How to Build Your First Baton Board (A 10-Minute Guide)

Baton Board is a local-first dashboard: a single board where every tool is a widget, all your data stays on your device, and there's no account to create. This guide walks you through building your first board from scratch. It takes about ten minutes, and at the end you'll have a working cockpit for your tasks, notes, and numbers.

You don't need to install anything to start, and nothing you do here leaves your device.

Step 1 — Open it (no sign-up)

Open Baton Board in your browser. There's no account, no email, and no login screen — you accept a short disclaimer once and you're in. Your board is stored locally (in browser storage, or a local file on the desktop app), so it's yours from the first second.

The first time you open it, you'll see an onboarding screen that asks what kind of work you do. That leads to Step 2.

Step 2 — Start from a template, or start blank

The fastest way to a useful board is to pick your field. Baton Board ships with industry templates — freelancer, online shop, creator, coach, salon, café, real estate, agency, personal trainer, and writer — and choosing one seeds a ready-to-use board with the right widgets already arranged.

• Pick a template if you want to start from something real and adjust it.
• Start blank if you'd rather build up from an empty board.

Either way, the free plan gives you one fully customizable board. You can always change everything later — templates are a starting point, not a cage.

Step 3 — Add your first widgets

Everything in Baton Board is a widget. The six core widgets are free:

• Tasks — to-dos with subtasks, priorities, due dates, tags, and recurring options.
• Notes — Markdown notes for anything you want to keep close.
• Links — a tidy list of the URLs you open all day.
• Calendar — a month/week/list view of your due dates.
• Countdown — days remaining until a date that matters.
• Timer — a Pomodoro-style focus timer.

Use the "Add" menu in the toolbar to drop in the widgets you want. Start small — a Tasks widget and a Notes widget is already a useful board.

Step 4 — Arrange your board

This is where it becomes yours. Each widget can be:

• Dragged by its handle to any position.
• Resized from its edges and corners.
• Renamed, recolored, collapsed, or focused full-screen.

Drag the widgets into a layout that matches how you think. There's no grid you have to obey — Baton Board keeps free placement on by default. If you make a mistake, Ctrl+Z undoes it.

Step 5 — Fill in your tasks fast

You don't have to type tasks one by one. Use Bulk add in the toolbar and paste a bullet list — or a checklist an AI gave you — and each line becomes a task. It understands -, 1., and - [x] done markers automatically.

From there you can add subtasks, set priorities and due dates, add tags, and drag tasks to reorder them. Completed tasks sink to the bottom on their own.

Step 6 — Make it look the way you like

Open the settings panel (⚙) to set:

• Light, dark, or system theme (it can follow your OS automatically).
• An accent color.
• The number of columns and row height.

Small touches, but a board you enjoy looking at is a board you'll actually use.

Step 7 — Back it up and make it portable

Baton Board snapshots your board automatically as you work, and you can restore an earlier point in time from the toolbar. You can also export the whole board to a data.json file you own, and import it on another device or after a reset. Your data is never locked in.

Step 8 — Install it as an app

Because Baton Board is a PWA, you can install it to your desktop or phone home screen. Once installed, it opens instantly and works fully offline — no spinner, no connection required.

Step 9 (optional) — Go further with Pro

When you're ready to measure and optimize, Pro adds five more widgets — a KPI history graph, goals with a pace estimate, a habit tracker with streaks, an agenda of upcoming deadlines, and an activity log — plus unlimited boards, an AI assistant, end-to-end encrypted sync, and deeper customization. The free board stays a real tool; Pro is for when you outgrow it.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an account to build a board?

No. There's no sign-up, no email, and no login. You accept a short disclaimer once and start; your board lives on your device.

Will I lose my board if I close the browser?

No — it's saved locally and reloads when you return. Baton Board also keeps automatic backups, and you can export a data.json file to be safe.

How long does it really take to get started?

About ten minutes for a useful board, often less if you start from an industry template that's already arranged.

Can I change a template after I pick one?

Yes — templates are just a starting layout. Add, remove, rearrange, and rename anything afterward.

Does it work on my phone?

Yes — install it as an app (PWA) and it runs offline on a phone or desktop.

Pricing

Free covers one customizable board with the six core widgets, export/import, automatic backups, board-wide search, and eight languages. Pro (¥980/month or ¥9,800/year) unlocks unlimited boards, the analytics widgets (KPI, goal, habit, agenda, activity), the AI assistant, end-to-end sync, and deep customization. A ¥14,800 lifetime license is available. Polar handles payments and worldwide taxes.

Try it

Open Baton Board, pick your field, and spend ten minutes building a board that fits the way you actually work. It's free to start, and it's yours from the first second.

Related reading: "The Complete Baton Board Widget Guide" and "A Free Dashboard With No Account and No Sign-Up."