Cross-cutting labels. All in a tree.

Five categories — one for each kind of label

Every tag has a category. The category drives how it renders and where it surfaces:

• person — @sarah, @mom. Auto-detected as a "Waiting on" person; renders with @ in task lists.
• place — @home, @office, @grocery. GTD-style location context.
• context — @phone, @computer, @errands. GTD-style tool/state context.
• topic — #renewal, #research, #hiring. Standard topical label.
• label — #urgent, #blocked, #15min. Status / meta label.

The category is set when you create the tag — Mind Like Water infers from the prefix character you type (@ → person/place/context, # → topic/label). You can change it later in Settings → Tags.

Nested tags

Tags can have parent tags. #meetings/standups is a sub-tag of #meetings, which makes filtering hierarchical:

• Filter by #meetings → see every standup, retro, and 1:1.
• Filter by #meetings/standups → just standups.

Build the tree to match the structure your work actually has. #clients/acme, #clients/globex, #clients/initech all live under #clients; filter by the parent for "all client work" or any leaf for one specific client.

The tag tree (Notes view)

The Notes view has a tag tree on the side. It shows:

• Areas at the top — every tag belongs to an Area of Focus.
• Tags within each Area, indented to show parent/child nesting.
• Notes that have a tag can be expanded inline under that tag.

Drag-and-drop is the whole interaction:

• Drag a tag onto another tag → makes it a child.
• Drag a tag onto an Area row → moves the tag (and its children) to that Area.
• Drag a note onto a tag → adds the tag to the note.
• Drag a note onto an Area → assigns the note to that Area.

The tree updates live across tabs.

Three ways to create tags

1. Inline in any capture. Type #topic or @person in a task title, note title, or note body. Mind Like Water creates the tag if it doesn't exist and attaches it.
2. Tag picker. Open a task or note, click the + Tags chip in the detail pane, type a name. Or use ,t on a selected task.
3. Settings → Tags. Explicitly create with a chosen category, color, and icon. Useful when you want full control or to bulk-rename.

Tags created inline default to "topic" or "label" category. The picker lets you set the category up front. Mind Like Water also auto-suggests an emoji or Lucide icon based on the tag name when you create one.

Filtering — three states per tag

Most task views (Today, Next Actions, Inbox, Project Detail) have a tag chip in the chip rail when at least two of your visible tasks share a tag. Click to filter; shift-click to exclude. Three states: include, exclude, off.

Tag filters AND across categories, OR within. "Show me tasks tagged #urgent OR #blocked, that ALSO have @phone context" is one state of the chip rail.

Areas + Tags = scope plus cross-cut

Areas of Focus and tags do different jobs. Areas are a scope — pick one and the whole app narrows to it. Tags are cross-cutting — apply them across Areas to find work by some other dimension (a client, a person, a context).

Every tag belongs to an Area, so when you switch the Areas filter, only that Area's tags show in the picker. Tags that span multiple Areas (a person who shows up in both Work and Personal) live in the Area where they make most sense; the work-related tags live under Work.

What this doesn't do (yet)

• No tag descriptions — tags are names + categories + icons + color, not full notes about themselves.
• No saved tag combinations — you can't pin "#urgent + @phone" as a one-click view yet. Use pinned filter combos in the chip rail for that.
• No tag aliases — #meeting and #meetings are distinct tags. Bulk-rename is the workaround.

Frequently asked