Hi HN!

Flat’s a lot like Trello, but with a cleaner, simpler, friendlier UI and real discussion threads. Flat also sports a first-class GitHub integration.

To take it for a spin without signing up, just go to https://try.flat.app. And there’s also a quick demo video here: https://youtu.be/NW2c9cZVaD0

We made Flat for ourselves, after a decade of wanting a simple, lightweight tool to stay on top of our work and not finding one. Trello is close, but we find it really frustrating to use in lots of ways. And most everything else is way too complex. We think there’s a need for a task tracker that prioritizes simplicity, clarity, and usability over bells and whistles that most users don't need.

And like many folks who are burned out on team chat, we also think there’s a need for a mode of workplace communication that’s lightweight, async, and attached to the work rather than chats in Slack or Teams where it’s too easy for things to get lost (and to be interrupted all day). Flat doesn’t try to replace Slack--chat will always have its uses--but it does offer a better venue for a subset of Slack’s workload, like asking and answering questions, making quick requests, and raising issues about things the team is working on.

Flat is aimed at small teams with basic needs. Small dev teams without a lot of process seem to love it, as do people who used to like Trello back in the days when it was less stressful to use, and people for whom Asana’s complexity is a non-starter.

Flat is still in beta, so it’s probably missing some things you expect, but what’s there is pretty baked. It’s available in-browser as well as Electron apps for Mac, Windows, and Linux (.deb)

Feedback is welcome and greatly appreciated! Either in the comments here, or if you sign up there's also a feedback button in the app navbar for whenever something irks you or you have an idea.

Thanks, Seth, Andrew, & Marcin

user:	okasakii
created:	February 29, 2024
karma:	3