Pensieve - your personal screen archive with full data control

Imagine being able to find any window, website, or document you've ever seen on your computer — even if you don't remember the file name. That's exactly what Pensieve offers — a private alternative to commercial solutions like Rewind and Windows Recall.

What it is and why you need it

Pensieve is a background service that:

• 📸 Takes screenshots of all your screens every 5 seconds
• 🔍 Indexes content (text via OCR and images via ML)
• 🗂 Stores everything locally in your home directory

Practical use cases:

• Find that recipe you looked at a week ago
• Recover a closed tab without browser history
• Find a document by a phrase from its content

Why it's safe

Unlike cloud-based alternatives, Pensieve:

1. Stores data only on your computer (~/.memos)
2. Doesn't require an internet connection
3. Is completely open source (Python)
4. Can be easily removed with a single command

Key features

1. Smart full-screen search

• Full-text search across recognized text
• Vector search by meaning (uses local ML models)
• Filter by applications and dates

2. Flexible ML integration

Supports:

• Local models via Ollama
• Any OpenAI-compatible APIs
• Automatic device selection for computations (GPU/CPU)

# Пример конфигурации модели
default_plugins:
builtin_ocr
builtin_vlm  # Визуальный поиск

3. Resource optimization

• Dynamic screenshot frequency
• Background processing during idle time
• Battery saving on laptops

How to get started

1. Installation:

pip install memos
memos init
memos enable
memos start

2. Open http://localhost:8839

3. Customize to your needs:

• Select models for search
• Exclude applications from recording
• Schedule processing

Who it's for

• Developers working with multiple windows
• Researchers gathering data from various sources
• Anyone who wants a "photographic memory" for their computer

Limitations

• Requires ~400MB of space per day
• Can strain the system during active use
• No Linux support yet (in development)

Pensieve is a rare example of a tool that delivers enterprise-level capabilities while preserving privacy. If you often lose track of needed windows among dozens of tabs — it's worth trying.