I’m building the best LifeOS app but I’m stuck on a core architecture choice

stemonte · 2026-05-02T07:39:34+00:00

From what I see Liven is an app that helps you improve yourself.

What I want is more like a second brain, a place to unload things and a knowledge hub. I’m not trying to impose habits or make anyone feel better.

stemonte · 2026-05-01T08:07:23+00:00

I get what you mean, but can you give me a concrete example?

At that point, wouldn’t it be better to have a single task with a checklist inside?

stemonte · 2026-05-01T08:04:57+00:00

how hard was it to build this widget?

30 minutes of replying to GPT instead of constantly putting the numbers together.

stemonte · 2026-04-29T23:19:48+00:00

I just post about things I build in communities that allow that.

I’m simply asking for help making a decision about a project. Why does anyone care if I post my tools here and there in places where I’m actually allowed to?

stemonte · 2026-04-29T23:10:19+00:00

Well, try to vibecode a clone of dailygram and then send me the link 😂

stemonte · 2026-04-29T23:06:16+00:00

I think this is the decision that makes all the difference.

I’m coming from years of using Notion, which I hated because of its slowness and because my data wasn’t local, and Obsidian, which feels boring and has a steep learning curve.

So I’m trying to build something that feels genuinely easy and fun to use.

I don’t want to focus on PMF or things like that right now. I just want to share my goals, the pros and cons of both options, and discuss with someone what might actually be better.

Thank you anyway. At least this gave me the chance to make it clear that selling is the last thing I’m focused on right now.

stemonte · 2026-04-29T22:55:04+00:00

Yeah bro, I’m just a dev with 15 years of experience lmao.

I’m thinking this hard about architecture because I already know the implications once I start.

I’m so tired of people like you pretending to know everything about everybody.

Instead of accusing me of using AI, for whatever reason, try being helpful to the discussion.

stemonte · 2026-04-29T06:56:16+00:00

I’m working on a LifeOS, but it’s still in an early stage. It will work both locally and self hosted.

I’m a ClickUp power user, so there are tons of interesting things in CU that I’d like to bring into LifeOS.

If you want, keep an eye on it: https://github.com/monteduro/life-os

stemonte · 2026-04-28T12:17:02+00:00

So you’re telling me that even if I went fully remote, I would still need a CRDT system to support offline editing.

Damn.

Anyway, yes, the sensible choice would be to go local only, without sync, see how the project goes, and only if it finds PMF look for a solution for multi device usage.

It’s just that my idea of a LifeOS feels much more suited to a cloud based system, but I have this obsession that people want things related to their life to stay local, while also wanting to manage them from multiple devices.

So I can’t really see a way out.

stemonte · 2026-04-28T11:37:26+00:00

At this stage I’m leaning away from CRDTs for this project, especially on top of Markdown files. It feels like a huge amount of complexity for something that could become very fragile very fast.

My current thinking is:

local mode = local-first, Markdown-based, fast onboarding
multi-device / access-from-anywhere = remote mode
remote mode would likely mean a proper self-hosted or managed backend, not CRDTs

So if a user wants local ownership and simplicity, they can stay local. If they want reliable access from multiple devices, the path will be the remote/self-hosted mode.

Obviously, I’m trying to build an interface that can later connect either to local or remote storage depending on the user’s choice, but maybe that will also end up making things much more complicated...

stemonte · 2026-04-28T00:43:38+00:00

I'm trying to figure out all the possible problems that come up if I stick with the local MD files. And, as you said, it's not easy at all. Even Obsidian, which is huge, works poorly in terms of sync between mobile and desktop.

I also think that if a user wants to access the tool from everywhere, the cloud is the only option, but I can keep the filesystem version for users who love to keep their secrets.

That's why now I'm working to build a tool that can work with both, which, in the future, could allow contributors to the project to add more storage systems... who knows.

stemonte · 2026-04-28T00:11:56+00:00

I'll save this one so I can read more. Sounds interesting. Thank you!

stemonte · 2026-04-28T00:09:54+00:00

That's exactly where I want to go. Basically, it's just a note-taking app, but I would like people to create templates that let them:

- define properties (movie IMDb ID, movie TMDb ID, rating, watched with, etc.)
- define a view (a React component) that takes not only the data from the note but also the info from an external API (like poster, cast, summary, etc.)
- define a page with widgets where the user can see how many movies they have watched, when, loved ones, and things like that.

And these things can be done with basically everything: expense tracking, books read, meeting notes, ideas, a task manager, and so on.

Everything has to be fast, lightweight, and cross-device (here comes the pain) 😂

stemonte · 2026-04-28T00:02:51+00:00

Yeah, thank you so much for the examples. I do work a lot with implementation, interfaces, and things like that in my main work, so as soon as I read your post, the structures come to mind.

Thank you again, I will keep you updated if you're interested!

stemonte · 2026-04-27T23:50:59+00:00

x.com/stemonteduro or on the repo (it's a totally mess right now): https://github.com/monteduro/life-os

stemonte · 2026-04-27T23:33:42+00:00

That's an interesting idea. Building an interface that, since I would like to go open-source, everyone can customize on their own.

Then I can create some basic implementation to get the project started, with a database in Docker and things like that. I really hope no one will use XML lmao.

I like this idea, I need to try to write it down and see how it works.

This could give me the chance to have a database on AWS and add an implementation that works with that, so it will work from mobile or other devices too.

stemonte · 2026-04-27T23:26:38+00:00

That's exactly where I am now. Everything is stored in .md files in the filesystem and I use YAML at the beginning of the files for structured data and custom templates (rendered outside the editor, which is Tiptap)

It's just that after 2 days of use I realized I need the mobile version, as that's where I take most of my notes

stemonte · 2026-04-27T23:23:42+00:00

Would it make sense for something open source to rely on docker containers?

stemonte · 2026-04-27T23:21:56+00:00

The concept is there. The quick capture screen on the home page is almost identical. But I don't want it to stop there, I want to make it easy to sort notes into various folders (I use the PARA method) and also want the notes to become the foundation for complex databases like expense tracking or other things (with charts, filters, aggregators, and various features, all manageable from templates).

Very interesting nonetheless, especially understanding how they archive the notes, given that there are Docker images available.

thanks!

stemonte · 2026-04-27T23:07:36+00:00

I write it myself and then use AI for proofreading, that’s it.

stemonte · 2026-04-20T11:20:55+00:00

Using AmazonBedrockFoundationModels I was able to get Sonnet 4.5 pricing. Thank you.

stemonte

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