Focus and Backlog

The Two Pools

Every thread in your weave lives in one of two pools:

• Focus — What you’re working on right now.
• Backlog — Everything else.

A third state, Done, exists for completed threads.

On the Threads board, these are the three columns. In the markdown, Focus and Backlog are sections.

The Focus Section

## Focus
- [ ] Design the onboarding flow
- [ ] Write API documentation
- [ ] Fix the login bug

Tasks listed under ## Focus appear in the Focus column on the board.

The Three-Thread Limit

Focus holds a maximum of three threads at a time.

This is not a bug. It’s the core constraint of Loomline. Three is the number of things one person can genuinely hold in active attention. More than three and you’re maintaining a list, not doing focused work.

What Happens With More Than Three

If you type a fourth task under ## Focus in the editor:

## Focus
- [ ] Task one
- [ ] Task two
- [ ] Task three
- [ ] Task four    ← exists in markdown, hidden on board

The board shows only the first three. A status bar warning appears:

“Focus has 4 threads — board shows 3. Remove 1.”

The fourth task is not deleted. It’s still in your document. But the board won’t display it until you move one of the other three out.

Moving Tasks to Focus

From the board: Drag a card from Backlog to Focus. If Focus already has three threads, the drop is rejected.

From the editor: Cut a task line from any section and paste it under ## Focus.

When a task moves to Focus via the board, Loomline physically moves the markdown line from its original section into ## Focus.

Section Origin

Loomline remembers where a task came from. A thread that originated in ## Design and moved to Focus will return to ## Design when moved back to Backlog or forward to Done.

This preserves your document’s organizational structure. Your sections stay meaningful even as tasks travel through the focus cycle.

The Backlog

## Backlog
- [ ] Set up analytics
- [ ] Create blog template
- [ ] SEO audit

The Backlog column on the board collects tasks from ## Backlog and every other non-Focus, non-Done section.

Multiple Sections Feed Backlog

You can organize your markdown into as many sections as you want:

## Design
- [ ] Create wireframes
- [ ] Choose color palette

## Engineering
- [ ] Set up CI/CD
- [ ] Write unit tests

## Content
- [ ] Draft homepage copy

All of these appear in the Backlog column on the board. The section names are preserved as labels on the cards, so you can still see the organizational context.

No Limit on Backlog

There is no cap on Backlog threads. Add as many as you need. The constraint is only on Focus.

Done

- [x] Set up repository
- [x] Choose tech stack

Any thread with - [x] appears in the Done column, regardless of which section it’s in.

Completing a Thread

From the board: Click the checkbox on a card, or drag it to the Done column.

From the editor: Change - [ ] to - [x].

Both actions sync. The markdown is always updated.

Completed Steps

Completing all steps within a thread does not auto-complete the thread. You explicitly mark the parent thread as done when you decide it’s finished.

The Focus Workflow

The intended cycle:

1. Write tasks in your weave under whatever sections make sense.
2. Choose up to three tasks to move into Focus.
3. Work on those three tasks. Check off steps as you go.
4. Complete a thread when it’s done. It moves to Done.
5. Pull a new task from Backlog into the open Focus slot.
6. Repeat.

This is a pull system. You never have more than three active threads. When one finishes, you consciously choose what replaces it.

Practical Advice

Focus should change daily. If the same three threads sit in Focus for a week, they’re either too large (break them into smaller threads) or you’re blocked (acknowledge it, move them back, pick something you can actually advance).

Backlog is not a guilt list. It’s a parking lot. Not everything in Backlog needs to get done. It’s fine to delete threads that no longer matter.

Use sections to group, not prioritize. Sections like “Design” and “Engineering” describe what kind of work something is. Priority is expressed by what’s in Focus, not by section order.

Quick Reference