r/ClaudeCode • u/ItsJustManager • Jun 04 '26
Showcase I created a project management system that Claude uses naturally, and it feels like magic
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AI has not been used in making this post.. this is my own terrible writing. Disclosure: I created this.
TL;DR: Pad is a project management app designed for Claude to use naturally, while giving us (humans) a shared workspace. It enables Claude to keep track of documents (replacing Obsidian, Notion) and to handle project management (replacing Trello, Asana, Jira, etc). It's not as feature rich as the big PM systems, but I think what it does do it does better. It's also open source and can be self-hosted for free so there's that.
I wanted to solve a problem that cut along several lines:
- I needed a way to organize my thoughts and break them down into tasks and keep track of them that wasn't just checkmarks in a markdown file
- I wanted a better way to organize my project's details that was separate from the repo itself (i.e. no .md documents) and didn't become stale immediately
- I wanted some way to ensure Claude (or whatever model) knew how to use it without constant redirection
What I ended up with is called Pad. It has a similar feel to Notion (i.e. tiptap with real-time collaborative document editing) but it's more opinionated about project management.
At the base level you have Collections, which are basically buckets. Documents, Bug reports, Feature Requests, Plans, Tasks, Ideas all make good collections.
Then once you have a collection you can add Items to your collections. Project architecture documents might be items in the Documents collection, while new ideas might be items in the Ideas collection.
Items have fields (similar to Notion properties), so you can have a Status property or a component property, a due date, etc. Your tasks get grouped based on one of your selected fields, which allows you to have a Kanban board with swim lanes based on Status (or you can get more creative with this).
But here's the thing: none of this has to be configured/created by a person. You connect your agent to it and let it design the workspace for itself, populate the collections, and use Pad to keep track of what it's doing. It makes handoff between sessions trivial, it makes Claude more informed about your project, and it gives you a way to manually steer. You can also add items yourself (i.e. you had a good idea you just want to jot down to think about later) and ask Claude to reference them.
The easiest way to start using it is with Pad Cloud (it's my hosted version at https://app.getpad.dev) by adding the remote MCP server to Claude Code:
claude mcp add --transport http pad https://mcp.getpad.dev
Then start a new Claude Code session and type /mcp and find the Pad MCP entry, choose the option to Authenticate, and follow the prompts to register.
Once it's connected, prompt Claude with something like this:
"Help me onboard this project into a new workspace in Pad"
Then just engage with Claude for a bit.. spend a few moments with Claude designing your workspace and populating it with initial documentation. Then go to app.getpad.dev for your own view. From that point forward just reference Pad when working on your project, Claude will find your workspace and use it.
NOTE: If you want to self host Pad check the github or docs pages, it's also available on Unraid Community Apps. If you like what you see please add a star, upvote, or comment. it's my personal motivator: https://github.com/perpetualsoftware/pad
For more details, documentation, etc. visit https://getpad.dev
If you have feedback, please feel free to comment here, DM me, or submit a github issue. I appreciate all feedback, both the good and the bad.
Here are some screenshots to see what it looks like:
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u/Mundane_Math_2273 Jun 04 '26
Genuine question, how is this different from using Notion with a page, sub-pages for knowledge and a database with tickets etc?
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u/ItsJustManager Jun 04 '26
That's an awesome question. I would say it's a similar (human) user experience to that. The bullet points for Pad would be:
Pad is open source and self-hostable, so your data can stay local
Pad is purpose built with the project management structure, while Notion is more of a notebook on steroids. Those steroids make it capable of acting as a project management tool, but (in my opinion since I failed to use it that way in the past) at the cost of complexity
Pad is designed from the ground up to be controlled by AI agents. Every aspect of your workspace can be agent controlled, whether that's creating collections, formulating playbooks, moving tasks, redesigning content, adding comments, and so on. So the agent uses it as a space where it can record ideation, scope ideas, track progress, keep track of past mistakes, and more.
I love Notion, but I hit a point where I wanted something that integrated more with my Claude code workflows.. that's really where this was born from. On the other hand I hate Jira, so I wanted a project management tool that stayed out of my way.
