CapLog

A minimal, distraction-free desktop app for daily journaling and task tracking — log what you did, capture todos, and let AI format your entries, all from a single text input.

Overview

CapLog is a chat-style daily log: type into one input and it becomes a Markdown journal entry or a todo (via slash commands). AI optionally cleans up each entry as you write. Everything is stored locally in SQLite.

There are plenty of note-taking apps and todo apps — but they're always separate. I used to write my todos on sticky notes and end up losing the sticky note. Nothing worked as a single suite that doubles as a quick daily log. CapLog exists to fill that gap: one place that helps you quickly journal your day and track your tasks together.

The outcome is a simple, quick app that stays open on your desktop, where you can quickly journal your daily work progress — so when you want to know what you did last week, it's all right there. AI is integrated into the flow: as you type your journal, it converts your text into bullets, shortens it, and fixes spelling mistakes.

Outcome

This AI-powered work log and productivity app lets users quickly capture free-form notes that are automatically structured into organized log entries. It includes todo management with priorities and due dates, a chat-style activity feed, daily history tracking, and a monthly log view with export capabilities. A separate, undated Notes scratchpad is always available for plain-text scribbles that don't belong in the dated log, autosaving as you type. Users can easily browse and search archived entries through calendar-style navigation, manage historical data with safe deletion options, and export all logs and tasks to Markdown. The app supports optional AI formatting through OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible backends while gracefully falling back to raw text when AI services are unavailable.

Tech Stack

Layer	Choice
Desktop shell	Tauri v2
Frontend	React + TypeScript + Vite
State	TanStack Query
Storage	SQLite
Content	Markdown
Styling	Vanilla CSS
AI	Anthropic or OpenAI-compatible LLMs
Testing	Vitest + Testing Library + happy-dom
Package manager	pnpm

Commands

Input	Action
`any plain text`	Creates a log entry (AI-formatted if configured)
`/todo <task>`	Creates an open todo
`/todo <task> /by <date>`	Creates a todo with a deadline
`/important <task>`	Creates a high-priority todo
`/done <partial task text>`	Marks the first matching open todo as complete

The header's 📝 Notes button opens a separate, undated scratchpad for plain-text scribbles — not part of the dated log, autosaves ~12s after you stop typing.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     CapLog Desktop App                  │
│                                                         │
│  ┌──────────┐   ┌──────────────────┐   ┌─────────────┐ │
│  │ Sidebar  │   │    ChatArea      │   │  TodoPanel  │ │
│  │          │   │                  │   │             │ │
│  │ Day list │   │  Log feed        │   │ Important   │ │
│  │ previews │   │  (chat-style)    │   │ Due/Overdue │ │
│  │ stats    │   │                  │   │ Open        │ │
│  │          │   │  ┌────────────┐  │   │ Comp. today │ │
│  │          │   │  │ ChatInput  │  │   │             │ │
│  │          │   │  │ (textarea) │  │   │             │ │
│  └──────────┘   │  └────────────┘  │   └─────────────┘ │
│                 └──────────────────┘                    │
│                                                         │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐  ┌────────────┐  ┌────────────┐  │
│  │   LogModal   │  │  SettingsModal   │  │ArchiveModal│  │ NotesModal │  │
│  │ (month log)  │  │  (LLM config)    │  │ (year view)│  │ (scratchpad│  │
│  └──────────────┘  └──────────────────┘  └────────────┘  └────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │ Tauri IPC (invoke)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Rust Backend                         │
│    tauri-plugin-sql → SQLite  (migrations auto-run)    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Input flow

flowchart TD
    A([User types in textarea]) --> B[parseCommand\nsrc/commands.ts]

    B --> C{Command type?}

    C -->|plain text| D[type: log]
    C -->|/todo /by| E[type: todo]
    C -->|/important| F[type: important]
    C -->|/done| G[type: done]

    D --> H[getAdapter\noptional AI]
    H -->|adapter available| I[formatLogEntry]
    H -->|no adapter| J[wrap as Markdown bullet]
    I --> K[useInsertLogEntry → INSERT log_entries]
    J --> K
    K --> L[Query invalidation\n→ ChatArea refetch]
    L --> M[Sidebar / dayStats refetch]

