Pending zone

The triage surface in Work mode. Captured items that need a human decision wait here for placement.

Pending zone

The Pending zone is the triage surface in Tree's Work mode. When items are captured in the Capture inbox but don't have enough context to self-place, they land here. The zone holds them until the user decides where they belong.

What lives in the Pending zone

Pending items are captures that need a human decision. Examples:

  • A note like "design review for Bar" that doesn't specify which Bar project or when
  • A task without a deadline that doesn't belong to an obvious tree
  • A captured thought that could be a node in any of several projects

Each pending item shows what it's waiting for: "needs placement in [project] tree," "needs a deadline," "needs an owner." The waiting reason is the next step the user has to take.

Resolving pendings

Resolving a pending means placing it. The user picks a destination tree, sets the missing context (deadline, owner, parent node), and the item leaves the Pending zone to become a regular node in the tree.

Once placed, the item flows through the normal rules: it appears in Your day or Your week based on its deadline, gets time tracked when worked on, propagates through the graph.

Why pendings get their own zone

The Capture inbox is in only. It's for raw dumping. Mixing "not yet looked at" items with "looked at, awaiting decision" items muddies both states.

The Pending zone is for items the user has acknowledged but hasn't placed. The zone is intentionally lightweight: minimal UI, focused on the placement decision, no other distractions.

Surfacing pendings across the app

Pendings are a load-bearing trust element. The user has to know when items are waiting. The Pending zone surfaces in multiple places:

  • Work mode: full presence, the primary location
  • Main menu: visible reminder card
  • Desktop or mobile widget: present when the app is closed
  • Plan mode: semi-minimized presence (the user can plan within pendings without leaving Plan)

This semi-global surfacing is deliberate. Captured items can't disappear quietly. The system surfaces them until they're resolved.

End-of-day nudge

A configurable end-of-day notification reminds the user to resolve pendings before closing out. Default time is around 4 or 4:30 PM, adjustable in settings. The nudge is gentle, not blocking.

The point is to leave the day with an empty Pending zone, so tomorrow's Your day is trustworthy and the user trusts the system to remember everything.

Tier availability

Pending zone is part of the core Tree experience, available on Free, Paid, and Team.

LAST UPDATED · 2026-06-02