Tasks

The Tasks App is River's project and personal task manager. It treats every task as an entity in your Dataspace — searchable, linkable, and visible to the AI.

What you get#

• Lists, boards, and timeline views — switch fluidly between layouts
• AI task extraction — extract action items from any doc, email, transcript, or Slack thread
• Smart views — saved queries (Today, This Week, Overdue, By Owner)
• Sub-tasks — infinite nesting
• Edges — link a task to a project, a doc, an email, a contact, an event
• Recurring tasks — backed by Schedules
• Keyboard-first — shortcuts for everything (see Shortcuts)

How tasks come into being#

You create tasks four ways:

• Type one — directly in the Tasks App or via the global "Add task" shortcut
• Capture from anywhere — selection in a Doc → "Make this a task"; right-click an email → "Make a task"
• AI extraction — open any unstructured content, ask SpaceChat to extract action items, review proposals
• Agents — an Inbox Triage Agent or a Standup Synthesizer creates tasks automatically

All four produce the same kind of entity. Tasks created by AI are flagged so you can review them — but otherwise they're indistinguishable from ones you typed.

Smart views#

Smart views are saved queries. Some that ship by default:

• Today — tasks due today, plus anything overdue
• This Week — due this week
• Active Projects — tasks in projects you're currently working on
• Waiting On Others — tasks blocked by someone else
• Recently Completed — last 7 days of completions

You can build your own — saved queries become first-class entities.

Linking tasks to context#

A task in isolation is just a checkbox. A task linked to its context is a tool. Most tasks in River are connected to:

• The project they belong to
• The doc or email that gave rise to them
• The contact assigned to or blocking them
• The calendar event where they came up

Edges are how the AI keeps everything connected. Open a task and you see its full context one click away.

Keyboard shortcuts#

A few of the most useful inside Tasks:

See Shortcuts for the full reference.

AI patterns worth using#

• "Extract tasks from this PRD" — instant action items.
• "What's on my plate today?" — pulls from Today view, calendar, and recent communications.
• "Find tasks I've forgotten about" — surfaces stale items the AI thinks deserve attention.
• Task drafting Agent — runs after standups; turns the transcript into proposed tasks for review.

Tips#

• Capture before you organize. A task with no project is fine; sort later.
• Review your "Waiting On Others" smart view before standup — it surfaces blockers automatically.
• Keep tasks short and verb-led. "Reply to Maya about Friday" beats "Re: Friday."