Cloud recall services either send sensitive visual/audio context off-device or provide limited developer hooks. A local-first screen memory that exposes a deterministic API and agent layer lets teams and power users regain that context without sacrificing privacy or automation.
What Sets It Apart
- Event-driven capture paired with accessibility trees (not naive continuous video): saves CPU and disk by only storing meaningful frames while preserving structured text for high-quality search, so you get more usable context per GB.
- Local-first AI stack with MCP and optional Ollama/local models: enables assistants (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) to query your recent context over a localhost API, so integrations can access precise screen history without cloud leakage.
- Pipes — markdown-defined, schedulable agents with OS-level, YAML-enforced data permissions: lets you encode automated workflows (sync to Obsidian, create reminders, update issue trackers) while preventing agents from accessing denied apps/windows, so automation is auditable and controllable.
- Developer-friendly REST and JS SDK plus raw-SQL access: makes it straightforward to build custom integrations, export/backup data, or run enterprise deployments with central config.
Who it's for + tradeoffs
Great fit if you are a knowledge worker, developer, or team that needs reliable, private recall of visual/audio context and wants programmatic automation tied to on-screen activity. It’s also suitable for researchers who need searchable screen logs and for teams that require deterministic per-agent data permissions.
Look elsewhere if you need a fully cloud-hosted, multi-device collaboration-first service out of the box (screenpipe can do encrypted sync but is local-first and has paid desktop app options), or if you require full capture of high-FPS video/gaming footage where accessibility trees/OCR fallback may miss transient visual effects.
Where it fits
Positioned as an open-source, local-first alternative to Rewind/Limitless and commercial recall offerings: stronger on developer extensibility, deterministic permissions, and on-device AI interoperability (MCP/Ollama), but trades off managed cloud features and turnkey team hosting unless you adopt its Teams offering.
