the list.
3x3 · task matrix 3×3
Nine cells.
Three tasks each.
Think outside the list.
Task Matrix 3×3 sorts what you have to do by importance and urgency — and then does the thing an endless list never will: it stops. Each of the nine cells holds at most three active tasks. Everything else waits in that cell's queue until you finish something.
the bound
A list grows forever. A grid can't.
Importance runs one way, urgency the other. Where they cross is a cell, and every cell is capped at three active tasks. Task four goes to the queue — visible, counted, but not competing for your attention. The cap is the feature: to start something new in a full cell you have to finish, move, or demote something first.
NowSoonLater
High
Normal
Low
1
high · now
queue 1
3
high · soon
queue 3
6
high · later
queue 7
2
normal · now
queue 2
5
normal · soon
queue 4
8
normal · later
queue 4
4
low · now
queue 6
7
low · soon
queue 6
9
low · later
queue 1
Each cell carries a priority number. Work them in order — 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, then 2.1 — and you are always doing the most important urgent thing available.
You decide what "priority" means
The nine cells never move, but which of them counts as second place is yours to set. Favor Importance walks down the importance axis first; Favor Urgency walks across urgency first.
Favor importance
| Now | Soon | Later | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Normal | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| Low | 4 | 7 | 9 |
Favor urgency
| Now | Soon | Later | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Normal | 3 | 5 | 7 |
| Low | 6 | 8 | 9 |
Or set a custom pattern — place priorities 2–8 anywhere you like between the two fixed corners, High/Now at 1 and Low/Later at 9.
the task
A due date, by itself, does nothing.
That is deliberate. A task carries a title, tags, notes, its two axes, an optional due date and time, and up to three reminder lead times — and email only goes out when you have actually asked for it. Finish a repeating task and the next one is created from the previous due date, rolled forward until it lands in the future.
#project, @person, $status, =label, *place.Reminders you asked for
Up to three lead times per task. Everything coming due in the same window arrives as one email, not three — a digest, not a drip.
Repeat after completion
Every 1–31 days, 1–5 weeks, or 1–12 months — counted from completion, not from a fixed calendar slot. Cancelling ends the series.
finding things again
Boolean filters, and the grid flattened.
The filter takes real expressions — and, or, not, parentheses,
quoted phrases, and dates like today or overdue — across any combination of
task, tags, notes, importance, urgency and dates. Save the ones you keep reaching for.
Filtering changes only what you see: never positions, capacity, queues, or backups.
on a phone
Install it. Then lose the signal.
Task Matrix 3×3 is a PWA: install it from the browser and it runs from your device, with your tasks in local storage rather than someone's cloud. Offline is the normal case, not a fallback. On a narrow screen the nine cells become a selector — tap one to work inside it, with the mini grid still there to move between cells.
What that buys you
- No account required. Install it and start. Registration is for people who want a second device, not a toll gate.
- Your tasks stay local. IndexedDB on the device, exported to JSON whenever you want it.
- Drag works everywhere. Mouse, touch, or pen — and on a small screen a full-size drop board opens so you can aim.
- Text size is yours. Adjusted separately for large and small screens, and carried in your backups.
more than one device
One person, several devices, exactly one writer.
Register an account and your devices share the same tasks — but only one Full-access device may change them at a time. The others watch until they take control. That is a deliberate boundary: this is a single-user tool that refuses to guess how to merge two people's edits, because it never has to.
Single-writer handoff
Take control, hand it back, or force a takeover when a device went away mid-edit. Whole snapshots replace — no record-level merging, no silent conflicts.
Viewer and disabled roles
A device can be registered read-only, or switched off entirely. Viewer devices receive data and can never upload it.
Local-only stays first-class
Never register anything and nothing breaks. An unregistered install is a complete, permanent, offline task manager.
why it's free
It costs nothing. Tips are appreciated.
Task Matrix 3×3 is free to use — the whole of it. There is no subscription, no paid tier holding features back, and no advertising. Install it and it is simply yours to work in.
If it saved you time, you can leave a tip. It is a thank-you for the tool, never an obligation — and it is always appreciated.
get started
Nine cells are waiting.
Open it in a browser, install it to your device, and put the first three things where they belong.