Set up a Getting Things Done workflow

You can implement a practical Getting Things Done-style system in Lar without turning every note into a Task. Captures holds unclarified input, Tasks holds next actions, Projects and Areas hold context, and review surfaces keep the system current.

This guide follows the familiar capture, clarify, organize, reflect, and engage loop. Adapt the vocabulary to your own practice.

1. Create the supporting Object Types

Enable Task management in Settings, then add these shipped presets as needed:

• Project for outcomes that require more than one action. Its preset includes status, time frame, collaborators, description, tags, and a Notes body.
• Area for an ongoing responsibility such as Health, Finance, or Team Leadership. Its preset is intentionally lightweight: title, tags, and a Content body.

Do not create a Project for a single action. Use a Task. Do not mark an Area completed like a Project; an Area describes a responsibility you continue to maintain.

See Tasks and Create and edit an Object Type.

2. Capture without organizing first

Use Quick Capture whenever something has your attention:

• type a thought;
• paste a URL;
• attach files;
• record audio when supported;
• capture through the browser extension, share sheet, Telegram, email, WhatsApp, or another configured channel.

Captured content enters Captures → New. Give yourself permission to record first and classify later; that is what the queue is for.

See Quick Capture and Capture channels.

3. Clarify each Capture

Open Captures and decide what each item means:

• If it requires one concrete action, convert it to a Task or create a Task from it.
• If it describes a multi-step outcome, convert it to a Project and add its first next-action Task.
• If it is useful reference, convert it to the appropriate Object Type and archive the Capture.
• If it belongs in today’s record, choose Send to Daily Note.
• If it has no value, dismiss it. The raw Object moves to Trash and remains recoverable.

Conversion keeps the Capture’s identity, body, backlinks, attachments, and history. It is not a disconnected copy.

See Process Captures.

4. Write clear next actions

Create Task titles that describe visible work: “Email Sam the draft” is more useful than “Draft project.” Set only the attributes that help you choose or trust the action:

• date for when it should appear in Today or Scheduled;
• deadline for the true cutoff;
• priority when relative importance helps;
• status for the workflow state;
• context for the Project, Area, Person, Meeting, or other Object that explains the work;
• repeat for genuinely recurring actions.

Context is a Relation to another Object. The Context Task tab groups open Tasks by those links, so a Project or Area can organize actions without copying them into its body.

Avoid assigning dates to everything merely to make it visible. Undated, deadline-free actions remain in Tasks → Inbox until you clarify or schedule them.

5. Organize the Task dashboard

Use the built-in tabs as GTD-style lists:

• Inbox — actions still missing a date or deadline;
• Today — actions chosen for today;
• Scheduled — future dated actions;
• Context — actions grouped by linked Project, Area, Person, or place;
• Open — every incomplete action;
• Deadline — commitments with hard cutoffs;
• Recurring — repeating routines;
• Completed — the completion log.

Choose ＋ beside the tabs to add Kanban by Status or Priority, or a filtered section for a specific option. Drag tabs to put the views you use most first.

See the complete Tasks guide.

6. Keep Projects actionable

For each active Project:

1. State the desired outcome in its description or body.
2. Set its status and time frame.
3. Create at least one open Task with the Project as Context.
4. Link relevant Meetings, People, files, and reference Objects from the body.

Open the Task dashboard’s Context tab to find Projects with actions. Use Backlinks or Graph from a Project to inspect the wider network around it.

Lar does not infer that every bullet in a Project is a Task. Create a Task when an action needs Task behavior; keep supporting notes as body blocks.

7. Use reminders selectively

Add an Object reminder for a time-specific prompt that is not best represented as a Task date—for example, “Review this proposal after the client call.” Reminders appear in Upcoming and the Notifications bell when they fire.

Use:

• a Task date for work you want in Task and Calendar views;
• a deadline for a real cutoff;
• a reminder for a timed prompt attached to any Object.

See Reminders and notifications.

8. Run a daily review

At the start or end of the day:

1. Process Captures.
2. Empty or clarify Tasks Inbox.
3. Review Today, Deadline, and Upcoming.
4. Check the day’s Meetings and dated Objects in Calendar.
5. Record the plan or outcome in today’s Daily Note.

See Build a daily review.

9. Run a weekly review

Once a week:

1. Process every remaining Capture.
2. Review open Tasks by Context.
3. Open each active Project and confirm it has a next action.
4. Review Scheduled, Deadline, and Recurring Tasks.
5. Scan Areas for responsibilities receiving too little attention.
6. Review Upcoming reminders and Calendar for the next week.
7. Archive completed reference material and update Project statuses.

Pin the Projects and Areas you are actively reviewing. Create Collections for explicitly curated groups, or Saved Queries when membership should update from status and other properties.

See Collections, Search and the command palette, and Layouts and Saved Views.

Optional automation

Lar ships Workflow building blocks that can reduce repetitive processing. For example, a Workflow can set default properties on new Tasks, add tags, add an Object to a Collection, create Objects, or send a notification.

Start with a Workflow recipe only after the manual system is understandable. New recipes are disabled or review-oriented where appropriate; preview the graph, inspect its actions, and run a test before enabling automatic changes.

See Workflows and Triggers, actions, and runs.