    E --> N[useAddTodo\nis_important=0]
    F --> O[useAddTodo\nis_important=1]
    G --> P[useCompleteTodoByText]

    N --> Q[INSERT todos]
    O --> Q
    P --> R[UPDATE todos]

    Q --> S[Query invalidation]
    R --> S
    S --> M

Project Structure

src/
├── main.tsx                ← initDB → migrations → render <Providers><App/>
├── app/
│   ├── App.tsx             ← Root layout, header, modal + notice state, submit logic
│   ├── providers.tsx       ← QueryClient + AppConfigProvider
│   └── AppConfigContext.tsx← chatDays, LLM adapter, current date (rollover)
├── components/
│   ├── ChatArea.tsx        ← Central log feed (Markdown), inline edit/delete
│   ├── ChatInput.tsx       ← Textarea, submit, command highlighting
│   ├── Markdown.tsx        ← Shared react-markdown renderer (raw HTML disabled)
│   ├── ArchiveModal.tsx    ← Year-view calendar archive + keyword search
│   ├── ArchiveConfirmModal.tsx ← Confirmation dialog for archive deletion
│   ├── LogModal.tsx        ← Monthly / single-day log overlay
│   ├── SettingsModal.tsx   ← LLM provider/model/chat_days config + app version
│   ├── NotesModal.tsx      ← Undated scratchpad, view/edit + debounced autosave
│   ├── Sidebar.tsx         ← Past days list
│   ├── TodoPanel.tsx       ← Right-panel todo list
│   └── TodoItem.tsx        ← Single todo row with inline editing
├── data/                   ← Repositories: the only modules that import db.ts
│   ├── logEntriesRepo.ts
│   ├── todosRepo.ts
│   ├── settingsRepo.ts
│   ├── archiveRepo.ts
│   └── notesRepo.ts
├── hooks/                  ← TanStack Query hooks (useLogEntries, useTodos, …)
├── markdown/
│   ├── htmlToMarkdown.ts   ← Legacy HTML → Markdown converter
│   └── contentMigration.ts ← One-time startup HTML→Markdown migration
├── llm/
│   ├── adapter.ts          ← LLMAdapter interface
│   ├── anthropic.ts        ← Anthropic adapter
│   ├── factory.ts          ← getAdapter() — reads settings, returns adapter
│   └── openai.ts           ← OpenAI-compatible adapter
├── ai.ts                   ← formatLogEntry() — LLM formats raw text to Markdown
├── commands.ts             ← parseCommand() — parses slash commands
├── db.ts                   ← query/execute/getSetting/setSetting wrappers
├── export.ts               ← exportMarkdown()
├── feed.ts                 ← buildFeed() — pure chat-feed builder
├── todoLogic.ts            ← todoStatus(), getTodoSections()
├── types.ts                ← TodoItem, LogEntry, DayStats
├── utils.ts                ← escapeHtml(), date helpers
└── styles.css

Database Schema

SQLite database is managed by tauri-plugin-sql. Migrations run automatically at startup from src-tauri/migrations/.

Where the database is stored

The connection string is the relative path sqlite:caplog.db (see src/db.ts and src-tauri/src/lib.rs). tauri-plugin-sql resolves relative paths into the app config directory, which is derived from the bundle identifier (com.bipin.caplog in src-tauri/tauri.conf.json). Dev and production builds share the same identifier, so they use the same file.

