A gap with nothing queued turns into a scroll, or the next episode, because the feed starts without asking you to decide. An idea in the middle of study has nowhere to sit, so it tugs at you, or you lose it an hour later. You put both in the box. mm shows one thing.
Python 3.11+. No pip packages.
One thing is current. You do not scan a list to decide.
You finish a piece of work, or a build is running, and for a minute nothing is in front of you. That minute is enough. Put the next piece in the queue before you need it. When the gap opens, type mm. The next thing is already there.
mm — the box already has the next thing
You are studying, or deep in the work. Keep the idea in your head and it pulls. Go do it and the work is gone. mm add "write this up later" lines it up behind the work you are in. You stay on that work. When you finish, the idea is next.
mm add — behind the current work, not instead of it
No tags, no dates, no projects, no config. Tomorrow an item is gone unless you add it again.
First in, first done
The work you meant to do. An idea during the work goes at the back. The thing you are on stays the thing you are on.
Finish it with mm done.
Last in, first done
Something just became more important. It takes the front. When you finish it, you are back on the queue, on the same work.
mm done returns you.
A small nag
Email, a chore, a thing that must not jump the line. mm never shows it as the next thing.
mm flush-quick deletes them. They are not archived.
mm is built around working memory, the cost of leaving a task, and writing a thing down so you can stay on the work. It does not depend on a memory illusion.
Working memory holds about four chunks when you are not rehearsing them. A long list is already more than the head can keep.
mm shows one thing.
Putting a task into a reliable place outside your head frees attention for the work itself. The capture has to be one line, or you will not do it mid-thought.
mm add "…"
Leaving a task unfinished leaves attention on it. The stack is a boundary: do the interruption, then mm done puts you back.
The way back is the command.
Getting back to the original task after an interruption takes on the order of twenty minutes. The queue is the written place you return to.
The return address is already written.
Zeigarnik
The claim that people remember unfinished tasks better has not held up as a general rule. A 2025 meta-analysis found no reliable memory advantage. mm does not depend on it.
| In your head | A todo list | A calendar | Notes and tabs | mm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you do next | You rehearse the list instead of doing the work. | It stores the tasks, then asks you to choose again. | It decides when. Real interruptions blow the slots. | They hold the words. They do not name what is next. | Shows one thing. Never takes the clock. |
| When something urgent arrives | The old work stays in your head while you do the new one. | Another row. The place you were is somewhere in the backlog. | You reschedule by hand. | Another tab, another scrap. | mm add -p. mm done puts you back. |
| Getting Things Done | Same first move: get it out of your head. Then projects, contexts, and a weekly review. | Stops at the three places. | |||
mm is a Python 3.11 program. The standard library only. No pip packages, no daemon, no account. It does nothing until you type it.
git clone https://github.com/Toseef-Ahmad/mm.git cd mm && ./install.sh
mm
mm add "write this up later"
mm add -p "prod is down"
mm done
mm block "waiting"
mm add -q "email Sam"
mm flush-quick
mm undo