How to Add Goal Setting and Tracking to Your App — Copy-Paste Prompts Inside

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. The measurable and time-bound parts are enforceable in the form: require a numeric target_value with a unit, and require a deadline date that is after the start date. Validate both at the zod schema level so the error appears before submission. You cannot enforce 'achievable' or 'relevant' programmatically — those are judgment calls — but you can show a warning if the projected daily progress rate required to hit the target by the deadline seems unusually high.

Yes — use binary goals where the target_value is 1 and each log entry sets current_value to 1 (done). Or use a count-based goal (e.g., 'meditate 30 times this month' with target_value = 30 and each log increments by 1). The same table structure handles both. For pure habit tracking with a streak counter, the personalized-daily-routines feature is a better fit.

The goal_milestones table handles this: each milestone has a goal_id FK, a title, an optional target_value (useful for numeric checkpoints like 'hit 50% of savings target'), and an is_completed boolean. Display them as a checklist on the goal detail page using @dnd-kit/sortable for reordering. When all milestones are checked, run a query to count incomplete ones and update the parent goal status to 'completed' if zero remain.

Set the check_in_cadence field (daily, weekly, monthly) when creating the goal. A Supabase Edge Function triggered by pg_cron reads the cadence for each user and sends a Resend email at the scheduled time. The email includes current progress percentage and a direct link to the log modal. For mobile apps, flutter_local_notifications schedules an on-device alarm that works even when the app is closed.

A to-do list tracks discrete tasks (done or not done). A goal-tracking feature tracks continuous progress toward a numeric target over time. The key distinction is the logged history: goal tracking records every intermediate data point so you can see trajectory and project completion dates. A to-do list does not. Build a to-do list when your users need task management; build goal tracking when they need to see how far they've come.

Use the status column — 'completed' and 'abandoned' goals remain in the database but are excluded from the active goals list view by default. Add a toggle to the UI ('Show archived goals') that re-runs the query without the status = 'active' filter. This preserves the full history log for completed goals, which users often want to look back on.

The simplest approach: build a CSV import flow. The CSV template has columns for title, target_value, target_unit, deadline, and category. Parse the file client-side using PapaParse, preview the parsed goals in a table, then bulk-insert into Supabase with a single Server Action. Full-file format imports from apps like Notion or Habitica require custom parsers specific to their export formats.

Add an is_public boolean column to goals and update the RLS SELECT policy: allow reads when is_public = true in addition to the existing auth.uid() = user_id rule. Public goals get a shareable URL like /goals/{goal_id} that shows progress without requiring login. For a private accountability partner, add a goal_shares table with (goal_id, shared_with_user_id) and extend the RLS policy to allow reads for users in this table.