TaskRatchet

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Calendar Feed ​

The calendar feed publishes your TaskRatchet deadlines as a subscribable calendar, so the money-on-the-line commitments you've made show up next to everything else on your schedule. It works with any app that can subscribe to a calendar by URL — Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, and others.

The feed is read-only and one-way (TaskRatchet → your calendar). Editing or deleting an event in your calendar app does nothing to the underlying task; manage tasks in TaskRatchet.

Get your feed URL ​

  1. Navigate to your settings page and click Manage integrations.
  2. Find the Calendar Feed section.
  3. Click Generate calendar token. Your Calendar Feed URL appears in the field above the button.
  4. Click the copy button next to the URL.

The URL looks like this, ending in .ics:

https://api.taskratchet.com/api2/calendar/<your-token>.ics

TaskRatchet gives you the https:// form. If your calendar app insists on a webcal:// URL, swap the scheme — the rest of the URL is identical.

Subscribe in your calendar app ​

Look for the option to subscribe to a calendar from a URL — not "import", which would copy the events once and never update them:

  • Google Calendar — "Other calendars" → + → From URL
  • Apple Calendar — File → New Calendar Subscription…
  • Outlook — Add calendar → Subscribe from web

Paste the URL and save. The calendar appears as TaskRatchet Deadlines.

What's in the feed ​

  • Only pending tasks. A task appears while it's incomplete and its deadline is still in the future. It drops out on the next refresh once you complete it, charge it immediately, or its deadline passes.
  • One event per task, at the deadline. Events are zero-length — they mark the deadline instant rather than blocking out time. Your calendar app renders them in your local timezone.
  • The stake is in the title. An event is titled Your task ($5.00), and its description repeats the task and the stake.
  • Up to 400 tasks. If you have more pending tasks than that, the feed is capped there.

Important: how the feed behaves ​

  • The URL is the password. Anyone who has it can read your task list and deadlines without logging in — treat it like a secret and avoid posting it anywhere public.
  • Refresh timing is up to your calendar app. TaskRatchet asks for the feed not to be cached, but nothing in the feed tells your calendar app how often to poll, and each app decides for itself. Google Calendar in particular can take many hours to pick up changes. Don't rely on the feed as a reminder mechanism for a deadline that's close.
  • Regenerating invalidates the old URL. Click Regenerate calendar token and confirm if the URL has leaked. The previous URL stops working immediately, and you'll need to re-subscribe in every calendar app that used it.