Every 15 minutes

Sort your Todoist Inbox automatically

New Inbox tasks get clearer wording, a priority and a home in the right project within minutes.

Runs: Every 15 minutes
Apps: Todoist
AI: Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access: read+write

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every 15 minutes, look at new tasks in my Todoist Inbox, tidy up the wording, set a priority from p1 to p4 and move each one into Work, Home or Errands.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

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First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

Todoist's Inbox is where everything lands first, and for many people it becomes a junk drawer. Forty tasks like 'call about thing' or 'fix that' pile up with no project and no priority. Sorting them takes a deliberate sit-down, so the Inbox grows, important items sit unnoticed, and the list stops being trustworthy.

Every 15 minutes, this looks at new tasks in your Inbox. For each one, an AI step picks a likely project and a priority from the wording, rewrites the title so it is clearer, and then updates the task and moves it into that project.

It suits busy managers and freelancers with many projects who add tasks fast and sort later, if ever. It keeps the Inbox as a short waiting room instead of a permanent home for half-formed thoughts.

What you get out of it

An Inbox that stays near zero
New tasks leave the Inbox within minutes, filed under a project, so the daily sort session disappears. You open Todoist and see work already organized, not a heap you must triage first.
Priorities set while context is fresh
Because tasks are prioritized soon after you type them, an urgent item flagged by its wording does not sit at the bottom for days before you see it and realize it mattered.
Clearer titles you can act on
A vague entry such as 'email Sam re contract' becomes a plainly worded task. Weeks later you still know exactly what to do, without trying to reconstruct what you meant.
Right project, right view
Tasks in the correct project show up in that project's board and filters. Project reviews then include everything that belongs there, rather than missing items stranded in the Inbox. That keeps your project reviews and weekly planning honest.
Less mental load on capture
Knowing triage happens automatically makes you more willing to jot every thought down. You capture quickly and trust the system to organize, which cuts down the worry about forgetting. Over time that habit alone makes the whole system more reliable.

How it works

What happens, step by step

Every 15 minutes, ClickRuntime checks your Todoist Inbox for tasks.
AI reads each one, tidies up the wording, and picks the right project and priority.
The task is updated and moved into that project, so your Inbox stays clear.

Before it runs live

Connect Todoist

What you get

RunsEvery 15 minutes

Sort your Todoist Inbox automaticallytoday, 9:00Succeeded

Todoist · Inbox → Errands"pick up dry cleaning tmrw b4 6" → "Pick up dry cleaning before 6pm" · p2 · Errands

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other Todoist steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

ai_triage_of_inbox_tasks.pyexample

from clickruntime import on_trigger, report_fetched, state, http, credentials, ai

API = "https://api.todoist.com/api/v1"

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer " + credentials.connection("todoist", "main")}
    projects = {p["name"]: p["id"] for p in http.get(f"{API}/projects", headers=headers).json()["results"]}
    tasks = http.get(f"{API}/tasks", headers=headers, params={"project_id": projects["Inbox"]}).json()["results"]
    report_fetched(len(tasks))
    if not tasks:
        return {"summary": "Inbox empty"}
    for t in tasks:
        r = ai.generate(
            f"Tidy this to-do's wording, pick a priority p1 (urgent) to p4, and a project: Work, Home or Errands.\n\n{t['content']}",
            json_schema={"type": "object", "properties": {"text": {"type": "string"}, "priority": {"enum": ["p1", "p2", "p3", "p4"]},
                         "project": {"enum": ["Work", "Home", "Errands"]}}, "required": ["text", "priority", "project"]},
            max_output_tokens=80,
        ).json
        http.post(f"{API}/tasks/{t['id']}", headers=headers, json={"content": r["text"], "priority": 5 - int(r["priority"][1])})
        http.post(f"{API}/tasks/{t['id']}/move", headers=headers, json={"project_id": projects[r["project"]]})
    return {"triaged": len(tasks)}

FAQ

Common questions

How does the AI know which project to choose?

It reads the task text alongside your list of project names and picks the best match. If a task is truly ambiguous, you can tell it to leave the task in the Inbox rather than guess, so odd items stay visible.

Will it change tasks that I have already organized?

It only works on tasks sitting in the Inbox. Tasks already in a project are left alone, and once a task is moved it is no longer in the Inbox, so it is not processed again on later runs.

Can I stop it rewording my task titles?

Yes. Rewording is just one of the fields the AI step returns, so you can limit it to project and priority only. Ask your AI assistant for that change and approve it when it is shown to you.

What permissions does it need?

read+write. Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run each time it checks. Checks that find nothing new and stop right away aren't counted.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

On a scheduleAI