Getting started

Idea Bucket is a place to put every half-formed thought the moment it arrives, so you can find it again when it matters. This page covers signing up, your first idea, and installing the app.

#What Idea Bucket is

Idea Bucket keeps your ideas in one private bucket. You type or say an idea, sort it with inline #tags, and Drop it in. Later you can find it again by meaning or by keyword, even when you don't remember the words you used.

What it does:

• Drop: a single box for new ideas, with #tags and voice dictation. It works offline too.
• Find: search that understands meaning and keywords, plus tag and date filters.
• Explore: brings older ideas back to you, so they don't sink out of sight.
• Notes, Archive and Trash: add a thread of notes to an idea, put ideas away without deleting them, and undo deletes for 30 days.
• Automations and assistants: rules that act on your ideas, and connectors that let AI assistants such as Claude read and add ideas.

Idea Bucket is free on the web and on Mac. Your ideas are private to your account.

#Create your account

You don't need a password. Signing up and signing in work the same way: the first time you sign in, your bucket is created.

1. Go to ideabucket.app and click Sign up free (or Sign in if you already have an account).
2. Choose one of these:
   • Continue with Google takes you to Google's sign-in page and back again.
   • Type your email address and click Send magic link. Idea Bucket says "Check you@example.com and tap the magic link to open your bucket." Open the email and tap the link, and you're in.
3. You arrive at the Drop screen with an empty bucket.

#Drop your first idea

The cursor starts in the box at the top of the Drop screen ("What's the idea? Add #tags to sort it"). Type an idea and add a tag or two anywhere in the text:

Rooftop cinema night, bring blankets #friends #summer

Press Enter or click Drop. A "Dropped" message appears and the idea goes to the top of Latest. The tags are taken out of the text and shown as chips on the card:

• Text: Rooftop cinema night, bring blankets
• Tags: #friends #summer

You can also tap the microphone and say it: "Rooftop cinema night, bring blankets, hashtag friends." Capturing ideas has the details about tags, dictation and offline drops.

#Find your way around

The app has four main places:

On a phone, the bar at the bottom has Drop, Find and Profile. Explore is in Profile. On a wider screen, a sidebar shows all of them.

On a keyboard, ⌥ 1–4 (Alt 1–4 on Windows and Linux) switches between Drop, Find, Explore and Profile. / jumps to Find when you aren't typing in a box.

#Install it as an app

Idea Bucket is a web app that you can install. When you install it, it gets its own icon and window, opens without the browser toolbar, and keeps working when you lose signal. Updates install automatically.

Sign in again after you install it, from inside the installed app.

#iPhone and iPad

1. Open ideabucket.app in Safari.
2. Tap the Share button.
3. Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen, then tap Add.

#Android

1. Open ideabucket.app in Chrome.
2. Open the ⋮ menu and tap Install app or Add to Home screen. The name of this option depends on your version of Chrome.
3. Confirm. Idea Bucket appears with your other apps.

#Computers

In Chrome or Edge, look for the install icon at the right end of the address bar, or open the browser menu and choose the option to install Idea Bucket as an app. In Safari on a Mac, choose File → Add to Dock.

For the most complete experience on a Mac, use the Mac app.

#The Mac app

The Mac app adds global shortcuts that work from any app: you can drop an idea, search your bucket or dictate without switching windows. It needs a Mac with Apple Silicon and macOS 12 or later.

1. On ideabucket.app, click Download for Mac.
2. Open the downloaded file and drag Idea Bucket into Applications.
3. The app isn't notarized by Apple yet, so macOS asks you to confirm the first time you open it. In Applications, right-click Idea Bucket and choose Open. Or open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.

Setup, shortcuts and quick capture are covered in The Mac app.

#Where to go next

• Capturing ideas: tags, autocomplete, dictation, offline drops and editing.
• Finding ideas: how search works, tag search, filters and the archive.
• Explore: let old ideas come back to you.
• Notes, archive and trash: add notes to an idea, put ideas away, and get deleted ideas back.
• Tags: colors, tag cleanup and merging.
• Automations: rules that act on your ideas.
• Connect an AI assistant: use your bucket from Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Grok.
• Troubleshooting: when something doesn't work as expected.