Most calendars just hold meetings. nocal looks at each day and surfaces small ideas — concrete, one-tap suggestions to reclaim focused time. It never rearranges anything on its own; every idea is yours to accept or skip.
A few kinds of ideas
Ideas come in several forms. Here are some you'll run into:
| Idea | What it does |
|---|---|
| Add focus | Block open time for focused work, or a named block like Lunch, Ramp up, or Wind down |
| Move an event | Shift a meeting to consolidate your free time into one larger block |
| Decline an event | Drop a low-value meeting (sending the RSVP) to reclaim the slot |
| Extend focus | Lengthen an existing focus block when the adjacent time is open |
…and more, depending on what your week looks like. Each idea shows the proposed time, a short reason, and roughly how much focused time it would gain.
Where ideas appear
On the calendar, each day header shows a small "N ideas" cue with a lightbulb. Click it to open that day's panel, where each idea is a card. A ghost preview appears on the grid so you can see the change before committing. Ideas are shown for upcoming weekdays — not weekends or days in the past.
Accept or skip
- Accept applies the change. The button matches the idea: Move event, Decline, Lock in (for Lunch, Ramp up, and Wind down), Extend Focus, or Add focus tasks for a new focus block — which opens the focus form so you can attach tasks (see creating focus events).
- Skip (the ✕) dismisses a single idea, and you can dismiss a whole day at once. Skips apply for your current session.
- For Lunch, Ramp up, and Wind down, you can nudge the time or duration before accepting.
Turn ideas on or off
Ideas are on by default. To toggle them, open Preferences → Scheduling and switch Enable calendar ideas on or off.