Views

Written By Manos Mastorakis

Last updated About 18 hours ago

Views allow you to explore your Routine workspace and display exactly the information you need. Every view is built on a query — filtering, sorting, and grouping objects from any database or default type — and rendered in a layout that fits your workflow.

📐 Layouts

Routine supports the following view layouts:

List A clean, linear display of objects. Rows open on double-click. Ideal for task lists, backlogs, and simple overviews. Each row shows a completion checkbox, object type icon (optional), and key properties.

Table A spreadsheet-style layout with rows and columns. Column headers offer ... to show or hide properties and + to open the data source schema. Table title cells open objects on double-click. Best for structured data with many properties.

Board A kanban-style layout grouped by a select property (e.g. Status). Each column represents a group value. Cards open on double-click. Drag cards between columns to change their value. Best for workflow and status tracking.

Feed A scrollable, content-first layout that previews the notes property of each object. Best for databases with rich text content — journals, research notes, meeting summaries, or any database where the content matters as much as the metadata.

Activity A calendar-heatmap style layout that visualizes how many objects match a date property over time. Select a database, a date property, and up to four ranges to see occurrence density over days or weeks. Best for habits, contributions, task planning frequency, or any time-series data.

🗂️ Grouping

Views can be grouped by any select or relation property. When grouping is enabled:

  • Each group has its own column or section header with a ... menu to edit or hide it

  • Each group shows a + New button — objects created this way are automatically prefilled with the group's value (e.g. creating in "In Progress" sets Status to In Progress)

  • Groups can be shown, hidden, and reordered with per-view preferences

  • Empty groups are hidden by default in tables

  • Drag and drop between groups is enabled when grouping is active

Select property option order and colors are defined in the type editor (Settings → Types) and drive the default group order and colors in views.

⚙️ View configuration

Every view can be configured from the view header:

  • Edit schema — opens the data source's type editor to modify properties

  • Show/hide properties — toggle which columns or fields are visible

  • Filter — add filter rules to narrow results

  • Sort — define sort order across one or more properties

  • Group — select a property to group by

  • Layout — switch between List, Table, Board, Feed, and Activity

The view header shows the data source name and layout icon for quick reference.

ᐖ Query examples

Views are powered by a query language that filters objects from any database. Below are examples for each default type.

Tasks

tasks where title = "Schedule call with investor"
tasks where status = "todo"
tasks where status = "done"
tasks where status = "discarded"
tasks where planning = today
tasks where planning = today - 1 and status = "todo"
tasks where parent.title = "Work"
tasks where length(notes.blocks) != 0

People

people where givenName = "Andrew"
people where name = "Andrew Reynolds"
people where familyName = "Reynolds"
people where email = "andrew.reynolds@routine.co"
people where avatar != null
people where length(notes.blocks) != 0

Pages

pages where title = "Work"
pages where parent.title = "Projects"
pages where title ~ "Meeting Notes"

Calendars

calendars where title = "Personal"
calendars where active = true
calendars where color = "F"

Events

events where active and date(time.start) = date(today)
events where length(notes.blocks) > 0 and title = "Chemistry 101"
events where length(notes.blocks) > 0 and week(time.start) = week(today)
events where calendar.title = "Personal"
events where location != null
events where length(participants) > 0
events where week(time.start) = week(today)
events where active = true

References

events where length(notes.references where target.name = "John Smith") != 0

🕳️ Interaction

  • Single click — selects a view item (shown with a darker border)

  • Double click — opens the object (list rows, board cards, table title cells)

  • Right-click — opens the context menu for quick actions

  • Drag and drop — reorders items or moves them between groups (when grouping is enabled)

  • + New per group — creates an object directly in that group with prefilled values

💡 Object type icons can be shown on each row from view configuration — useful when a view spans multiple types.