Rummager

What the words mean

Things, stock, places, containers, tags, states — the vocabulary.

A handful of words mean something specific here. Most confusion comes from the first two.

Thing
What something is: "Tent", "Paprika", "The Name of the Wind". A thing has a name, notes, tags and attributes. It does not have to exist yet — a thing you want but haven't got is still a thing.
Stock
How many, and where. "Three of them in garage box 3" is one line of stock. A thing can have several — two Pis in the garage and one on the desk — or none at all, which is how wishlists and shopping lists work.
Exact, plenty, some, low
How a line of stock is counted. Exact is a number, with an optional unit ("500 g", "2 bags"). The other three are for things nobody counts: rice is plenty or low, not 1,312 grains.
Place (or location)
Somewhere things are kept: a room, a shelf, a drawer. Places nest — the shelf is in the garage — and the full path is written "Garage > Rack > Shelf 3". The menu says Locations; the words mean the same thing.
Container
A place that moves: a box, a bag, a crate. Move a container and everything in it comes too. A shelf is a place, because when you move house the shelf's contents don't go with it. Shown with where an ordinary place has .
Alias
Another name for a place, so "the loft" and "attic" both find it.
Tag
A label for a kind of thing: camping, spices, sci-fi. Tags nest too, so spices can sit under food, and a thing tagged with the first is found under the second.
State
Where a thing stands, shown as a coloured badge:
  • have got it.
  • low got some, running out.
  • out run out; wants buying.
  • want never had it; would like it.
  • gone used up, given away or lost, and not coming back.
Out and want are what make the shopping list. A state is something you set; it is separate from a minimum, which works it out from the stock.
Home
Where a thing lives: where it goes back to, even after it runs out. Set automatically the first time you put it somewhere.
List
A question that answers itself, like Shopping (everything that needs buying) or Eat soon, or a list somebody fills by hand. The ones you use most sit in the menu. See Lists.
Needs buying
Out, running low, or below its minimum. One phrase for all three, so a list doesn't have to care which.
Capture
Something said, recorded or photographed that hasn't been turned into a change yet. Captures wait in the Inbox.
Label
A printed QR sticker. Scanning it opens whatever it's stuck on. See Labels.
Space
A separate collection of everything — usually a household. Nothing in one space is visible from another. See Spaces and sharing.
The Rummager
The built-in assistant. It can only do what the buttons can, and everything it changes can be undone. See Ask the Rummager.
Stash, rummage
Add, and find.