Platform	Location
Windows	`%APPDATA%\com.bipin.caplog\caplog.db` (e.g. `C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\com.bipin.caplog\caplog.db`)
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/com.bipin.caplog/caplog.db`
Linux	`~/.config/com.bipin.caplog/caplog.db`

`log_entries`

Column	Type	Notes
`id`	INTEGER PK
`date`	TEXT	`YYYY-MM-DD`
`raw_text`	TEXT	original user input
`formatted_text`	TEXT	AI-formatted HTML
`created_at`	TEXT	ISO 8601

`todos`

Column	Type	Notes
`id`	INTEGER PK
`text`	TEXT
`is_important`	INTEGER	0 or 1
`is_completed`	INTEGER	0 or 1
`deadline`	TEXT	nullable, `YYYY-MM-DD`
`created_at`	TEXT	ISO 8601
`completed_at`	TEXT	nullable, ISO 8601

`settings`

Column	Type	Notes
`key`	TEXT PK	`llm_provider`, `llm_api_key`, `llm_model`, `llm_base_url`, `chat_days`
`value`	TEXT

`notes`

Column	Type	Notes
`id`	INTEGER PK	single fixed row, always `1`
`content`	TEXT	raw Markdown/plain text scratchpad content
`updated_at`	TEXT	nullable, ISO 8601, set on save

Known keys:

Key	Default	Description
`llm_provider`	—	`anthropic` or `openai`
`llm_api_key`	—	API key for the selected provider
`llm_model`	—	Model name (e.g. `claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`)
`llm_base_url`	—	Base URL for OpenAI-compatible endpoints
`chat_days`	`3`	How many days of history to show in the sidebar and completed-todo cutoff

Configuration

Open Settings (gear icon) and configure:

Field	Description
Provider	`anthropic` or `openai`
API Key	Your API key
Model	e.g. `claude-haiku-4-5-20251001` or `gpt-4o-mini`
Base URL	OpenAI-compatible endpoint only (e.g. for local models)
Show days	Number of past days to show in the sidebar and completed-todo list (default: 3)

LLM is optional — if not configured, entries are saved as plain text wrapped in <ul><li>.

The Settings modal footer also shows the running app version (e.g. v1.4.0), read at runtime via Tauri's getVersion() API. The version itself is sourced from src-tauri/Cargo.toml (package.version) at build time — tauri.conf.json has no separate version field to avoid drift.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Development

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Run the full Tauri desktop app (Vite dev server + Rust backend)
pnpm tauri dev

# Frontend only (Vite on http://localhost:1420)
pnpm dev

# Type-check + build frontend
pnpm build

# Run tests
pnpm test

# Build distributable app
pnpm tauri build

Building for macOS

# Install Xcode Command Line Tools (if not already)
xcode-select --install

pnpm install
pnpm tauri build

Output:

.dmg installer → src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg/
.app bundle → src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/

The app is unsigned. To open locally, right-click → Open instead of double-clicking (Gatekeeper will block a double-click on unsigned apps).

Building for Windows

Run on a Windows machine or VM — Tauri does not support macOS → Windows cross-compilation.

# Install Rust
winget install Rustlang.Rustup

# Install Node.js (if needed)
winget install OpenJS.NodeJS

# Install pnpm
npm install -g pnpm

# Microsoft C++ Build Tools — required by Rust
# Download from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/visual-cpp-build-tools/
# Select the "Desktop development with C++" workload

pnpm install
pnpm tauri build

Or use the helper script that checks prerequisites and loads the MSVC environment automatically:

# From the repo root
./scripts/build-windows.ps1

Output:

.exe NSIS installer → src-tauri\target\release\bundle\nsis\
.msi installer → src-tauri\target\release\bundle\msi\

First build takes 5–10 min while Rust compiles dependencies; subsequent builds are much faster. Installers are unsigned — Windows SmartScreen will warn users until a code-signing certificate is configured.

Windows build FAQ / troubleshooting

Q: Found version mismatched Tauri packages — e.g. tauri (v2.11.2) : @tauri-apps/api (v2.10.1)

The Rust tauri crate and the npm @tauri-apps/api / @tauri-apps/cli packages must share the same major.minor version. Update the npm side to match:

pnpm update @tauri-apps/api @tauri-apps/cli

If pnpm refuses to bump across a minor, pin the exact version in package.json (e.g. "@tauri-apps/api": "^2.11.0") and re-run pnpm install.

