Most task managers grow in one direction: they get heavier. Every new feature is bolted onto the main app, whether you use it or not. Over time the thing you liked because it was simple becomes slow, cluttered, and full of buttons you never press.
We built Coalface Tasks the other way round. This post explains how, and why it means you can have an app that is as tight or as broad as you want.
Everything extra is an extension
The core of Coalface Tasks is deliberately small: boards, tasks, and the views you need to work with them. That is the whole app for a lot of people, and it is meant to stay fast and quiet.
Everything beyond that core is an extension. Automations, time tracking, the marketing and planning tools, site health, AI assist, the activity log, connecting an AI assistant over MCP: each one is its own separate thing that you switch on when you want it.
You will find them all in one place, under Settings, then General, then Extensions. Each has a simple toggle.
Off by default, and truly inert when off
Here is the part that matters. An extension that is switched off is not just hidden from view. It is genuinely inert. Its code does not run, its menus do not appear, and it adds nothing to the pages you use every day.
We kept each extension isolated on purpose, so that turning one on cannot slow down or complicate the rest of the app. If you never touch time tracking, time tracking does not exist as far as your workspace is concerned. There is no quiet overhead you did not ask for.
This is what lets the app be as tight or as broad as you like. Turn nothing on and you have a clean, fast task manager. Turn a few things on and it grows to fit your work, but only in the parts you chose. You are never carrying weight for features you do not use.
And because each one is self-contained, you can change your mind. Switch an extension off and the clutter goes away again. Your data stays where it is; the app just gets lighter.
Nearly all of them, on nearly every plan
There is a second decision behind this, and it is about pricing.
A lot of tools use their best features as bait for the top tier. The useful stuff sits behind the most expensive plan, and the cheaper plans feel deliberately thin. We did not want to do that.
So most of our extensions are available on every plan, including the free one. Automations, time tracking, the activity log, and connecting an AI assistant over MCP are all there from the start, at no extra cost. The app is genuinely capable even at the bottom of our pricing.
A small number of extensions are tied to a paid plan, and we try to be honest about why:
- AI assist is available from the free plan up. On the free plan you bring your own AI key, so you are only ever paying your own AI provider, not us. Paid plans add metered credit so you do not have to.
- Marketing and planning, and site health, are on our Pro plan. These are heavier, more specialised tools aimed at people doing that kind of work, and they are where a paid plan earns its place.
Everything else is simply on, for everyone, whenever you want it.
The short version
- The core app is small and stays fast.
- Every extra feature is a separate extension, off by default, and completely inert until you turn it on.
- Turning one on never weighs down the rest of the app.
- Almost all of them are free, on every plan, so even our lowest tier is a full, capable app.
We think an app should get out of your way when you do not need something, and be right there when you do. Keeping every extension separate, and handing nearly all of them to everyone, is how we do both.