For Windows · local-first · keyboard-first

Your to-do list
is lying to you.

It says Prepare Q4 carrier review. It doesn't say what to do next, so you look at it for a week. Rumo splits the big thing from the next thing, and keeps every next thing one keystroke away.

I'd like to know more See how it works

Windows · no account · no cloud · your data is a folder on your PC

Rumo's Speed Run panel sliding in over a spreadsheet, listing every open action across all projects, grouped Today, This week and No due date. — ` opens **Speed Run** over whatever you're doing: every open step, from every project, in one list.

A Tuesday, roughly

8:52You open the laptop to finish one thing. Outlook has other plans.

9:20A Slack message asks for a number. You know the file exists. You just can't remember which folder.

10:05Someone says "can you look at the PO?" on a call. You nod. Nothing is written down.

11:40You glance at your to-do list. Prepare Q4 carrier review. It's been there since the 14th.

None of that is a time-management problem. It's a context-switching problem, and a list that never tells you the next move.

The one idea

A to-do is what.
An action is next.

Most to-dos are five steps wearing one name. They stall, and a list of stalled things gives you no feeling of progress. Rumo keeps the two apart.

To-do

Prepare Q4 carrier performance review

no next action

Meaningful, but not something you can do at 9:05 on a Tuesday.

Actions

Pull on-time delivery numbers for Q3 Today
Send volume forecast to Harbor Freight Tomorrow
Get legal to review redlines Tue

Small, physical, doable. These are what you actually tick off.

A to-do with nothing next is flagged.

An open to-do with no open action is stalled, shown in red as no next action. That is exactly the multi-step thing that quietly stops moving. One tap shows only those.

The To-dos panel filtered to stalled items, four to-dos each marked 'no next action'.

A day with Rumo

Same Tuesday.
Fewer detours.

Dana runs operations at a regional freight company (fictional, like every name on this page). These are real screens from Rumo, loaded with her week.

8:52 · mid-call
Capture it without leaving the call.

Someone asks for a volume forecast. Press CtrlI over whatever is on screen, type it, attach it to the right project with @. You never open Rumo. You never lose your place.

Select text first and it pre-fills. With Classic Outlook in front it captures the email; with Slack, the message, and the action later reopens exactly that thread.
9:30 · deciding what to do
Stop deciding. Open the list.

Press `. Speed Run slides in from the edge with every open action across every project, grouped by when it's due. Space ticks one off. There's no "which project was that under?"

Checked a box by mistake? CtrlZ. Rumo says "Done, with Undo" instead of asking "are you sure?".
11:00 · where was that?
Find it, or open it, from anywhere.

F1 opens a search over your projects, quick launches and reference folders. Type carrier, hit Enter, and you're in the right folder. Slots on CtrlF2 to F12 jump straight to the sites and folders you open forty times a day.
13:15 · reference codes and rewrites
Select text. Press one key.

CtrlShift0 reads what you selected and does the sensible thing. A short phrase becomes an action. A reference like PO009094 opens a lookup of that row in your own spreadsheet. A long paragraph opens your prompt library, ready to summarise or tidy it.
16:40 · the part lists never give you
See what you finished.

The Done view lists what you completed, grouped Today, Yesterday, Earlier this week. It sounds minor. It is the point: the small, honest evidence that the day moved.

What it's good at

Five things, done properly.

Fewer context switches

Capture, search and launch from wherever you already are. Overlays appear over your work and leave without a trace.

Actions, not just to-dos

Break the vague into the next physical step. Everything open lives in one list, with due dates like "next week" understood.

Your work stays where it lives

Rumo points at your folders, files, sites and (in Classic Outlook and Slack) real emails and messages. Nothing is imported or moved.

Type less, say more

Text shortcuts that expand as you type, with live dates: {date+7d} becomes next week's date. Pastype types your clipboard into fields that block pasting.

Quiet and yours

No account, no cloud, no telemetry. Undo instead of confirmations. A log and one-click backups, because it's your data and it should be safe.

Tutorial

Your first ten minutes.

There is no forced tour. Start in the main window and let the shortcuts reveal themselves when you need them.

