---
title: Getting started
summary: From the demo or your first sign-in to adding, scheduling and completing your first task, in about five minutes.
audience: user
section: Get started
specs: [task-management, account-access, web-app, documentation, first-run]
screens: []
order: 10
card: quick-add
---
# Getting started
This guide takes you from opening OpenTodo for the first time to adding a task, giving it a date and ticking it off, in about five minutes. Follow along in the demo or on your own server.
## Open OpenTodo
There are three ways in.
### Try the demo
Go to [demo.open-todo.app](https://demo.open-todo.app) and select **Try the demo**. You get a private sandbox filled with sample projects and tasks. Nobody else can see it, and it is deleted after two hours without activity (and every night), so don't keep anything personal there.
### Set up your own server
The first person to open a new OpenTodo server creates the owner account: enter your name, email and a password of at least 10 characters, then select **Create owner account**. From outside its network, the form also asks for the **Setup code** from `docker logs opentodo` ([details](self-hosting/docker.md#the-setup-code)). After that, sign-up is closed: other people join with an invitation from you (see [Sharing and comments](sharing.md#invite-someone-new)).
### Join with an invitation
Open the invitation link you were sent, choose a name and password, and you're in. If your server offers single sign-on or passkeys, the sign-in screen shows those buttons too.
Once you're signed in, the app is stored on your device. You can keep using it without a connection, and it catches up with the server when you're back online.
## Find your way around
The sidebar on the left lists your views and projects; its groups fold with a click on their name. The magnifier by the OpenTodo name searches everything (Ctrl+K); the one by **Projects** finds a project, label or filter. On a phone, a bar at the bottom goes to **Today**, **Inbox** and **Upcoming**, opens **Search**, and **More** opens the sidebar as a drawer; the round **+** adds a task from any page with the page's defaults (today's date in Today, the project in a project).
- **Inbox** collects tasks that don't belong to a project yet.
- **Today** shows what's due today, with anything overdue at the top.
- **Upcoming** shows the days ahead, grouped by date.
- **Projects** are your own lists, like "Home renovation" or "Work".
The circle to the left of each task completes it. The small line under the title shows the date, labels and project. More on all the views in [Views](views.md).
## Add your first task
Press q (or click the **Add a task** box at the top of the list), type `Call the dentist` and press Enter. The task appears straight away. [Your first task](your-first-task.md) walks through this step by step, starting with the card the Inbox shows on your first visit.
## Give it a date
Quick add understands everyday words: type `Call the dentist tomorrow at 9am` and a chip under the box shows the date it understood. See [Give it a date](your-first-task.md#give-it-a-date).
## Complete it
Click the circle next to the task, or select it and press c. It moves to **Completed** in the sidebar, where you can reopen it. See [Complete it](your-first-task.md#complete-it).
## Help inside the app
Every guide on this site is also in the app: select **Help** at the bottom of the sidebar, or press g then ?. It works offline and matches the version of your server. Many screens have a small **Help** link that opens the right section next to what you're doing, without closing it.
## Where to go next
Continue with [Your first task](your-first-task.md): the first-visit card, the full quick add line and completing. Then [install the app](install-app.md) on your phone or computer.
