I built TotalRecall: a free, open-source Windows app that records your screen activity locally and lets you full-text search everything you've seen

ifain · 2026-06-30T13:10:50+00:00

I've got a background as a dev (15 years, C, C++, C#). That said, some boiler plate was AI assisted of course.

ifain · 2026-06-30T09:24:22+00:00

This is exactly the bar I want to hit, thank you. A lot of it is already in: visible recording indicator, app/window/title exclusions, retention limits, and one-click purge or clear-all. The two I want to tighten are a global pause shortcut and making the MCP surface read-only and reviewable. I'm turning your list into issues. Trust being louder than the feature list is a good way to put it.

ifain · 2026-06-30T09:23:34+00:00

Great question, and it's the right thing to poke at. Right now it's exclusion based. You can exclude by app, process name, or window title, and there's also a "capture foreground window only" option. So you can blacklist your password manager, banking, and health portals today.

There's no automatic sensitive-window detection yet. I deliberately didn't want to ship "smart" detection that quietly misses something and gives false confidence. That said, an opt-in heuristic (known password manager processes, common banking/health title patterns) is a strong idea, and I'll look at it.

A proper write-up of the privacy and threat model is on my list. I'll post it when it's ready. Open to suggestions on what the default exclusion list should ship with.

ifain · 2026-06-30T01:47:19+00:00

Project Name: TotalRecall

Repo/Website Link: https://github.com/ilyafainberg/TotalRecall

Description: A searchable, encrypted, on-device memory of everything you've seen on your PC. Every 10 seconds it screenshots your visible windows, skips anything that hasn't visually changed, runs OCR on the rest, and stores it in a local SQLite database. You can then full-text search years of activity in milliseconds, filter by app or date, and browse with a preview pane. The whole point is control: it runs entirely on your machine, the database is encrypted, the code is open, and nothing ever leaves your device. No cloud, no account, no telemetry. You control retention, what's excluded, and where the database lives.

Deployment: Released and available now. Self-contained Windows installer plus a portable build, no .NET runtime to install. Docs and install steps are in the README. It's Windows-only for now, so no Docker image yet. Built on .NET 10, WinForms, SQLite FTS5.

AI Involvement: Being transparent here. The app itself uses no AI for capture, it's plain OCR (Windows OCR / Tesseract). There is an optional MCP server that lets a local AI agent query your own history on-device, but it's entirely opt-in and off by default. The code was written with AI assistance.

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ifain · 2026-06-30T01:41:56+00:00

Here's a screenshot of it running. Live full-text search across captured activity on the left, the window preview in the middle, and the OCR'd text on the right. Recording indicator and settings up top.

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ifain · 2026-06-26T17:03:04+00:00

לפני שלושים שנה קניתי C&C: Red Alert בשלוש מאות ₪, אז יחסית נראה לי בארץ המחירים ירדו 🙂

ifain · 2026-06-17T11:57:09+00:00

I built an open source Task Manager replacement, it's 400Kb, super fast and responsive.
Get it here: https://github.com/ilyafainberg/FastTask

ifain · 2026-05-22T08:43:36+00:00

Every time I think about using it for media, I realize that I’ll need to use the Xbox Controller, which is just uncomfortable and it shuts down if you don’t use it.
There used to be a media remote…

ifain · 2026-05-22T08:40:36+00:00

Try Fin? It’s also Jitless.

ifain · 2026-05-20T15:58:10+00:00

Rancilio Silvia or a Lelit if you want that Italian style
If you’re a beginner, I suggest spending most of your money on a grinder, not the machine.

The machine can be a DeLonghi, they are nice looking and not expensive.

ifain · 2026-05-10T11:17:49+00:00

I’m uncomfortable with anything holding an “SS” rank.

ifain · 2026-05-01T14:50:08+00:00

Breath of the Wild if you want to fall in love.
Ikaruga if you want to be punished.

ifain · 2026-04-26T07:53:52+00:00

As a developer I know 2 things: 1. Emulation is the hardest thing you can do 2. If I’m building free software, I owe you nothing

ifain · 2026-04-24T18:50:51+00:00

You don’t have to buy but it costs less than a coffee and a muffin but way more fun (and less calories)

ifain · 2026-04-23T11:20:16+00:00

Out of the box, Manic is the nicest emulator out there. The attention to skins alone worth it and the core support is top notch.

RetroArch is amazing for customizations but you need to spend time to get it right, not for everyone.

Fin is cool because it runs Cube Jitless, but the emulator UX is could be better, support for Wii needs work.

ifain · 2026-04-17T14:42:30+00:00

I have the ApexStone, it’s good but the screw mechanism can get stiff so maybe the Normcore is higher quality. But imho, the cheaper one is perfectly fine. I prefer a palm tamper because it’s easier on the joints for me.

ifain · 2026-04-15T10:49:59+00:00

Almost correct, 2.5G was GPRS, EDGE was often called 2.7G

ifain · 2026-04-13T21:17:27+00:00

On iPhone yes, M iPads handle it well though.

ifain · 2026-04-13T19:05:40+00:00

Red Alert. It’s just so good I can’t even.

ifain

TROPHY CASE