1
Make your first item

Open Rumo from the tray icon and press Add item. An item is anything you manage: a project, a person, a recurring errand, a text shortcut. Name it, pick Project, and let Rumo create a folder for it under a work lane. A default lane exists from the first run, so there is nothing to set up.
2
Give it the five things

Every item carries the same five: notes, a root folder, to-dos, references (folders, files, sites) and actions. Add a to-do, then press A on it to file its first action. That's the whole system.
3
Plan the week

The This week view splits your backlog from this week's sprint. Move the few to-dos that matter into the sprint; the rest can wait without nagging you.
4
Teach it your phrases

An Expansion pairs a short trigger like ;meet with text that appears as you type. Dates resolve on the spot, and the editor shows a live preview, so you can see what it will say before it does.
5
Keep prompts you reuse

Save the instructions you keep retyping. Mark where the selected text goes with {}, then run a prompt on any selection from anywhere.

Keyboard cheat-sheet

Every one of these works from any app. The main window teaches them as you go, and Shortcuts in the sidebar lists the full set.

`Speed Run: every open action

CtrlIQuick-capture an action

F1Search and launch

CtrlShift0Act on the selection (lookup, prompt, capture)

CtrlF1Open the main window

CtrlF2…F12Your launch slots

CtrlShiftSSprint Bar: this week at a glance

CtrlShiftVPastype: type the clipboard

CtrlZUndo the last change

CtrlDSee what you've finished

The Help dialog listing global shortcuts.

Why it exists

For the days that feel busy and go nowhere.

Rumo was made to fight a specific feeling: being extremely busy and still not feeling that anything moved forward.

It organizes your work context in a way that makes sense to you. You get to the right place faster, you switch context far less, and you stay in the flow and focused.

And as AI takes on more of the doing, the ability to orchestrate your own demands becomes a core skill. Managing the work well is what clears the space to create, to innovate, and to move things forward.

I ran this system by hand for more than a year before it became software. Every feature is something I got tired of not having.

Local-first

Your data is plain files on your disk. No account, no sync server, no usage tracking, ever. A personal system shouldn't make you feel watched.

Keyboard-first, mouse-taught

Everything has a shortcut, but you start in a normal window that shows you the shortcuts. No wall of onboarding.

Proven over speculative

If something here contradicts a year of daily use, the daily use wins.

Rumo is not for you if…

You're on a Mac or Linux machine. It's Windows only.
You need to share lists with a team. It's one person per install, by design.
You want it to sync to your phone. It doesn't, on purpose.
You use the new Outlook. Classic Outlook works today; the new one doesn't have the hooks yet.
You like clicking more than typing. That's fine, other tools are better for you.

Interested? Let's talk.

Rumo is early (version 0.1) and not publicly available yet. Tell me you'd like to know more and I'll get back to you personally.

I'd like to know more

Windows 10 and 11 · built by one person, and honest about being early

Questions people ask

Does it sync or send my data anywhere?

No. Everything lives in your own folders and a small data folder on your PC. There is no account, no cloud and no telemetry.

What happens to my data if I stop using it?

Your items are plain JSON and your folders are normal folders on your disk. Nothing is locked in. There's also Export and Import, and automatic daily backups.

Is it a replacement for Outlook, Slack or my task app?

No. It sits on top of them. It captures an email or a Slack message as an action that reopens that exact thread later, and leaves the rest where it is.

Does it work with the new Outlook?

Not yet. Email capture works with Classic Outlook. In the new Outlook, Ctrl+I falls back to capturing selected text.

Will it fight with my other shortcuts?

Occasionally. CtrlI is italic in many editors, for instance, and Rumo takes it. That trade is knowingly accepted, and the cheat-sheet above lists every global key so you can see where they might collide.

Is there a Mac or mobile version?

No, and none is planned. Windows only, one person per install.

Your to-do listis lying to you.

A Tuesday, roughly

A to-do is what.An action is next.

A to-do with nothing next is flagged.

Same Tuesday.Fewer detours.

Capture it without leaving the call.

Stop deciding. Open the list.

Find it, or open it, from anywhere.

Select text. Press one key.

See what you finished.