Brainstorm, then send it to tidystation
Brainstorm in Claude or ChatGPT, then ask it to add the tasks to tidystation with their project, day, time, estimate and category.
Brainstorm in your assistant as you normally would. When the list is right, say what to add and how to set each task, and your assistant files it in tidystation. There is nothing to copy and paste.
This needs a connected assistant: see Connect your assistant.
Can I brainstorm in Claude or ChatGPT and send the result to tidystation?
Yes. Brainstorm in the chat, then tell your assistant what to add:
Add the 5 tasks we just listed to Pagebird, category Marketing, 45 minutes each,
1 a day from Monday to Friday, in the order we listed them.Your assistant files the tasks with the settings you gave. You decide the project, the days and the estimates; tidystation adds them up against your hours and runs no AI of its own.
What can I set on each task?
Say it the way you would to a person. Your assistant turns each phrase into a field.
| Say it like | What it sets |
|---|---|
in Pagebird | The project. Every task belongs to one, and the Inbox is a project too. |
planned for Thursday | The day you'll work on it. |
at 3pm | The time of day. It needs a planned day. |
due Friday | The deadline, which can differ from the day you'll work on it. |
45 minutes | The estimate, from 1 minute to 24 hours. |
category Marketing | The category. It must exist already; your assistant is told to create one only when you ask. |
in the section Writing | The section of the project. |
for the v2 launch milestone | The milestone it counts toward. It must be active, and in the same project or in no project. |
with the steps outline, draft and edit | Steps under the task, up to 50 per task and 100 per request. |
description: ask about the 200 flyers | The description. |
linked to the note Launch ideas | The note the task came from. It must be in the same project. |
Repeats, reminders and timers stay in the app. A task can't start out delegated: add it, then say delegate it to Nadia, check back Monday.
What will my assistant ask me?
tidystation tells your assistant to use only the dates, estimates and names you state, and to leave the rest empty. 3 things can come up:
- The project. Every task needs one, so expect a question if you don't name it.
- An estimate for a milestone link. A milestone adds up estimates, so a linked task without one adds nothing, and your assistant is told to ask for one first.
- A new category or project. Your assistant is told to create one only when you ask for it.
Categories show as work types in your assistant. It's the same list you manage in Settings › Preferences › Categories, up to 20.
Is there a preview before it adds the tasks?
No. Adding tasks takes effect as soon as your assistant makes the call, so ask for the list first:
List the tasks you'd add, each with its project, day, time, estimate and category.
Add nothing until I say yes.Whether your assistant asks you to approve a call before it runs is its own setting. Shipping, archiving and deleting take 2 steps, a preview and then a confirmation, and your assistant is told to show you the preview and wait for your yes: see Prompts for your assistant.
How many tasks can it add at once?
Up to 25 in 1 request. A request is all or nothing: if one task is invalid, none is added, and the error names the task by position.
A longer list goes in as several requests, and each task counts as 1 of your 60 changes a minute. Each request carries a request key from your assistant: if it retries the same request within 7 days, tidystation returns the first result instead of adding the tasks again. Asking for the same tasks in a new request adds them again.
Where do the tasks show up?
A task with a planned day appears on that day in Plan, and on Today when the day comes. On Today, a task with a time of day sorts to the top. A task with no planned day waits in Triage, where you decide what to do with it: see Decide what matters.
A task linked to a milestone changes that milestone's pace once it has an estimate: see Reach a milestone. To see whether a day fits, open Plan, which takes your timed calendar meetings out of each day. Your assistant's reading of the week leaves them out.
What do the prompts look like?
Each of these sets several fields at once.
A week of tasks, 1 a day
Add these 5 tasks to Pagebird, category Marketing, 45 minutes each, 1 a day
from Monday to Friday, in this order: outline the launch post, draft it,
pick 3 screenshots, write the email, schedule the posts.Sets the project, category and estimate of 5 tasks, and a planned day for each.
A task with a time and a deadline
Add "Call the printer" to Fernhill Bakery for Thursday at 3pm, 20 minutes,
category Admin, due Friday. Description: ask about the 200 flyers.Sets the planned day and time, the estimate, the category, the deadline and the description.
A note, then the tasks you picked
Save our brainstorm as a note called "Launch ideas" in Pagebird. Then add the 3 ideas
I picked as tasks in Pagebird, 30 minutes each, with no day yet, linked to that note.Saves the note, then adds 3 tasks with the note as their source. With no planned day, they wait in Triage.
A milestone and its tasks
Create a milestone "v2 launch" in Pagebird for October 31 and add these 4 tasks to it:
changelog 60 minutes, demo 90, pricing page 45, email 30.
Then tell me what tidystation says about it.Creates the milestone with its date, links 4 estimated tasks to it, then reads back the milestone's pace and summary, which your assistant is told to report in tidystation's own words.
A task with steps
Add "Write the release notes" to Pagebird, planned Friday, 60 minutes,
with the steps outline, draft, edit and publish.Adds 1 task with 4 steps.
Next
- Prompts for your assistant: more requests, including ship, archive and delete.
- Connect your assistant: setup for Claude, ChatGPT, Dots, Claude Code and Cursor.
- Decide what matters: what to do with tasks that have no day.