The productivity software market is overflowing with time-blocking apps promising to make us more efficient. Yet so many of them end up doing the opposite. They're cluttered with features no one asked for, take more time to manage than they save, and ultimately add another layer of complexity.

Ellie stands out for all the right reasons. It is focused, powerful, and refreshingly simple.

Even more impressive is the fact that Ellie is developed and maintained by a solo developer, Chris Raroque.

While most productivity platforms are the product of large teams and huge budgets, Ellie shows that vision, clarity, and thoughtful design can achieve something far more useful.

I have been using it for almost two years, and it has quietly become the foundation of how I plan, organise, and get work done.

How Ellie Uses AI

What sets Ellie apart is the way it uses AI to make everyday planning easier. Rather than bolting on flashy tools, it focuses on practical ways to reduce friction. Ellie can break down a natural language request down into subtasks automatically so nothing slips through the cracks. If I forget to label tasks, it can categorise them intelligently. It even analyses tasks and suggests realistic time estimates, which helps me plan more accurately.

Scheduling is another area where Ellie excels. By asking it to timebox my day or schedule my tasks, it builds an optimised plan around my existing calendar. It understands natural language for recurring tasks too, so I can create patterns like watering plants every three days without fiddling with settings. It can also scan my calendar and tasks to find a block of time for focused work, which is invaluable for deep tasks that require concentration.

Ellie also supports bulk actions that make managing tasks much faster. If I want to move all my personal tasks to the weekend, I simply ask, and it handles the updates instantly. And when I am unsure what to focus on, Ellie helps me prioritise by weighing deadlines, importance, and context to guide my attention to what matters most.

Features That Make a Difference

The AI features alone are a huge boost, but Ellie shines because of the way it integrates into the rest of my workflow. I particularly value the ability to connect both Google Calendar and Apple Calendar.

The Slack integration has also been a game-changer. I live in Slack all day, and I can simply add a task straight from Slack into Ellie. Similarly, the “email to task” function means incoming messages can be turned into actions instantly. Combined with a dedicated Mac app and availability across other platforms, Ellie is always within reach.

Where Ellie Could Go Next

Ellie already covers the essentials so well that its areas for growth feel more like natural opportunities than shortcomings. One feature that would add real flexibility is the option to create custom fields. This would make it possible to adapt tasks to different workflows, whether for tracking budgets, assigning priorities, or managing other specific details.

A projects layer above tasks would also be valuable. While the lists feature is excellent for grouping, a higher-level structure would make it easier to track progress against broader goals. This would help users move seamlessly between daily actions and long-term objectives.

Finally, while the Notion integration is a strong example of Ellie’s versatility, a direct Airtable integration would open up even more possibilities (to be fair, I'm an Airtable Partner, so I'm biased!). For those of us managing structured data in Airtable, syncing records directly into Ellie as tasks would create a smooth bridge between planning and execution.

A True Second Brain

After almost two years of daily use, Ellie has become more than just a productivity tool. It functions as a second brain, storing, organising, and managing the details so I can focus on the bigger picture. It is reliable, uncluttered, and genuinely helpful in a way that few apps manage to be.

If you're tired of bloated productivity software and want something that works with you rather than against you, Ellie is well worth trying. It may not be the loudest name in the crowded productivity space, but in my experience, it is by far the most effective.