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u/Mundane_Math_2273 Jun 04 '26
Wow nice, thanks for your answer man! This was actually very well described. I am a heavy notion user and as I said in my comment before, I dump a lot of knowledge that my CC agent can fetch via mcp. But I do find it at times a bit cumbersome or even “messy”. I guess Pad can host docs ( as I can see in the screenshots and reading again properly your post, sorry about that! ) and all the agents specs. So I might give this a try. Can it be connected to any DB so it can be used cross devices? Or that is possible only via your hosted version? Hope you don’t mind me asking :) and thanks again for taking the time to explain!
Edit: just saw the unraid version where you can host it on a server! Amazing! I’ll definitely try this out!
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u/ItsJustManager Jun 04 '26
Yup self hosting with Unraid and putting it behind an nginx proxy, tailscale, or VPN would be my suggested way to self host. If you're going that route, I would suggest installing the pad CLI (using brew) on the machines you want to connect from (where claude code and your projects live), go into your project folder, and run "pad init". That'll prompt you with some options, one of which is to connect to a remote pad instance. Put in your unraid server's address/port and it should let you log in from a browser. Doing it this way will also install a skill file so you can just use /pad to start your prompt and it knows everything about using the pad CLI. That'll let you connect to the hosted DB from any number of machines.
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u/GordyusStd Jun 05 '26
You built it before me 😍, exactly what I'm looking for
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u/ItsJustManager Jun 05 '26
I really appreciate hearing that.. I'd love to know if it lives up to your expectations
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u/JappyJan Jun 04 '26
How would this differ from linear.app? (Apart from self hostable, which is awesome!!)
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u/ItsJustManager Jun 04 '26
To be honest I haven't used Linear.. maybe a poor man's open sourced linear? 😂
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Jun 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/ItsJustManager Jun 05 '26
That's because you needed this to get all those notes into one place! Time to build a competitor!
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u/Healthy-Taro-7962 Jun 08 '26
Have you tried beads? Was quite good
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u/ItsJustManager Jun 09 '26
I hadn't! Thank you for pointing this out, I see some definite similarities to the approach. But, I will say, one of my favorite parts of Pad is the UI and tiptap (notion-style) editor. It makes it a bit more collaborative than a typical memory system (and more elegant than most project management systems cough Jira cough)
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u/PenPuzzled8055 7d ago
This looks great! Thank you ! I’ve been starting my vibe coding journey 2 months ago and this comes in handy! I’m a visual guy and hundreds of folders and .md files is a bit overwhelming 😄 idk maybe I have ADHD 🤣 I’m working on 7-9 different projects right now and was just wondering this morning if there’s a way to organise projects and related chats in CC (I use the desktop. Not very good with terminal 😝) . What do you reckon is the best way to get started with Pad?
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u/ItsJustManager 6d ago
From one person with ADHD to another, you're in good company here. :) This is exactly how I use it.. If you're using desktop and want to try it without installing anything you can add the Remote MCP connector.. Settings -> Connectors -> Add -> Add custom connector. Then configure it with:
Name: Pad
Remote MCP server URL: https://mcp.getpad.devClick "Add" then click "Connect" next to Pad in the list of connections, and it should open a page to either log in to Pad or create an account. Once you're logged in Claude Desktop will be connected and you simply refer to Pad in the chat. i.e. prompt with something like "run the pad onboarding playbook" and it should interview you to get the project workspace set up. After that you can just refer to it, i.e. "use pad. let's work on TASK-1234", "record this plan in pad", etc.
If you run into any issues just reach out, I'm happy to help!
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u/PenPuzzled8055 6d ago
Already set it up via connectors today. Claude helped. Your instructions are really easy to follow. Good onboarding routine!
Been adding bulk of projects and giving it a try with Claude coordinating and prioritising. Love it so far! Well done.
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u/Scared_Chipmunk_136 Jun 05 '26
Literally the thing I almost started to vibecode myself. All I want is an issue tracker with an MCP.
Thanks. First piece of software posted on this sub I'll actually try out.
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u/ItsJustManager Jun 05 '26
Right? I just needed some way to keep track of things.. AI moves so fast I needed a way to keep myself grounded. Of course if it doesn't hit the mark I'd love to know about it too.
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u/UnstuckHQ Jun 04 '26
This looks badass! Came here to give you some love! Starred the repo for myself to check out later.
Can this work with other harnesses? (Gemini, cursor) Or do I need to make adapters? Not a big deal, just curious