TaskForcer

An aggressive productivity desktop app that uses behavioral forcing mechanics to make you actually complete your tasks.

Features

• Today View — prioritized task list (critical / medium / low) with Framer Motion animations
• Calendar View — month calendar with task density overlay
• Upcoming View — 7-day lookahead
• Stats View — area/line charts via Recharts, streak tracking
• Shame Log — virtualized log of all your failures (distractions, skipped check-ins, missed tasks)
• Morning Popup — forces acknowledgment of today's tasks before dismissal
• Floating Widget — glassmorphic always-on-top overlay showing active task + elapsed time
• Check-in Dialogs — periodic "still on task?" prompts; shame logged on skip
• Focus Tracker — read-only active-window polling to detect distraction apps
• Idle Detection — notifies when you've been away with critical tasks pending
• End-of-Day Lockout — blocks quitting after 6 PM if daily score is below threshold
• Recurrence Engine — daily recurring tasks auto-expanded at midnight
• System Tray — live score display, color-coded by performance
• Command Palette — Ctrl+K / ⌘K for all navigation and quick-start
• Settings — all forcing thresholds configurable; JSON data export

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Windows / macOS / Linux
• Windows: Visual Studio Build Tools (for better-sqlite3 native build)

Setup

git clone <repo>
cd TaskForcer
npm install
npx @electron/rebuild   # rebuilds better-sqlite3 + active-win for your Electron version

Development

npm run dev

Starts Vite on localhost:5173 and launches Electron once the server is ready. The launch script (scripts/launch-electron.js) unsets ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE before spawning Electron — required when running inside VS Code.

Build

npm run build           # compiles Vite + TypeScript electron
npm run dist            # packages for current platform
npm run dist:win        # NSIS installer (x64)
npm run dist:mac        # DMG (x64 + arm64)
npm run dist:linux      # AppImage (x64)

Packaged releases land in release/.

File Paths

Path	Contents
~/.taskforcer/taskforcer.db	SQLite database (tasks, sessions, scores, shame log, settings)
~/.taskforcer/state.json	Morning popup last-shown date
dist-electron/	Compiled Electron main process (CJS)
dist/	Compiled Vite frontend
release/	electron-builder output

Architecture

src/
  main/           React app (main window)
    views/        TodayView, CalendarView, UpcomingView, StatsView, ShameLogView, SettingsView
    App.tsx
  components/     TaskCard, Sidebar, TitleBar, dialogs, CommandPalette
  hooks/          useTasks, useScore, useSettings
  lib/            ipc.ts (typed window.electron bridge), animations, utils
  morning/        Morning popup entry point
  widget/         Floating widget entry point
electron/
  main.ts         App entry, window creation, auto-launch
  db.ts           SQLite init + migrations, safeStorage helpers
  forcing.ts      Check-in schedule, idle detection, end-of-day lockout
  focus-tracker.ts Active-window polling
  scheduler.ts    node-schedule: midnight recurrence, 15-min notifications
  tray.ts         System tray with live score icon
  widget-window.ts Frameless always-on-top widget
  ipc/            tasks, shame, scores, settings IPC handlers
electron-preload/
  preload.ts      contextBridge — exposes window.electron.invoke/on/off/once

Permissions (macOS)

• Accessibility: active-win reads the active window title. Grant in System Preferences → Privacy → Accessibility.
• Notifications: granted on first notification.
• Login Items: auto-launch toggle in Settings writes to Login Items via auto-launch.

Uninstall

1. Quit TaskForcer
2. Delete the application bundle / exe
3. Remove app data:
   • Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.taskforcer\
   • macOS / Linux: ~/.taskforcer/
4. macOS: remove from Login Items if auto-launch was enabled

Caveats

• VS Code terminal: scripts/launch-electron.js removes ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE before spawning Electron because VS Code sets that variable, causing Electron to boot in plain Node.js mode.
• Native modules: better-sqlite3 and active-win require npx @electron/rebuild after npm install. electron-builder with asarUnpack handles this automatically for packaged builds.