Help & FAQ

Inching is a visual goal tracker. Instead of one intimidating to-do list, you map a big goal as the small steps it actually takes — we call them inches — and connect them by what unlocks what — so the app knows the real order. Then it works in two modes: a sprawling map for getting everything out of your head, and a daily Today board that surfaces only the inches you can actually act on right now. The plan can be as big as it needs to be; you still always have one clear next move.

Start by creating a goal — the thing you're inching toward — and let it sit at the top of a map. Add the smaller steps it takes as inches, and connect them by marking what's a prerequisite of what, so each finished inch unlocks the next. If an inch is still too big to start, break it down until something's doable. As you complete inches, the map reopens whatever they unblock, and the actionable frontier moves forward on its own. When it's time to actually work, switch to Today: every unlocked inch sits on one board, and you drag each onto a shelf — Today, Soon, or Not ready — then work your Today shelf down until a quiet “all done” takes its place.

You can connect Inching to an AI assistant — like Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor — so it can see your goal maps and make changes for you — adding inches, connecting prerequisites, marking things done — all in plain conversation. It works through MCP, an open standard for connecting AI tools to apps that a growing list of assistants support. You approve the connection first, and the assistant works on your behalf from there.

Connection URL

Add the connector to your assistant

1. Open your assistant's connector settings — most clients call it Connectors, MCP servers, or Custom connectors.
2. Add a new custom connector and paste the connection URL above.
3. Your assistant sends you to Inching to sign in and approve access — review what's being asked, then click Approve.
4. Back in your assistant, the Inching tools are ready. Try “What should I work on next?” or “Add an inch to my book goal.”

The exact wording varies by client. In Claude (web or desktop), it's Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector; ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code, and others have an equivalent — check their docs for where custom MCP connectors live.

On your phone? Some assistants — Claude among them — only let you add a connector from their desktop or web app, not their mobile app. If you don't see the option on your phone, do the setup once on desktop or the web. The connection is tied to your account, so it carries over to the mobile app automatically — no need to repeat it there.

From the terminal (Claude Code)

Then run /mcp to sign in and approve.

A connected assistant can view and make changes across your goals on your behalf — creating, editing, completing, and deleting anything on your maps. Only connect tools you trust, and check that the approval screen shows the app you expect before you allow it.

• What's a goal map?

  A goal map is one big goal broken into the actual work it takes to get there. Every small step on the map is an inch — the smallest unit of progress, and where the app gets its name — and you connect inches so the app knows what has to happen before what. The goal sits at the top, the small first inches sit at the bottom, and everything in between is the path. You never arrange any of it by hand — Inching lays the map out for you and keeps it tidy as it grows.

• What are prerequisites and unlocks?

  A prerequisite is whatever has to be done first; an unlock is what becomes available once it is. If "Draft the outline" is a prerequisite of "Write the first chapter", then finishing the draft unlocks the chapter. You're just telling the map what depends on what — it figures out the order for you.

• What's the difference between an inch, a milestone, and a goal?

  An inch is the smallest unit of progress — one small, doable step, and the only thing you tick off yourself. A milestone is a checkpoint partway up that deserves a real celebration, and a goal is the destination at the top. Milestones and goals have no checkbox: the moment the last inch feeding one is finished, it completes on its own and throws the full celebration. Finish everything in a project and you get the biggest fanfare in the app.

• How does Inching decide what to show me next?

  An inch is "ready" when it isn't done yet and everything it depends on is finished. The Today board collects those ready inches, and within each shelf the high-leverage ones — inches whose completion would unblock several others — sort to the top, so the moves that carry your plan furthest are the first ones you see.

• What is the Today board?

  Today is where your whole day lives, and it opens at a glance: three quiet cards — Habits, Lists, and Inches — each showing just enough to know where you stand. Tap a card and it opens in place. The Inches room holds every inch that's actually unlocked right now, sorted onto shelves: Today (what you're working on), Soon (what's on deck), and Not ready (things you've consciously set aside, like a big purchase). You sort by dragging — newly unlocked inches (and anything a teammate assigns to you) wait in a "New" tray until you file them. Goals and milestones don't appear here: they're destinations, not todos, and they celebrate on the map. Tick an inch's ring to complete it, exactly like on the map; when your Today shelf is finished, a quiet "all done" note takes its place until you pull the next inch up. Nothing resets on a clock — your plan is your plan until you change it.

• Can Inching track daily habits?

  Yes — habits are the first card on Today. A habit is a small ritual that repeats on its own schedule: every day, chosen weekdays, days of the month, or every N days. Habits aren't inches — they never appear on a map and never count against your open-inch limit. The card shows one dot per habit due today, filling in as you check them off; open it and each habit is one tap. If a habit takes several rounds — say six glasses of water — give it a count and each tap ticks it up until the day is done. Every habit also keeps a gentle week view: seven dots, filled where you did it, hollow where it slipped. Dots, not streaks — one miss is information, never a broken chain.

• Where do shopping lists and errands go?

