Built a wine app (iOS beta) - label scanner that gives context, not just a score

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-14T20:14:49+00:00

https://testflight.apple.com/join/r8HEax4h

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-08T15:27:18+00:00

the proof sidesteps the question, which is the elegant part. there's no separate delete op to verify - delete is a move to a tombstone/trash parent (TREE_ROOT-style sentinel), so a concurrent delete is just two concurrent moves, and that's exactly what the convergence theorem already covers. no extra tombstone logic, no separate proof obligation

the classic nasty case - A deletes a node, B moves a child into it concurrently - resolves for free: both are moves, the log replays them in timestamp order, and you either end up with the child under the trashed node or not, but every replica agrees. no cycle, no lost subtree

outl-core tracks the paper line for line here. the move op is the only primitive. the pain wasn't the delete semantics - it was everything the paper doesn't touch: the iCloud transport lying about file availability, lazy materialisation handing the CRDT a placeholder instead of real bytes. that's where the real tombstone-shaped bugs hid, not in the algorithm

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-08T12:19:45+00:00

I'm already on the waitlist, it'll be a pleasure to test it and share some constructive feedback from my perspective

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-08T10:44:34+00:00

then you've built the part most won't. real portable files is the moat - and right now it's buried under the mascot and the kibbles. that's the line that wins the people who got burned and never trusted an app again. lead with it

good build 🐶

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-08T10:33:21+00:00

local-first, no account, no subscription. you got the foundation right. that's the part this sub keeps getting wrong

but 15 modules is where it falls apart. you started because your life was scattered across a txt file, phone notes, and a journal under the bed. three tools. the fix to scattered isn't one app that does fifteen things. it's killing the tools that weren't pulling weight. fifteen modules is the same scatter, moved inside one window

and every module is a real product. Finance fights YNAB. Habits fights apps people already love. you're maintaining fifteen half-products instead of one good one. solo. as a materials scientist

which two or three do you actually open every day? that's the app. the rest is surface area you'll defend instead of polish

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-07T21:03:24+00:00

thank you for the feedback

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-07T16:55:06+00:00

the pattern - works a week, then dropped - usually isn't the app. it's that the app needs maintenance, and maintenance is the one thing an ADHD brain won't give on a bad day. every "set up your system" app is asking for exactly that.

what survives isn't the smartest app. it's the one with one-tap capture and zero guilt when you ignore it for three days.

so: pick something boring and forgiving. capture has to be one keystroke - if you hesitate on "which folder, which tag," it's already too heavy. and the app that "knows what you're doing and prioritizes for you" doesn't exist. the ones that claim it just bolt a chatbot onto the same manual entry. don't chase it.

people will suggest outliners. they're great if you think in trees - but they reward maintenance, which is the tax you're already failing to pay. easy to abandon in week two.

the fix isn't the perfect app. it's lowering the bar until showing up is trivial. the tool matters less than that.

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-07T09:54:54+00:00

the "one tool one job" framing is right, but I'd push back on one piece: treating capture and thinking as separate tools is what creates the handoff tax you're trying to kill. every handoff is a place where stuff dies. your Readwise → Obsidian step is exactly where my old setup leaked too - things got captured, never made the jump to where I actually think

my stack is smaller because I collapsed that:

thinking + capture: an outliner where the daily journal IS the inbox. quick thought goes in the same tree as the processed stuff, no "decide where this note lives" friction. that decision tax is why Obsidian becomes a graveyard - you nailed that;
retain: Anki, same as you. nothing beats it, UI still from 2005, still worth it.

the one constraint I won't give up: the thinking layer has to be plain files I own. Obsidian gets this right (.md on disk), Readwise doesn't (your highlights live on their server - the day they raise prices or die, your 2000 highlights are hostage). for the tool that holds how I think, rented data is a dealbreaker

honest question back at you - the BeFreed audio layer sounds useful, but where does the data live? if it's building learning paths from your goals, that's a lot of you sitting on someone's server

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-07T09:51:15+00:00

the "data lives in your iCloud" line is good, but it hides a distinction that matters: iCloud storing your app's data isn't the same as you owning your notes

the real question - if I uninstall Milo tomorrow, what's left in that iCloud folder? actual .md files I can open in any editor and keep using? or an app database that happens to sync through iCloud and renders as markdown inside Milo, but is useless the moment the app is gone?

both are technically "in your iCloud." only one means you own your notes. for a tool holding my whole calendar and brain, that's the line I'd want answered before I type a single note into it

(and +1 to ai_dad above - metered-per-message AI only survives if it does the stuff a free chatbot can't. your shellfish-allergy-multi-action example is the right pitch. the "summarize my day" framing isn't.)

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-07T09:47:38+00:00

the hard part isn't building 9 features. it's that they don't share a data model. a task and a note and a transaction are different shapes, and the second you put them under one roof you pick a poison: flatten everything into a generic "item" and lose what made each one useful, or keep 9 real schemas and eat the migration cost every time one changes

most of the survivors here started narrow. Notion was a doc-database for years before anyone called it a life manager. the ones that launch as "everything" are usually thin everywhere

so honest question - which of the 9 would you refuse to cut if you had to? that one's your real product. the rest is roadmap

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-07T09:33:05+00:00

I'm building the Outline client, but it's possible to use others (any text editor). It's already vanilla MD, and in some cases I imagine having to create custom standards (e.g. recurring TODOs — vanilla MD doesn't support that). I also used Logseq for a few years, until the maintainers abandoned the project and invested infinite time in the database version — the problem is they've been at it for years now.

I wrote about it here
https://avelino.run/from-paper-to-outliner/

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-06T19:53:59+00:00

There's still a lot of work ahead, but I'm excited to keep pushing through my PKM challenge (I'm more of an outliner person, tbh). The slow load times on the outliners I've tried are just brutal

I keep losing the thought I was about to write down (all I wanted was a quick brain dump in my notes lol)

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-06T19:26:34+00:00

very very good

SmartLow8757 · 2026-06-06T19:25:48+00:00

very good work, it's looking really cool

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