InitiCat is an application from InnoviCat, hosted on its own site at initicat.com. The utilities on this site each finish a single calculation or conversion and hand you the answer. InitiCat is different in kind: it stays with you through one piece of work, from deciding what to begin to finishing it.

What it does

It shows one thing at a time. You name something you want to begin, break it into steps small enough that the first one is obviously doable, estimate how long it will take, and start a timer. When you finish, it records what the work actually took, so later estimates get closer to reality.

It also holds the things you are not doing right now — notes, repeatable sequences of steps, items set aside until a later day — without putting them in front of you while you work.

  • InitiCat showing a single task, Reply to the message from Sam, with three steps and a Start button.
    One task at a time, with the first step already named.
  • InitiCat running a timer at three minutes forty-four seconds, showing the current step and remaining time.
    While it runs, only the current step is on screen.

Why we made it

Beginning is a separate problem from organizing. Most software for managing work assumes you already know your next action and only need somewhere to record it. That assumption fails on exactly the days when the work matters and starting is hard. InitiCat is built for those days rather than for the days when a list is enough.

Where your data lives

InitiCat keeps your tasks in your browser on your own device. There is no account and no sign-up. You can create an encrypted backup file and restore it yourself; the recovery key stays with you, and a backup cannot be read without it.

Open it

Open the application Read about InitiCat

Both links leave InnoviCat and open initicat.com. The application runs in the browser and can be installed from it.