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It watches your current work context through the Accessibility API, stores that context on your Mac, and turns it into a daily review and follow-up chat.
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> Disclaimer: Openbird is an experimental proof-of-concept app. The goal is to validate this local accessibility-first context layer before it is integrated into the [Char](https://char.com) codebase at [fastrepl/char](https://github.com/fastrepl/char).
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It exists because software with this much visibility into your day should not be a black box.
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No account is required. No backend is required.
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## Why This Exists
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If an app can see what you are doing across your computer, you should be able to inspect it, control it, pause it, and delete its data.
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# Openbird
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Openbird is built around a simple idea:
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Openbird is a local-first macOS app that keeps a private record of your workday, turns it into a daily review, and lets you ask questions about what you were doing.
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- your activity data should stay on your machine by default
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- your model should be your choice
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- the privacy boundary should be explicit
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- software this sensitive should be open source
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It is built for people who want help remembering their day without sending their activity history to someone else's server.
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This is not "trust us" software. The point is that you do not have to.
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No account. No backend. Your data stays on your Mac by default.
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## What Openbird Does
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## What You Can Do With It
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Openbird captures the frontmost app and window, builds a local timeline of your day, and uses that log to generate:
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Openbird builds a timeline from the app, window, tab, and on-screen context you are actively using, then uses that history to help you:
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- a daily review with time blocks, highlights, and a short narrative
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- follow-up chat scoped to your local activity data
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-citations back to the underlying apps, windows, URLs, and timestamps
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-generate a daily review with time blocks, highlights, and a short narrative
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-ask follow-up questions about your day in chat
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-jump back to the apps, windows, URLs, and timestamps behind each summary
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It is meant to answer questions like:
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It is useful for questions like:
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- What did I do today?
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- What was I working on around 3pm?
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- Which project took most of my attention?
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-What tabs, apps, or docs was I using during that block?
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- What did I actually spend time on today?
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- What was I working on around 3 PM?
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- Which project got most of my attention?
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-Which apps, tabs, or docs was I using during that stretch?
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## Privacy Boundary
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## Privacy, In Plain Terms
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Openbird is intentionally conservative.
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Openbird is designed so you can see what it knows, control what it captures, and remove data whenever you want.
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Openbird captures:
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- the frontmost app
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-bundle ID and app name
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-app name and bundle ID
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- window title
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- browser tab URL when available
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- visible text from the active window's accessibility tree
@@ -65,22 +50,22 @@ You can also:
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- pause capture at any time
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- exclude apps
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- exclude domains
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- inspect the raw log used for generation
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- inspect the raw log behind each summary
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- delete the last hour, the last day, or everything
New releases are shipped as a signed macOS Apple Silicon DMG.
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If you are downloading an older tag, you may still see the previous unsigned tarball format.
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Open the DMG, drag `Openbird.app` into `Applications`, then launch it.
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## Quick Start
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1. Download and extract the latest release.
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2. Launch `OpenbirdApp`.
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1. Download the latest release.
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2. Launch `Openbird.app`.
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3. Grant Accessibility permission when prompted.
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4. In Settings, choose an Ollama or LM Studio preset.
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4. In Settings, choose an Ollama or LM Studio preset, or add your own compatible endpoint.
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5. Click `Check Connection`, then save the provider.
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6.Go to`Today` and generate your first review.
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6.Open`Today` and generate your first review.
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7. Use `Chat` to ask questions about your day.
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## What The App Looks Like
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## Inside The App
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Openbird has four main surfaces:
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Openbird has four main areas:
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- Onboarding: explains permissions and privacy
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- Today: generates the daily review
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- Chat: asks questions against your local activity log
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- Settings: provider setup, exclusions, retention, pause, and delete controls
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- Onboarding for permissions and privacy
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- Today for generating your daily review
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- Chat for asking questions about your activity history
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- Settings for model setup, exclusions, retention, pause, and delete controls
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## Current State
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## Project Status
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Openbird is early, but the core loop works:
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Openbird is still early and should be treated as experimental software, but the main flow already works:
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- local capture
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- local storage
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- daily journal generation
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- date-scoped chat over your activity history
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The current scope is intentionally narrow. Openbird is focused on being a trustworthy personal activity journal first.
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The longer-term direction is to bring this work into char.com without giving up the local-first and inspectable privacy model established here.
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The current focus is a trustworthy personal activity journal first. Parts of this work may later feed into [Char](https://char.com), but the goal here is to keep the local-first, inspectable privacy model intact.
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## Open Source
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Open source is not a branding choice here. It is part of the product.
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Open source is part of the product.
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When software observes your work, transparency matters. You should be able to inspect how it captures data, where it stores it, what it excludes, and which model receives your prompts.
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When an app can observe your work, you should be able to inspect how it works, where it stores data, what it excludes, and which model receives your prompts.
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The codebase is open because trust is better when it is verifiable.
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The code is public because trust is stronger when it can be verified.
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