Day Plan

A daily planner app app idea: three priorities and a day that fits them. Weekend build with Next.js, Supabase and Tailwind, for people who plan too much and finish too little.

See the spec
Why now

Why now

Open Sunsama, an open-source daily planner, stayed active through October, and 318 new GitHub repos mentioned daily planners. Local-first task tools such as OpenTodo also launched on Oct 10, so a deliberately small planner has an audience.

Checked at the source on Nov 2, 2026. Points, comments, and stars are from that day. GitHub counts are keyword matches, so treat them as a rough guide.

The spec

The spec

Each morning, choose up to three priorities, place them around your calendar, and see honestly whether the day has room for them.

Build time

WeekendSimple app · Level 1 of 5

Audience

People who plan too much and finish too little.

Stack

  • Next.js
  • Supabase
  • Tailwind

Fun factor

A to-do list that is allowed to tell you no.

Core features

  • Limit of three daily priorities
  • Time estimate for each
  • A simple timeline of the day
  • Yesterday's unfinished items to carry over

AI features

  • Breaks a large priority into a first step
  • Warns when the plan exceeds your free time

Stretch goals

  • Google Calendar sync
  • A weekly summary of what got done
  • Focus timer

First version

Three priorities with time estimates and a total against your free hours.

Build plan

Build plan

4 milestones, in the order you would build them. Saved ideas get this plan with checkboxes and notes.

Pick prioritiesA hard limit of three.
Start here
Estimate timeCompare the total with free hours.
Lay out the dayPut each one on a timeline.
Carry overMove unfinished items to tomorrow.
The build prompt

The build prompt

Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude, Codex, or Cursor, then build the first version before anything else.

day-plan.prompt.md
# Build Day Plan

You are a senior full-stack engineer pairing with me on a side project. Build a working first version of the product described below. Read the whole brief before writing any code, then follow "How to work" at the end.

## The idea

**Day Plan.** Each morning, choose up to three priorities, place them around your calendar, and see honestly whether the day has room for them.

**Why now:** Open Sunsama, an open-source daily planner, stayed active through October, and 318 new GitHub repos mentioned daily planners. Local-first task tools such as OpenTodo also launched on Oct 10, so a deliberately small planner has an audience.

**Who it is for:** People who plan too much and finish too little

**What makes it fun:** A to-do list that is allowed to tell you no.

## Scope

- **Build time:** Weekend. Size every decision to ship a working first version inside this window.
- **Technical ambition:** Level 1 of 5, "Simple app". Keep it to one or two screens with local state. Add a backend only if the core feature cannot work without one.
- **First version only.** Ship the core features below end to end. Stretch goals are listed so you can design around them, not build them.

## Core features (each must work end to end in the first version)

1. Limit of three daily priorities
2. Time estimate for each
3. A simple timeline of the day
4. Yesterday's unfinished items to carry over

## AI features

- Breaks a large priority into a first step
- Warns when the plan exceeds your free time

How to build them:
- Put every model call behind one server-side module with a typed interface, so the provider can change without touching the UI.
- Read API keys from environment variables only, and document each one in `.env.example`.
- Write prompts as versioned constants with clear instructions and an example of the expected output; parse and validate responses before using them.
- Handle timeouts, rate limits, and malformed output with a graceful fallback the user can understand. Stream responses where a wait would exceed a couple of seconds.
- Never let a feature depend on the model being perfect. Show the result, let the user edit or retry.

## Stretch goals (later, not in the first version)

- Google Calendar sync
- A weekly summary of what got done
- Focus timer

Leave clean seams for these (a module boundary, a nullable column, a feature flag), but do not implement them unless I ask.

## Tech stack

Use exactly: Next.js, Supabase, Tailwind.

Stay on current stable versions, follow each tool's official conventions, and add a library only when the standard library or the chosen stack cannot do the job cleanly. If part of this stack is a poor fit for a specific requirement, say so and propose the smallest change.

## Owner's notes

Written by me, the project owner. Treat these as requirements and preferences that override the generated material above when they conflict.

The first version should be exactly this, and no bigger: Three priorities with time estimates and a total against your free hours.

## Build plan (with saved progress)

0 of 4 steps complete. Resume at step 1: Pick priorities. Before you start it, check what is already implemented so you do not repeat finished work.

1. **Pick priorities** [not started]
   A hard limit of three.

2. **Estimate time** [not started]
   Compare the total with free hours.

3. **Lay out the day** [not started]
   Put each one on a timeline.

4. **Carry over** [not started]
   Move unfinished items to tomorrow.

## Definition of done for the first version

- [ ] Limit of three daily priorities works end to end, with real data, not a placeholder.
- [ ] Time estimate for each works end to end, with real data, not a placeholder.
- [ ] A simple timeline of the day works end to end, with real data, not a placeholder.
- [ ] Yesterday's unfinished items to carry over works end to end, with real data, not a placeholder.
- [ ] Every screen handles loading, empty, and error states.
- [ ] Typecheck, lint, and any tests pass, and the main user flow was exercised by hand.
- [ ] A README explains setup, environment variables, and how to run it locally.

## Quality bar

- Responsive from a phone to a desktop, keyboard-accessible, semantic HTML, visible focus states, labelled inputs, and sensible contrast.
- Loading, empty, and error states for every screen that reads or writes data. Errors say what happened and what to do next.
- Validate on the server, never trust the client, and keep secrets in environment variables with a committed `.env.example`.
- Type-safe end to end. No `any` without a comment explaining why.
- Small, readable modules named after what they do. No premature abstraction, no dead code, no TODOs left for later without a note.
- Sensible defaults over settings. If a choice is not in this brief, pick the simplest option that keeps the product coherent and say what you chose.

## How to work

1. **Read, then restate.** Summarize the product in three sentences and list your assumptions. Ask only the questions that block implementation. For everything else, decide and note the decision.
2. **Plan before code.** List the files and modules you will create, in build order, mapped to the core features. If a build plan is included above, use it instead: resume at the first step not marked done and check what already exists before touching it.
3. **Set up.** If a project already exists, inspect its code, instructions, and conventions first and build on them. Otherwise scaffold the stack above with linting, formatting, a typecheck script, `.env.example`, and a README stub.
4. **Model the data first.** Define the types, schema, and any migrations before the UI, so the shape of the product is settled early.
5. **Build in vertical slices.** Finish one core feature end to end (data, logic, UI) before starting the next. Keep the app runnable after every slice and commit each slice with a message that says what changed and why.
6. **Then the interface.** Apply the quality bar above to each screen as it lands, not as a final pass.
7. **Verify.** Run typecheck, lint, and tests. Exercise the main user flow by hand. Check each item in the definition of done and each acceptance criterion.
8. **Report.** Tell me what works, what you tested and how, what is not done, every setup step I must complete myself, and the three most useful next steps. Never claim a service, test, or flow was verified when it was not.

If you can edit and run the project, start implementing right after the short plan. If you cannot, give me concrete code and the exact commands to run for the next step.

Rules: keep the product name and the scope as written, do not invent features, prefer boring and proven choices, and stop to ask me when a decision would be expensive to reverse.

How to use

  1. Copy the prompt above.
  2. Open ChatGPT, Claude, or your AI editor and paste it into a new conversation.
  3. Build milestone one, run it, then move to the next. Add stretch goals only after the first version works.

Want ideas built around you instead? Generate four from your own interests, time, and stack.

Frequently asked questions

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Answers on what Day Plan is, how to build it, and where example ideas come from.

Similar ideas

Similar to Day Plan

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