FocusForge: Accessible Task Management

Inspiration

For individuals with ADHD, looking at a massive to-do list is paralyzing. Traditional productivity tools amplify anxiety by displaying 20+ tasks at once, making it impossible to decide where to start. This is a major access barrier to getting work done. Work should fit people, not force people to fit the tool.

What it does

FocusForge is an offline, local task manager that combats ADHD task paralysis by showing you only one task at a time. Instead of a complex Kanban board, the user pastes a "brain dump" of all their tasks. The app parses the text using a custom heuristic engine, filters out non-actionable items, and presents a single "Next Step" with a built-in visual focus timer. Once the user clicks "Done," the task is removed, and the next single action is revealed.

How we built it

Language: Python

UI Framework: Streamlit (with custom HTML/CSS for the circular focus timer)

Data Processing: Custom Regex & Heuristic Parsing (No external LLMs used, ensuring 100% offline privacy)

Architecture: Local execution, zero external API calls. We even disabled Streamlit's telemetry to ensure total privacy.

Challenges we ran into

We learned that for accessibility tools, less is infinitely more. While LLMs are powerful, we chose a rule-based heuristic parser to ensure the app is 100% offline and doesn't send private task data to an external server. We had to build a robust parsing engine that wouldn't drop tasks if the user didn't start the sentence with a verb (e.g., typing "groceries" instead of "buy groceries").

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are incredibly proud of the UI. It is intentionally calm, devoid of the red notification badges and complex menus that cause anxiety. We are also proud of the privacy-first architecture. By turning off all telemetry and external calls, users can trust that their personal brain dumps never leave their machine.

What we learned

We learned how to design for neurodivergence. What works for a neurotypical brain (seeing the whole board, complex tagging) can be entirely paralyzing for someone with ADHD. We learned that the most powerful feature in productivity isn't a new AI integration it's the removal of cognitive load.

What's next for FocusForge: Accessible Task Management

The next step is to allow users to import tasks directly from popular tools (like Jira or Todoist) and then strip away all the metadata, leaving just the raw action items. We also want to add a "Sync with Calendar" feature to automatically block time for the single task, completely eliminating the need for the user to look at a calendar.

Built With

• css
• html
• javascript
• python
• regex
• streamlit