Planify: A GTK4 Task Manager That Plays Nice With Your Existing Setup
You've probably got tasks scattered across three different apps right now. Maybe Todoist on your phone, a text file on your desktop, and a vague mental note about that thing you were supposed to do last Tuesday. Planify is a GTK4 task manager for Linux that tries to pull that mess into one place, with sync support for the accounts you're already using.
What It Does
Planify is a native Linux task manager built with GTK4 and libadwaita, written in Vala. It's a desktop application first—no Electron, no web wrapper—which means it fits into your system the way other GNOME apps do, including dark mode that follows your system theme.
The core pitch is straightforward: organize tasks into projects, group them into sections, and drag them around until your workflow makes sense. You get progress indicators, a calendar view for planning your day, multiple reminders per task, recurring task patterns, labels, filters, file attachments, and a search function that actually finds things. There's also an analytics view if you want to track productivity over time, and customization options for colors and themes.
The part that separates it from most local-only task apps is synchronization. Planify syncs with Todoist, so if you already have an account there, your tasks show up without you migrating anything. It also supports Nextcloud, which matters if you'd rather keep your task data on your own server. And crucially, it works offline—you can add and edit tasks without a connection, and it'll sync when you're back online.
It's GPL v3 licensed, distributed through Flathub, and translations are handled through Weblate if you want to help out.
Why It's Cool
It respects your existing data. Most task managers want you to move everything into their ecosystem. Planify meets you where you are—if you've been using Todoist for years, you don't have to abandon it. The sync is two-way, so you can use Todoist on your phone and Planify on your desktop and everything stays consistent. (Worth noting: the README explicitly states Planify isn't affiliated with or supported by Doist, so this is a community integration, not an official one.)
Nextcloud support is a real differentiator. If you're the type who runs a home server and would rather not hand your task list to a company, Planify gives you a self-hosted option. That's not something you'll find in most GTK task apps, and it's a meaningful choice for privacy-conscious users.
Offline mode is handled properly. A lot of sync-based apps become useless the moment your connection drops. Planify treats offline as a first-class state—you keep working, and it reconciles later. That's the right architecture for a desktop app.
It's a native GTK4 app, not a web app in disguise. The dependency list reads like a proper GNOME stack: libadwaita, libsoup3, libecal for calendar integration, libsecret for credential storage, libspelling for text checking. The calendar integration in particular means Planify can pull in your actual schedule rather than just showing tasks on a grid.
The feature set is genuinely complete. Multiple reminders per task, flexible recurring patterns, labels, filters, attachments, sections within projects—these are the things you only notice are missing after you've committed to a tool. Planify has them from the start.
One small thing worth mentioning: the README carries the "Please do not theme this app" badge. That's a signal the developers care about visual consistency with the GNOME design language, and they'd prefer you don't override it. Fair enough—it's their call.
How to Try It
The easiest path is Flathub:
flatpak install flathub io.github.alainm23.planify
If you'd rather build from source, you'll need a Linux distro with GTK4 support, at least 2GB of RAM, and about 500MB of disk space. The build dependencies are extensive (meson, valac, gtk4, libadwaita, libsoup3, libecal, libportal, libsecret, and more), but the README provides ready-to-paste install commands for Fedora/RHEL and Ubuntu/Debian.
Once dependencies are in place:
git clone https://github.com/alainm23/planify.git
cd planify
meson build --prefix=/usr
Then compile and install from the build directory. The full instructions and the complete dependency table are in the repository.
Final Thoughts
Planify is for Linux users who want a native desktop task manager but don't want to give up their existing Todoist setup or hand their data to a cloud provider. If you're already deep into the GNOME ecosystem and you've been looking for something that syncs without feeling like a compromise, this is worth a look. It's not trying to reinvent task management—it's trying to do it well on the platform you actually use. The Nextcloud support alone puts it in a fairly small category of apps, and the fact that it handles offline gracefully suggests the developers thought about real usage rather than just demo scenarios.