Q: LINK : fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file 'msvcrt.lib' (or libcmt.lib, kernel32.lib, ucrt.lib)

The Rust MSVC linker can't find the Windows SDK / CRT libraries because the MSVC environment variables (LIB, INCLUDE, PATH) aren't set in your shell. Two common causes:

You're running in a plain PowerShell window. Fix: launch "x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022" from the Start menu, or load the env into your current shell:

cmd /c '"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat" && set' |
  Where-Object { $_ -match '^(LIB|INCLUDE|LIBPATH|Path)=' } |
  ForEach-Object { $n,$v = $_ -split '=',2; [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable($n,$v,'Process') }

(Adjust the path for Community / Professional editions.)

You have multiple VS installs and the one picked up is incomplete — e.g. only the OneCore subset of MSVC libs was installed, so msvcrt.lib lives under VC\Tools\MSVC\<ver>\lib\onecore\x64\ but not under lib\x64\. Fix: open the Visual Studio Installer, Modify the install, and add the "Desktop development with C++" workload (which installs the full Desktop x64 CRT). Or uninstall the partial toolchain so the linker uses a complete one. The helper script scripts/build-windows.ps1 automatically skips installs that don't contain the Desktop x64 CRT.

Q: error: linker 'link.exe' not found

You have no MSVC toolchain at all. Install the "Desktop development with C++" workload via the Visual Studio Build Tools installer, then restart your terminal so link.exe is on PATH.

Q: WebView2 / WiX / NSIS download errors during bundling

tauri build downloads WiX (for .msi) and NSIS (for .exe) on first use. If you're behind a proxy, set HTTPS_PROXY before building. If a download is corrupt, delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\tauri and rebuild.

Q: First build is extremely slow

Normal — Rust compiles the full dependency tree (300+ crates) on first build. Subsequent builds reuse target\ and complete in seconds. Don't delete src-tauri\target\ unless you actually need a clean rebuild.

CI builds (all platforms in parallel)

The tauri-action GitHub Action builds for macOS, Windows, and Linux without needing local VMs. Add .github/workflows/release.yml using that action to automate releases.

Design

sample/caplog-mock.html is the canonical UI reference — a self-contained HTML file with dark theme, three-column layout, and working interactions. Match it for visual design when building new features.

Fonts: Instrument Serif (headings) + DM Mono (body). Dark theme via CSS custom properties (--bg, --surface, --text, etc.).

License

Licensed under the PolyForm Shield License 1.0.0 — free to use, modify, and distribute for any purpose except providing a product or service that competes with this software.

Required Notice: Copyright Bipin Radhakrishnan (https://github.com/rbipin/caplog)

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 118 Commits
.serena		.serena
.vscode		.vscode
docs		docs
sample		sample
scripts		scripts
src-tauri		src-tauri
src		src
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitignore		.gitignore
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
TROUBLESHOOTING.md		TROUBLESHOOTING.md
index.html		index.html
package.json		package.json
pnpm-lock.yaml		pnpm-lock.yaml
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
vite.config.ts		vite.config.ts

Navigation Menu

Repository files navigation

CapLog

Overview

Outcome

Tech Stack

Commands

The header's 📝 Notes button opens a separate, undated scratchpad for plain-text scribbles — not part of the dated log, autosaves ~12s after you stop typing.

Architecture

Input flow

Project Structure

Database Schema

Where the database is stored

`log_entries`

`todos`

`settings`

`notes`

Configuration

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Development

Building for macOS

Building for Windows

Windows build FAQ / troubleshooting

CI builds (all platforms in parallel)

Design

License

About

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages

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Repository files navigation

CapLog

Overview

Outcome

Tech Stack

Commands

The header's 📝 Notes button opens a separate, undated scratchpad for plain-text scribbles — not part of the dated log, autosaves ~12s after you stop typing.

Architecture

Input flow

Project Structure

Database Schema

Where the database is stored

log_entries

todos

settings

notes

Configuration

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Development

Building for macOS

Building for Windows

Windows build FAQ / troubleshooting

CI builds (all platforms in parallel)

Design

License

About

Topics

Resources

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