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Your First Task

This guide walks you through creating your first task in Stardust, from quick capture to AI-powered prioritization.
Philosophy First: Stardust isn’t about capturing everything. It’s about questioning everything and doing what matters.

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Creating a Task

Stardust gives you two ways to create tasks. Choose what fits your workflow:
1

Open Stardust

Launch from Applications or press Cmd+Shift+S from anywhere
2

Press Cmd+N

Or click the + button to create a new task
3

Describe your task naturally

Review Q1 roadmap before Thursday
Stardust parses natural language. You don’t need rigid syntax.
4

Let AI extract details

Stardust automatically extracts:
  • Due date: “before Thursday” → next Thursday
  • Priority: Inferred from context
  • Tags: Auto-suggested based on content
Quick Add: Press Cmd+Shift+N from anywhere to add a task without opening the main window.

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Task Anatomy

Every task in Stardust has essential fields:
FieldDescription
TitleWhat you’re doing. Keep it action-oriented.
OwnerWho’s responsible. Every task has exactly one owner.
PriorityHow important: critical, high, medium, low
Due DateWhen it’s due. Helps with prioritization.
StatusWhere it stands: todo, in_progress, blocked, done
TagsHow to find it. Flexible categorization.

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Understanding Ownership

Ownership is non-negotiable. Every task must have exactly one owner. Wishes without owners don’t count.
Stardust enforces clear ownership because:
  1. Accountability: One person is responsible for outcomes
  2. Focus: Owners know what they’re committed to
  3. Velocity: No coordination overhead
  4. Clarity: No confusion about who’s doing what

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Managing Your Task

Once created, update task details as work progresses:

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Update Status

Click the task and change its status:
  • Todo → In Progress when you start
  • In Progress → Blocked if you’re stuck
  • In Progress → Done when complete
Or use keyboard shortcuts:
  • C - Mark complete
  • E - Edit task

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Add Context

Provide additional context or notes:
stardust task update tk-001 --description "Blocked on API key from team"
Adjust priority as circumstances change:
stardust task update tk-001 --priority critical
Organize with tags:
stardust task update tk-001 --add-tag needs-review

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Getting Work Done

Stardust helps you focus on what matters right now:

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See What’s Ready

# Show unblocked tasks ready to work on
stardust tasks ready

# Filter by priority
stardust tasks ready --priority high,critical

# Your tasks only
stardust tasks ready --owner @me

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Get AI Recommendations

When you’re overwhelmed, ask Stardust what matters: 
stardust tasks prioritize
AI analyzes:
  • Urgency (due dates)
  • Impact (priority, blocking other tasks)
  • Context (what you’re already working on)
Output: 
AI Priority Recommendations
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Do Now
│ Fix auth bug (tk-002)
│ Reason: Critical priority, due today

Do Next
│ Review roadmap (tk-001)
│ Reason: High priority, due tomorrow

Consider Deleting
│ Reorganize files (tk-010)
│ Reason: Low priority, no activity in 3 months

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Best Practices

Be Ruthless

Delete tasks that don’t matter. The best work is the work you don’t do.

Keep Ownership Clear

One owner per task. No exceptions.

Update Status Promptly

When you start, mark it in progress. When blocked, say so immediately.

Trust the AI

AI recommendations are based on real data. Try them before overriding.

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Common Mistakes

Don’t capture everything. If it’s not important enough to have an owner and a plan, delete it.
Don’t leave tasks in limbo. Update status regularly. Stardust surfaces stuck tasks automatically.
Don’t over-plan. Production is truth. Ship to learn, not to plan forever.

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Next Steps

Common Workflows

Patterns for daily planning, reviews, and team coordination

AI Triage

How AI helps you cut through the noise