Everything CogniSource does,
and how to use it.

Getting started

CogniSource runs entirely in your browser, on your device. There is nothing to install and no account to create. Open the app and the onboarding wizard walks you through setup in about two minutes.

1. Open the app. Head to your workspace and let the onboarding wizard set up your local store. Bookmark it so you land straight in next time.
2. Log a normal day. Don’t curate; capture the day the way it actually happens, interruptions and “quick favours” included. The signals are only as honest as what you log.
3. Tag what arrives unplanned. Tasks and interruptions can both be marked planned or unplanned. This one habit is what powers your capacity and pressure signals.
4. Let the numbers settle. Your scores don’t appear on day one. CogniSource is still calibrating to your workload. A week or two of logging is where the patterns (fragmentation, unplanned load, thinning buffers) start to show.

Capturing work

The indicators are only as real as what you log, so capture is keyboard-first and one keystroke from anywhere. If Obsidian or Roam trained your hands, this will feel immediately familiar.

Command palette: Ctrl K

Press Ctrl K from anywhere to search across everything: tasks, notes, projects, people, and companies. Use the ↑ ↓ arrows and Tab to move through results, and Enter to open what you land on. Type @ to scope the search to people and companies only.

Quick capture: Ctrl Q

Mid-task and something lands? Press Ctrl Q to capture it without leaving what you’re doing. With quick capture open, five create actions are a single key away:

1. T new task
2. I new interruption
3. N new note
4. P new project
5. M new meeting

Whatever you capture is saved and structured, waiting for you when you come back.

@mentions and the Registry

Tag people and companies anywhere in tasks and notes with @name. Chips appear inline, and every mention is tracked automatically. The Registry is the live directory that results: open any person or company record to see their role and every task, note, meeting, and interruption where they appear. It stays current as you work. No manual upkeep.

Everything connects

Link notes to tasks and projects, tasks to meetings, and add meeting notes straight from the meeting log. The workspace builds its own context map as you go, which is what lets the dependency and single-point-of-failure signals see the shape of your work.

Interruptions & unplanned work

A task list shows you the planned half of your work. The half that actually wears people down (the interruptions, the surprise directives, the “quick favours”) usually goes unrecorded. Logging it is what separates CogniSource from a to-do app.

1. Log it as it hits. Press Ctrl Q then I to capture an interruption the moment it arrives, without leaving what you’re doing.
2. Record source and duration. Note where it came from and roughly how long it cost you. That’s what turns a vague sense of “busy” into a measurable fragmentation score.
3. Mark it planned or unplanned. This single tag feeds straight into your capacity and burnout signals. Over a week, your unplanned share is often the most revealing number on the dashboard.

The six indicators

CogniSource computes six Key Risk Indicators from what you log, not from how you feel. Each one is grounded in published research; the Research page shows the math and every citation behind it. Here is what each one is actually telling you.

The Pressure Index

The six indicators combine into a single Pressure Index on a 0–100 scale, updated in real time as you log. It’s the at-a-glance answer to “how loaded am I right now?”, a way to see the whole picture without reading six gauges at once.

How to read it

Treat the trend as more important than any single reading. A number that creeps up week over week is the signal to watch: it means load is outpacing recovery before it becomes obvious. When the index climbs, open the six indicators underneath it to see which pressure is driving it, so you know whether the fix is backup, escalation, protecting focus, or simply saying no to the next unplanned ask.

Past, present & future

The indicators tell you where you stand. These views give you the runway around them, laid out the way time actually runs: what just happened, what you’re in right now, and what’s coming next.

Past

Yesterday is a compact strip recapping the day before at a glance: what you completed, the interruptions and unplanned work that arrived, and anything still open. It’s the quickest read on what’s carrying into today.

Present

Today’s Focus is up to five high-priority tasks, ranked automatically by urgency, deadline pressure, and your risk signals. It sits at the top of the Today page so the most important work is the first thing you see. Daily Flow is the live answer to “what have I actually done so far today?”: a timestamped log of tasks created and completed, meetings logged, and interruptions captured, from midnight to now.

Future

Next Week Preview shows the week coming: what’s carrying over and what’s already committed before the week even starts, so nothing lands as a surprise.

Your data & privacy

CogniSource is local-first by design. It runs in your browser, on your device, and your tasks, scores, and pressure signals live with you. There is no server that ever sees your data, no manager dashboard, no organisation view, and no team rollup. Nothing about how you work is shared with anyone or sold.

Backup & sync

Because your data is yours, you control where it’s kept. Point CogniSource at a backup location you choose (a local folder or your own OneDrive) so your workspace is safe and follows you between sessions, without ever passing through someone else’s server.

Keyboard reference

Everything frequent is reachable without the mouse. The essentials: