REPLACEMENT BRIEF

tasks & calendar

Can AI replace Motion?

EDITORIAL ANSWERKINDACatalog estimate

Create tasks with duration/deadline/priority, read calendar availability, solve a schedule, and write time blocks back.

Build the personal version →

AT A GLANCE

price
$34/mo
listed annual price
$408/yr
replaceable scope
Create tasks with duration/deadline/priority, read calendar availability, solve a schedule, and write time blocks back.
build time
multi-day

what AI can build

Create tasks with duration/deadline/priority, read calendar availability, solve a schedule, and write time blocks back.

You can build an auto-scheduler for your own tasks, but robust calendar conflict handling, integrations, and productized rescheduling take real engineering.

Editorial catalog estimate · not a completed build

The honest tradeoff

why people still pay

what you lose

multi-calendar sync

recurring work rules

mobile apps

team scheduling

polished rescheduling

support

Start with existing software

prior art · use these instead of building, if you'd rather

EVIDENCE LEDGER

What this page can prove

The verdict judges replaceability. The evidence level records what DeepFeather actually checked.

Read the methodology →
evidence level
Catalog estimate

Editorial catalog estimate · not a completed build

replacement boundaryCreate tasks with duration/deadline/priority, read calendar availability, solve a schedule, and write time blocks back.

known limits · multi-calendar sync; recurring work rules

editorial reviewawaiting manual review
Build promptcatalog estimate

the prompt

Catalog estimate
Build me a personal task auto-scheduler to replace Motion. Requirements:

- Node + better-sqlite3 + googleapis. Tasks in SQLite: title, duration estimate,
  deadline, priority, done. A small Express page on localhost:4920 to add and edit
  tasks, plus a `plan` CLI command.
- Read my Google Calendar free/busy for the next 14 days (OAuth token cached
  locally); respect working hours 09:00-18:00 and a lunch block, both set in
  config.json.
- The planner is greedy, not clever: earliest deadline first, weighted by priority,
  packing tasks into free slots in 30-minute increments and splitting anything over
  90 minutes into chunks.
- Write the plan back as calendar events with a [plan] prefix. Replanning deletes
  only [plan] events and relays them, never touching real meetings.
- Overdue or unschedulable tasks show in red on the web page instead of being
  silently dropped.
- A 07:30 node-cron run replans the day and emails me the schedule (SMTP in .env).
- Single user, local only, no accounts, no telemetry beyond the Google API calls.
- Out of scope: team scheduling, mobile apps, and meeting-invite handling. It plans
  my solo work around a calendar it treats as read-only truth.
- README: the Google Cloud console OAuth setup. Budget an hour for that alone.
Copy or open in an agent

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BUILD FEEDBACK

Did you try this build?

Report the outcome. Submissions enter a manual evidence queue and never auto-upgrade the verdict.

questions

Can AI replace Motion?

Possibly for a narrower core workflow, but this catalog judgment is not a verified build. Expected gaps include: multi-calendar sync, recurring work rules. Validate the prompt against your own acceptance criteria before committing.

How much does Motion cost?

Motion is listed at about $34/month (Individual, checked 2026-07-30), or $408 per year. This is a pricing reference, not evidence of a completed replacement or realized savings.

What do I lose by replacing Motion?

Honestly: multi-calendar sync; recurring work rules; mobile apps; team scheduling; polished rescheduling; support. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to Motion?

Yes — No maintained direct clone found (There are scheduling libraries, but no obvious maintained open-source Motion-equivalent co). Using prior art is also a valid exit; the prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.