Inspiration
We've all stared at a to-do list and felt... nothing. A wall of text with dates attached doesn't communicate urgency, it just catalogues it. We wanted to build something that pulled attention to the deadlines.
The inspiration came from a simple question: "What if you could feel your workload?". Space gave us the answer. An asteroid closing in on a planet is one of the most universally understood symbols of incoming threat. We took that metaphor and made it your productivity system. Every task is an asteroid. Every deadline is orbital pressure. The closer it gets, the more real it feels.
What it does
Taskeroid is a space simulation task manager. Your work is rendered as an asteroid field orbiting a planet, where:
- Deadline proximity maps to orbital distance - the closer the due date, the closer the asteroid to the planet
- Priority maps to physical size - high-importance tasks are visually larger and more threatening
- Focus Mode lets you lock onto a single task, dimming everything else
- Dependency chains block tasks until prerequisites are completed
- Recurring tasks regenerate automatically - daily and weekly threats always return to the field
It is available as a macOS wallpaper experience, a Windows desktop app (Electron + Three.js + React) and you can download it at a public web site.
How we built it
The core visual engine is built on Three.js, handling the 3D asteroid field, orbital mechanics, and animated completion effects. React powers the HUD layer — the task management UI that overlays the simulation. Electron wraps everything into a native Windows desktop application, giving us access to the file system and OS-level features while keeping the web tech stack we needed for Three.js.
We used Cursor, GitHub Copilot and Claude Code to generate code. The repository is split into three branches — app-dev (Windows), mac-dev (macOS wallpaper), and wb-dev (public website) — each with its own setup and deployment instructions tailored to that.
Challenges we ran into
Mapping abstract task data (deadlines, priorities, dependencies) onto a physically coherent spatial simulation was harder than expected. We had to design a translation layer where timestamps become orbital radii and importance scores become mesh scale — and make sure that system stayed readable at a glance even with a full asteroid field on screen.
Performance was also a challenge. Rendering a dynamic 3D scene with many simultaneous objects, animated effects, and a reactive UI layer required careful optimisation to stay smooth across different hardware.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Building a task manager that genuinely feels different — urgency is spatial, not textual
- Shipping across 2 distinct platforms (Windows app, macOS wallpaper).
- The animated completion effect when a task is destroyed - it rewards finishing work in a way a checkbox never could
- Making dependency chains feel natural in a 3D metaphor: blocked tasks visually can't advance
What we learned
We learned how much metaphor shapes behaviour. When your tasks look like incoming threats, you treat them differently. The visual language of the simulation changes how urgently you engage with your work in a way that text and colour-coding never quite managed.
We also deepened our understanding of Three.js scene management, Electron's main/renderer process architecture, and how to keep a React UI layer performant on top of a live WebGL canvas.
What's next for Taskeroid
- Mobile companion app - a lightweight orbital view for iOS and Android
- Team/multiplayer mode - shared asteroid fields for collaborative projects
- AI-assisted prioritisation - letting the orbital field reorder itself based on workload patterns
- Calendar sync - pulling deadlines directly from Google Calendar or Outlook into the field
- Custom planet skins and asteroid themes - operator personalisation for the command interface
Built With
- claudecode
- cursor
- github
