PlanDesk

Plan projects. Track tasks. Finish work.

PlanDesk is a local-first desktop project management app that helps individuals and small teams organize projects, milestones, tasks, issues, notes, linked local files/folders, and progress reports without complicated setup.

It is Windows-first through Tauri, React, and TypeScript, with a portable architecture for macOS and Linux later.

Features

• Dashboard with project cards, progress, due-soon work, recent projects, and attention counts.
• Project workspaces with Overview, Milestones, Tasks, Issues, Notes, Files / Resources, Calendar, Timeline, and Report views.
• CRUD for projects, milestones, tasks, issues, notes, and resource links.
• Built-in project templates for student work, research papers, client websites, software/app development, event planning, content calendars, freelance client work, and home/personal projects.
• Per-project custom task workflows with editable columns, column colors, ordering, completion rules, and workflow templates.
• Calendar and timeline views for project deadlines, milestone due dates, task due dates, project phases, overdue work, and unscheduled items.
• Folder templates that can create organized local folder structures from the desktop app after explicit confirmation.
• Color-coded projects, milestones, tasks, issues, notes, and resources for subtle visual organization.
• Task board and list views, including drag-and-drop status changes on a horizontally scrollable kanban board.
• Improved desktop board readability with fixed-width columns, clearer task cards, and intentional empty columns.
• Focus view for overdue work, due today, due this week, high-priority tasks, blocked tasks, critical issues, and missing resource links.
• Project reports with copyable/downloadable Markdown, JSON backup export, and CSV task export.
• JSON import with validation and confirmation before replacing current local data.
• Optional sample projects for Client Website Redesign, Graduation Event Planning, and Research Paper.

File And Folder Links

PlanDesk stores file and folder paths as references only. It does not upload, move, rename, or delete your actual files.

You can link files or folders to:

• Projects
• Milestones
• Tasks
• Issues
• Notes

Resource links support labels, descriptions, tags, linked section/entity, path health, open, reveal, copy path, edit, remove, and filters by type, section, missing status, tag, and search text.

In the Tauri desktop app, native file/folder pickers and open/reveal actions are handled through Tauri plugins. In the Vite browser preview, PlanDesk safely falls back to manual path entry and clipboard support where the browser allows it.

PlanDesk never recursively scans your computer and never modifies linked files or folders.

Project Templates

PlanDesk includes built-in project templates for common workflows, including Blank Project, Student Project, Research Paper, Client Website, Software/App Development, Event Planning, Content Calendar, Freelance Client Work, and Home / Personal Project.

Templates can generate milestones, tasks, issues, notes, workflow columns, color accents, and optional folder template recommendations. Blank Project remains available when you want to start from scratch.

Custom Workflows

Each project can have its own task workflow columns. Columns can be added, renamed, reordered, recolored, marked as completed, and safely removed after tasks are moved to another column.

Built-in workflow templates include Standard, Simple, Student, Design, Content, Client Work, Event Planning, and Software Development. Progress calculations use columns marked as completed, so workflows are not locked to a single hardcoded "Done" status.

Calendar And Timeline

The global Calendar view shows dated project deadlines, milestone due dates, and task due dates across all projects. Project workspaces also include Calendar and Timeline tabs for project-specific schedule planning.

Timeline view shows project start/due dates, milestones in order, dated tasks under each phase, overdue/upcoming state, and unscheduled tasks that still need dates.

Folder Templates

Folder templates help create organized local folder structures such as Documents / Resources / Outputs, Client Website folders, Software/App Development folders, Student Project folders, and more.

Folder templates are desktop-only actions. PlanDesk creates folders only after explicit confirmation, never overwrites files, and links created or existing folders as PlanDesk resource references. Backups store paths only; actual folder contents are not copied.

Screenshots

Screenshots can be added here after packaging the first desktop release.

Tech Stack

• Tauri v2 desktop shell
• React
• TypeScript
• Vite
• Tailwind CSS
• Zustand
• IndexedDB persistence
• Zod validation
• dnd-kit
• lucide-react
• date-fns

SQLite is intentionally deferred behind the data-access layer. The current app uses IndexedDB for a complete local-first MVP that runs in the available development environment.

Local Setup

Install dependencies:

npm install

Start the web development preview:

npm run dev

Run type checking:

npm run typecheck

Run linting:

npm run lint

Build the frontend:

npm run build

Build The Windows App

PlanDesk is configured to build as a native Windows desktop app with a setup .exe.

Install the Windows native build prerequisites once:

npm.cmd run desktop:setup

If Rust or Visual Studio Build Tools were just installed, restart PowerShell so cargo, rustc, and the MSVC tools are available.

Build the Windows app and collect the release files:

npm.cmd run desktop:build

The build script runs install, typecheck, lint, and Tauri's NSIS build. It copies the finished files into:

release/
  PlanDesk_1.3.0_x64-setup.exe
  PlanDesk_1.3.0_x64.exe
  PlanDesk.exe

Use PlanDesk_1.3.0_x64-setup.exe when you want a normal Windows installer and Start Menu shortcut. Use PlanDesk_1.3.0_x64.exe or PlanDesk.exe when you want to launch the built app directly from the release folder.

Tauri uses Microsoft WebView2 internally to render the app window, but PlanDesk opens like a normal desktop app. No browser tab or Vite dev server is needed after building.

Tauri Development

Tauri source lives in src-tauri.

Run the desktop app:

npm run tauri:dev

Build the desktop app:

npm run tauri:build

Tauri requires Rust, Cargo, Microsoft C++ Build Tools, and WebView2 on Windows. The desktop:setup script installs or checks these prerequisites.

Data And Storage

PlanDesk stores app data locally in IndexedDB under a single versioned snapshot. The data-access layer is isolated in src/data, so a SQLite-backed desktop repository can be added later without rewriting the UI.

Stored records include:

• Projects
• Workflow columns
• Milestones
• Tasks and subtasks
• Issues
• Notes
• Resource links
• App settings

Backups export these records as JSON. Linked file/folder paths are included as plain text references only; the actual files are not copied.

Export And Import

Project reports can be exported as Markdown. Task lists can be exported as CSV. Full app backups can be exported/imported as JSON.

On import, PlanDesk validates the backup shape with Zod and asks for confirmation before replacing current data. Imported paths may not exist on the current computer; PlanDesk marks those links as missing instead of crashing.

Project Structure

src/
  app/
  components/
    calendar/
    dashboard/
    focus/
    issues/
    layout/
    milestones/
    notes/
    projects/
    reports/
    resources/
    settings/
    tasks/
    timeline/
    ui/
  data/
  hooks/
  lib/
  stores/
  types/
  utils/
src-tauri/

Future Improvements

• SQLite storage backend for packaged desktop builds.
• Activity history.
• PDF export.
• Optional shallow folder preview for direct child counts.
• Keyboard shortcuts for common creation and navigation actions.

Versioning

PlanDesk uses semantic versioning and annotated Git tags. Release tags use the format:

vX.Y.Z

Example:

v1.3.0

Every official release should include an updated app version, release commit, annotated Git tag, rebuilt Windows installer, GitHub Release notes, and uploaded installer artifacts.

For full details, see VERSIONING.md.

License

This project is source-available for learning and portfolio review.

You may view and study the code for personal and educational purposes, but you may not copy, redistribute, publish, resell, monetize, or use this project or modified versions commercially without written permission from the author.

For commercial use, licensing, or permission requests, please contact the author.

See the LICENSE file for details.