Project idea capture without a notes graveyard
Capture project ideas as they arrive and land them in the right project automatically. quik.md keeps fragments alive instead of letting them rot in a notes app.
Updated April 25, 2026 · 5 min read
Project ideas arrive in fragments. A feature thought on a walk, a competitor note from a podcast, a positioning idea between meetings. Most of them die because the inbox is the wrong shape. quik.md fixes the shape.
A founder's day, in idea fragments
A normal day produces a stream like this:
- 8:42 — "the onboarding video is too long, drop intro"
- 9:15 — pasted URL to a competitor's pricing page
- 11:03 — "two-column pricing with annual toggle as default"
- 13:20 — voice memo about a partnership idea with a name and a follow-up date
- 16:55 — "the activation metric we have is wrong, we should use day-7 retention"
Five fragments, five projects in flight. A single notes file destroys this stream because nothing is filed. quik routes each fragment into its home project as it arrives.
How project routing works
The model picks a project per item. If it is at least 80 percent sure, the item lands there. Below the threshold, the item stays in Inbox with a routing trace stored in ai_meta.routing.demoted_decision. The trace tells you what was considered and why nothing crossed the floor — useful when you want to debug a misroute.
For the deep version of this logic see AI task routing. For the higher-level inbox argument see AI inbox for scattered thoughts.
When the project does not exist yet
The model can suggest creating a new project. The suggestion is gated at the same 0.80 floor. A confident "create" decision becomes a one-click promotion; an unconfident one is demoted to Inbox so quik does not litter your sidebar with one-item projects you will never look at again.
This is conservative on purpose. New projects should be promoted by you, not by routing noise.
Notes vs tasks for project ideas
Project ideas split unevenly. Most are passive observations ("the activation metric we have is wrong"), and a minority are imperatives ("ship the new pricing page Friday"). quik leans toward note for ambiguous shapes because the cost of a false task is higher than the cost of a re-classified note.
This matches how product work actually moves. You collect observations, sit with them, and only some become tasks. quik does not force a verb where none exists.
A real example: idea log for a feature project
Q2 Launch
├─ Note: "Onboarding feels long. Consider cutting step 3."
├─ Note: "Competitor pricing: two-column with annual toggle on by default."
├─ Task: "Follow up with Priya on partnership deck (Thursday)"
├─ Note: "Activation metric — switch to day-7 retention?"
└─ Task: "Draft positioning hypothesis for new pricing page"
Every fragment from the morning lands in one place. The next steps are clean. The notes are observations you can re-read without parsing. Two weeks later the project is a coherent log instead of a notes graveyard.
How quik fits with PARA, Notion, and Obsidian
quik does not replace your filing system. It feeds it. The flow looks like this:
- Capture in quik with auto-routing.
- Promote the items that matter into Obsidian, Notion, or whatever tool runs your structured project work.
- Archive the rest as markdown. Nothing is locked in.
For the markdown-native version of this loop see markdown task management.
How quik compares to other ideation tools
| Tool | Capture speed | Routing | Notes vs tasks split | Markdown export |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Notes | Fast | None | None | Partial |
| Notion | Slow | None | Manual | Partial |
| Obsidian Daily Notes | Medium | None | Manual | Native |
| Todoist | Fast for tasks | Limited NLP | Tasks only | Yes |
| quik.md | Fast | Project-aware | Automatic | Native |
See also: quik vs Todoist, quik vs Notion, quik vs Apple Reminders.
Who project idea capture is for
- Founders running 4+ projects in their head and losing fragments daily.
- Product managers carrying meeting asides into the next sprint without a transcription pass.
- Writers and researchers collecting fragments that need a home but not a structured doc.
- Indie hackers iterating on positioning, pricing, and onboarding in parallel.
If you live in a single project, you may be fine with one notes file. quik wins when the project count goes up and the routing problem starts to bite.
FAQ
Why not capture project ideas in a single big notes file?
Single-file capture rots. The list grows past the point where you re-read it. quik routes each fragment into the project it actually belongs to.
What if the project does not exist yet?
The model can suggest creating a new project at high confidence; otherwise it lands in Inbox. You can promote the suggestion in one click.
Does it handle competitor notes and inspiration links?
Yes. URLs parse as read tasks when context suggests it; passive observations stay as notes; tags flow through above 0.75 confidence.
How is this different from PARA or a Notion database?
PARA is a filing system; quik is the capture-and-route step that feeds it. Notion is slow for capture. Use quik on the front, your existing system on the back.
Can I export a whole project's idea log as markdown?
Yes. Every project exports as a single markdown file with sub-tasks, notes, and metadata.
