Slate: A Task Tracker That Respects Recurring Work

Most task trackers treat every day like a blank page. You wake up, create your list, check things off, and tomorrow you do it all again from scratch. Slate takes a different approach. We built it around the observation that the majority of daily work is recurring: packing for a trip, running errands, executing a morning routine, prepping for a weekly meeting. Slate lets you define those patterns once as master list templates, then stamp out fresh working copies whenever you need them.

Slate is one of the internal tools we use daily at Renkara Media Group to manage everything from deployment checklists to grocery runs. It runs alongside the rest of our tool fleet and integrates tightly with Packed, our reusable list template library.

The Template-First Model

The core concept in Slate is the master list. A master list is a reusable template containing items, containers (for grouping), tags, and metadata. When you need a working copy, you generate an instance from that template. Slate deep-copies the entire hierarchy of containers and items into a new instance, ready for checking off.

This model matters because it separates the act of designing a list from the act of using one. You refine your packing list over time, adding the items you always forget, removing the ones you never actually bring. Each instance starts from the latest version of the template, incorporating every improvement you have made.

Containers support up to three levels of nesting, so you can organize items into logical groups. A packing list might have top-level containers for Clothing, Electronics, and Toiletries, with sub-containers for weather-specific gear underneath. Items support names, descriptions in Markdown, weight tracking in pounds or kilograms, categories, and color-coded tags.

Key Features

Things 3 Import

If you have years of task history locked inside Things 3, Slate can import it. Upload your Things 3 SQLite database, and Slate maps the data structure automatically. Areas become master lists. Projects become master lists with instances. Headings become containers, and tasks become items. Tags and their associations carry over intact. The importer handles Apple Core Data timestamps and bit-packed date formats, filters out cancelled and trashed items by default, and automatically splits lists that exceed 1,000 items to keep performance smooth. Drag and drop the database file onto the import screen and everything migrates in seconds.

Real-Time Collaboration

Slate supports inviting collaborators to any list instance via email. Each invitation generates a unique access token valid for seven days. Collaborators open the shared URL with no account required and can check and uncheck items in real time. Server-Sent Events push changes instantly to everyone viewing the list. No polling, no refresh. You see items get checked off as your partner works through their half of the grocery run.

Activity logging tracks who did what and when, so you always know the state of shared work. List owners can accept, revoke, or deactivate collaborator access at any time.

Search and Export

Full-text search powered by PostgreSQL GIN indexes lets you find items across all master lists, instances, and individual items. Filter results by type or tag, and paginate through large result sets. Export any list instance or your entire dataset as CSV or JSON with selectable fields.

Packed Integration

Slate integrates bidirectionally with Packed, our reusable list template library. Pull master lists from Packed directly into Slate and generate working instances with a single click. Packed can also push lists to Slate via API. The Dashboard has a dedicated "Add from Packed" button that opens a modal showing all available templates from your Packed account. This integration means you can curate your template library in Packed and consume it in Slate for daily execution.

MCP Tools: 35 Operations for AI Integration

Slate exposes 35 MCP tools for Claude Code integration, covering every operation the application supports. Master list CRUD, instance management, item creation and bulk updates, container nesting, tag management, collaborator invitations, full-text search, Packed integration, and API key management are all available as tool calls. This means an AI agent can create a packing list from a travel itinerary, generate an instance, add items based on the weather forecast, and share it with a collaborator, all without touching the UI.

Why Not a SaaS App?

We evaluated Todoist, TickTick, Notion, and a half-dozen other task managers before building Slate. They all share the same fundamental limitation: they are general-purpose tools that treat lists as an afterthought bolted onto a project management framework. None of them have first-class support for the template-to-instance pattern. None of them offer MCP integration for AI workflows. None of them let you import fourteen years of Things 3 history with a drag and drop.

More practically, Slate runs on our own infrastructure. Our data stays on our servers. There is no vendor who can change the pricing, deprecate the API, or shut down the service. The code is ours, the data is ours, and the roadmap answers to our actual needs rather than a product manager optimizing for the broadest possible market.

Technical Specifications

Slate is part of Renkara's internal tool fleet. It ships alongside Docket (defect tracking), Fulcrum (leverage metrics), Beacon (marketing), Herald (newsletters), Packed (list templates), and the rest of our purpose-built operational stack. Every tool in the fleet follows the same architectural conventions: FastAPI backends, React 19 frontends, PostgreSQL storage, Valkey caching, and MCP integration for AI-native workflows.