I've switched PKM tools four times in two years. Am I about to do it again?
Hey,
Quick confession before I get into today’s post: since I last wrote about Capacities, I’ve used three other apps. Kortex/Eden, Tana. And now I’m back on Obsidian for notes, Superlist for tasks, and Coda for the heavier project stuff.
Three apps. Three logins. Three places my brain lives.
And here I am, looking at Capacities again.
I want to be upfront about what this email is — and isn’t. It isn’t “I switched, here’s why you should too.” I haven’t switched. This is the more honest version: I’m seriously considering it, for the first time in over a year, and I’d rather think through it out loud with you than wait until I’ve made up my mind and dress it up as conviction.
How I got here
The short version: I left Tana for Capacities, mostly for project management. Then I drifted — Kortex for a while, Eden for a while, Fabric for a while, each promising some flavor of “AI-native all-in-one” that didn’t quite land. I ended up back on Obsidian because it’s local, it’s markdown, it’s mine. Superlist took tasks because it’s fast. Coda took project tracking and database-shaped problems.
It works. It’s just three things. Every time I’ve written about my “system” this past year, it’s been a system of connections between apps, not a system of work.
What’s pulling me back
If you’ve been reading along, you know I’ve covered Capacities’ feature lineup in detail twice already. Short version: 2025 and 2026 turned it from “good PKM with potential” into something shipping recurring tasks, real deadlines, Kanban with group-by, a search engine they’ve rebuilt twice in four months, AI Chat Connectors (so Claude — the AI I already use — can read my own workspace), and bulk import that’s now open to everyone.
That last one is the quiet unlock. Bulk import has always been the wall between “interested in Capacities” and “actually moving my notes there.” If that wall’s really gone, the whole conversation changes.
Mapping my stack onto one app
Here’s where I have to be honest with myself, not just list features:
Obsidian is my long-term archive — years of notes, daily notes, a web of links I understand. This is the one I’m most nervous about. Capacities’ object model (notes, people, projects, books as distinct typed things) genuinely matches how I think better than Obsidian’s flat graph. But “matches how I think” isn’t the same as “worth re-platforming years of notes.”
Superlist is daily and recurring tasks, fast capture, checking things off. This is the part Capacities has closed the gap on most — recurring tasks with catch-up logic, a tags view on the task dashboard. Honestly, the lowest-stakes piece of my stack to move.
Coda is the heavier project tracking — basically a database with views. Capacities’ Kanban, group-by, and variable queries cover a chunk of that. The formula-driven, automation-heavy side of Coda I haven’t stress-tested at all — that’s probably where the real gap still is.
What’s actually holding me back
Not features. Two things.
One: migration cost is real, especially for Obsidian. Bulk import being open doesn’t tell me what survives the trip — backlinks, tags, folder structure, embeds. Haven’t tested it yet. Until I do, “Capacities can do everything” is a claim, not a fact.
Two: I’ve been here before. Twice. Both times I was genuinely excited before quietly drifting back within months. The thing I want to avoid isn’t picking the “wrong” tool — it’s becoming the person who writes “I’m switching to X” every six months and never settles. That’s not a system, that’s a hobby that looks like one.
Where I’m actually landing
A real migration test, not an afternoon of poking around. Superlist’s tasks move first — lowest stakes, most overlap, least attachment. If that sticks for a month, Coda’s project tracking is next. Obsidian — my actual archive — goes last, if at all, and only once I trust the export path back out.
I’ll tell you how it goes either way. If you’ve made a similar move — especially out of Obsidian — hit reply, I’d genuinely like to hear what survived and what didn’t.
Talk soon, SystemsAndFlow
Disclosure: I’m an affiliate for Capacities. Nothing here is a recommendation yet — it’s me thinking through a decision I haven’t made.