Essential guide
Understand Today
Today is the operational reading of the day. It separates what is open now, what opens later, what is optional, and what has already been confirmed.
Now
Now shows actionable work at the current moment: due reviews, learning or relearning steps that have opened, and new cards released from the activation queue.
This category comes from TodaySnapshot and uses the same population as the generic Review entry. The client does not add another queue to decide what is available.
Later today
Later today holds items from the same civil day that have not opened yet. A learning step moves to Now only when its real time arrives.
This block shows continuity without bringing work forward. Seeing something there does not mean the review is already available.
Optional
Optional shows opportunities such as Safe Ahead when the backend considers part of a future day eligible and worth bringing forward.
Optional is not debt. Confirmation is explicit, keeps the original workload traceable in the plan, and does not count as a completed review automatically.
Completed
Completed shows only what was confirmed through real persistence: reviews, sessions, and reconciled planned items.
An answer still saving, a query error, or missing history does not become completion. The confirmed state comes from the server.
Next change and why the plan can move
The next change is the earliest known future instant when an item can move category or the civil day can roll over. The screen can promote normal transitions locally because those facts already came in the snapshot.
The plan can move after a confirmed review, card release, capacity change, timezone rollover, pending replan, or optional confirmation. When that happens, Today still treats Now, Later today, Optional, and Completed as independent categories.