  On the Lists card — because not everything belongs on a map. A list is a loose checklist for a context ("Target", "Groceries", "🧳 Packing"): add items in seconds, check them off in the aisle, and hit "Clear checked" when the run is done. List items are deliberately simple, just words — if one turns out to be a real piece of work, it deserves to be an inch on a map instead. Lists never count against your open-inch limit. They also pay attention: start typing and things you've added before are suggested first, adding a duplicate gets a gentle nudge instead of a double, and something you restock on a rhythm — coffee about every two weeks — quietly offers itself back when the time comes. Packing list? "Reset list" un-checks everything for the next trip.

• What can an inch hold besides a title?

  Open any inch and you can add notes (full Markdown, edited in place), a checklist, a link, and a dollar amount. Checklists aren't just decoration — tick the last item and the inch completes itself. Goals and milestones stay deliberately light: they carry notes, but the working details live on the inches beneath them.

• Can I keep more than one map?

  Yes — maps live in named projects. The switcher next to the Inching logo jumps between them, starts new ones, renames old ones, and offers an all-projects view of every map at once. Everything on a map belongs to exactly one project, and connecting an inch to something in a different project merges the two — your tree moves over to the project of whatever it unlocks, and Inching shows you exactly what's about to move before anything does. Inches that don't belong anywhere yet (say, something your AI assistant added on its own) wait in an Unsorted bucket so nothing gets lost.

• Can I work on goals with other people?

  Yes. Sharing works by project: share a map with a contact, or with a team — a reusable roster like your family or crew — and everyone on it gets access in one move. You save a person to your contacts once, by email, on the People page (if they don't have an account yet, the invite waits for them); from then on you pick them by name everywhere. People join as editors (they can change things) or viewers (look, don't touch), and you can assign an inch to someone so it lands in the New tray on their Today board. Everyone sorts their own board — sharing a map never scrambles anyone's plan. Teams are part of Pro, but only for the person sharing: everyone you invite collaborates free.

• How do I find out what happened while I was away?

  The bell in the header collects what matters: someone assigned you an inch, shared a project with you, added you to a team, or a shared map reached a milestone or goal. Click one to jump straight to that spot on the map. If activity on a shared map piles up while you're not around, Inching also sends a short email recap — anything you've already seen in the app stays out of it.

• Is there a dark mode? Keyboard shortcuts?

  Both. The app follows your system light/dark preference by default, and you can pin light or dark from the account menu or the command palette. Press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows) or / to open that palette — it searches your inches and runs commands — and ? lists every shortcut: N for a new inch, Space to complete the selected one, ⌘Z to undo, ⌘1–9 to switch projects. There's a set of small victory sounds too, with an off switch in the account menu. (This marketing site stays light on purpose.)

• Does Inching work on my phone?

  Yes — the whole app is built for touch. The map pans and zooms, the Today board sorts with press-and-hold drag, and an inch's details open as a bottom sheet. Everything syncs live across your devices, so you can plan on a laptop and check things off from your pocket. Add Inching to your home screen (on iPhone: Share, then Add to Home Screen) and it opens full-screen like an installed app.

• Can I connect an AI assistant?

  Yes. Inching has a built-in connection (via the open MCP standard) that lets an assistant like Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor read your goal maps and make changes for you — adding inches, linking prerequisites, marking things done, keeping your habits and lists ("add milk, eggs, and butter to my Target list" is one breath) — just by chatting. Any MCP-capable client works. You approve the connection first, and it works on your behalf from there. One thing to know if you're on a phone: some assistants only let you add a connector from their desktop or web app, so you may need to set it up there once — the connection then carries over to the mobile app on its own. See the "Connect an AI assistant" section above for the URL and step-by-step setup.

• Is my data private?

  Your goals are yours. Everything is stored against your account behind row-level security, so only you (and anyone you explicitly share with) can see it. We don't sell or share your data. And you're never locked in: "Export my data" in the account menu downloads everything as JSON, and "Delete account" really deletes — your account and everything in it, permanently.

• Is Inching free? Is it still in beta?

  Inching has a free tier that stays free, no card required: unlimited projects, with up to 150 open inches across all of them. Completed inches never count against the limit — finishing something frees its spot, so steady progress keeps you under it — and habits and lists never count at all. If you do reach the limit, nothing you've mapped is ever locked away: your maps stay fully viewable and completable, you just can't add new inches until you clear space or upgrade. Pro removes the open-inch limit and unlocks Teams for $10/month or $100/year. We're in early access while we refine things, so joining the waitlist now gets you in early and locks in those prices. The feature set is still evolving, so if something feels rough, telling us about it genuinely helps.

• How do I get help or share feedback?

  Email us at support@getinching.com — we read every message. For feature ideas, the Ideas board (in the app, under your account menu) is even better: post an idea, vote on other people's, and talk them over in the comments. When something from the board ships, it moves to the board's Done shelf — and the changelog keeps the running story of what's new.

Still stuck, or have an idea? Email us at support@getinching.com. We read every message. Feature ideas are even better on the Ideas board — find it under your account menu in the app — where other people can vote them up and join the discussion.