Backlog.md
Shares rank 12 of 14 task managers by recommenders
Lets people keep tasks as markdown in their repo, with a TUI, web UI and MCP for agents. One mixed reviewer found it insufficient for complex or multi-agent work.
Lets people keep tasks as markdown in their repo, with a TUI, web UI and MCP for agents. One mixed reviewer found it insufficient for complex or multi-agent work.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Helps keep work organized
“it has been nice to help with organization but it is not sufficient for complexity or multiagents etc.”
Comment from 4 Feb 2026 in “OpenClaw is everywhere all at once, and a disaster waiting to happen” “backlog CLI kept the work clear.”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “Being Ambitious and Being a Dad”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Insufficient for complexity or multi-agent work
“it has been nice to help with organization but it is not sufficient for complexity or multiagents etc.”
Comment from 4 Feb 2026 in “OpenClaw is everywhere all at once, and a disaster waiting to happen”
Other task managers people recommend
The four most recommended other task managers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beads by Steve Yegge | 79 | 55 | 59% | 11 | 3 mo4 owners | — |
| Apple Reminders | 15 | 16 | 48% | 11 | — | — |
| Paca | 14 | 2 | 88% | 2 | — | — |
| Todoist | 13 | 7 | 65% | 7 | — | — |
| Backlog.mdThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
All 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The finished tasks end up being a knowledge store that the git history doesn't handle.”
“I've been using backlog.md for multiple projects with claude code and codex”
“backlog CLI kept the work clear.”
“tasks live in your repo, atomic and race free”
“it has been nice to help with organization but it is not sufficient for complexity or multiagents etc.”
“has a nice tui/webui for me, and mcp for the agent”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.