Re:Show HN: Ember – your day never goes as planned, your cal...
by hhhkm on Thursday October 08, 2026 @12:04PM
(#50007533)
Hi HN!
I'm Neil, the creator of Ember. I built Ember because I always wanted an app where I could plan out my whole day from a task list, taking into account other commitments and recurring tasks. The problem is that once I built it, I realized no matter how much you plan your day, the reality is always different. Tasks take longer than I thought, something else comes up in between, a meeting gets moved or runs long. When you block your day in something like Google Calendar and this happens, you have to manually move each block down. Within a day or two of that I'd give up on the system.
So for Ember I built a cascade engine. When I drag a task to start later or change its duration, it pushes any tasks it would overlap down with it. If a task below is locked to a certain time, the tasks that would overlap it split around it and join back together as they move past it. I think it's really cool and unique so give it a try!
The way I use it day to day: I dump thoughts into captures from wherever I am, turn the ones that matter into tasks, plan them across my week, plan the day, and then replan the day when it inevitably falls apart. Android, iOS and desktop apps are coming soon, so you'll be able to capture from anywhere.
There's also an AI chat built in where you can say things like "I'm running 30 minutes behind" and it moves things for you, and an MCP server so you can connect Claude or ChatGPT to your schedule.
It's in beta, but a pretty polished one. I've used it every day for a long time and spent a lot of time honing the decisions in it. There are still bugs though, and I'm still building and learning as I go.
The demo runs in your browser with no signup to test the core flow minus AI. The first 200 people from HN can sign up through the demo and get 30 days of the full app with AI. After the 30 days you drop to the free tier and keep all your stuff. If you want to keep using AI you can connect Claude or ChatGPT over MCP, bring your own API key, or become a supporter for $10/month.
I'd love feedback, especially on the cascade engine and if it behaves how you would expect. Let me know any other bugs you run into. I hope you enjoy it!
I'm Neil, the creator of Ember. I built Ember because I always wanted an app where I could plan out my whole day from a task list, taking into account other commitments and recurring tasks. The problem is that once I built it, I realized no matter how much you plan your day, the reality is always different. Tasks take longer than I thought, something else comes up in between, a meeting gets moved or runs long. When you block your day in something like Google Calendar and this happens, you have to manually move each block down. Within a day or two of that I'd give up on the system.
So for Ember I built a cascade engine. When I drag a task to start later or change its duration, it pushes any tasks it would overlap down with it. If a task below is locked to a certain time, the tasks that would overlap it split around it and join back together as they move past it. I think it's really cool and unique so give it a try!
The way I use it day to day: I dump thoughts into captures from wherever I am, turn the ones that matter into tasks, plan them across my week, plan the day, and then replan the day when it inevitably falls apart. Android, iOS and desktop apps are coming soon, so you'll be able to capture from anywhere.
There's also an AI chat built in where you can say things like "I'm running 30 minutes behind" and it moves things for you, and an MCP server so you can connect Claude or ChatGPT to your schedule.
It's in beta, but a pretty polished one. I've used it every day for a long time and spent a lot of time honing the decisions in it. There are still bugs though, and I'm still building and learning as I go.
The demo runs in your browser with no signup to test the core flow minus AI. The first 200 people from HN can sign up through the demo and get 30 days of the full app with AI. After the 30 days you drop to the free tier and keep all your stuff. If you want to keep using AI you can connect Claude or ChatGPT over MCP, bring your own API key, or become a supporter for $10/month.
I'd love feedback, especially on the cascade engine and if it behaves how you would expect. Let me know any other bugs you run into. I hope you enjoy it!