Andon brings ANDON signal light thinking to personal project management — instant status visibility through color, with the complete story always preserved.
↓ Download for WindowsEvery attempt — success or failure — stays visible. Status bubbles up automatically from the most recently touched task.
Built for solo use. Fully local. Fast.
Color-coded projects and tasks tell you exactly where things stand — no reading required. Status propagates up from sub-tasks automatically via database triggers.
Full TipTap-based rich text editor per task — tables, code blocks, images. Every change is auto-saved with a version snapshot you can browse and restore.
Tasks contain sub-tasks, which contain sub-tasks. No depth limit. Model your work exactly as it actually is, not how a tool forces you to flatten it.
Search across all projects, tasks, and notes — including archived ones. Nothing is ever truly gone, just out of the way.
Attach any file directly to a task. Stored as BLOBs in SQLite — fully portable, no separate file management, no broken links.
Completed projects move to an archive database — still searchable, still readable, just out of the active view. The complete record is always there.
ANDON color palette designed for both dark and light environments. Theme switching is live — no restart required.
No account. No server. No telemetry. Your data lives in SQLite files on your machine — you own it entirely.
Powered by Velopack. Check for updates from Preferences → Updates. Delta patches keep downloads tiny. No reinstall needed.
Traditional project management tools encourage you to delete or hide failed tasks. Andon does the opposite — it treats every attempt, every block, every false start as valuable data.
"In Andon, red is not shame — it's wisdom. Orange is not failure — it's patience. Green is not the only valid state — it's just one part of the story."
Inspired by industrial ANDON signal lights (used in Toyota's lean manufacturing), and the Chinese concept of 經 (jīng — "to go through, to experience"), Andon is designed around one core belief: the journey matters as much as the destination.
A red task documents what was tried, why it didn't work, and what would need to change for it to succeed. Six months later, when a similar problem comes up, that red task is institutional memory — not garbage to delete.
Most PM tools optimize for the success path. Andon optimizes for the complete story.
| Aspect | Traditional PM tools | Andon |
|---|---|---|
| Failed tasks | Deleted or hidden | Kept as red — preserved learning |
| Project status | Manually maintained | Auto-computed from most recent task |
| Data storage | Cloud server (vendor-controlled) | Local SQLite files — you own them |
| History | Activity log (shallow) | Full note version snapshots per task |
| Archived projects | Often inaccessible or deleted | Always searchable in archive.db |
| Privacy | Terms of service, data on servers | Zero telemetry, fully offline |
| Task depth | Usually 2–3 levels max | Unlimited nesting |
Windows desktop application. Open source. No runtime dependencies for the end user.
UI & App
Data
Self-contained Windows installer — no .NET runtime required. Run AndonSetup.exe to install, then receive future updates in-app.
After installing, future updates can be applied directly from Preferences → Check for Updates inside the app.