pensieve

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I changed the name to Pensieve because Memos was already taken.

Pensieve (previously named Memos)

Pensieve is a privacy-focused passive recording project. It can automatically record screen content, build intelligent indices, and provide a convenient web interface to retrieve historical records.

This project draws heavily from two other projects: one called Rewind and another called Windows Recall. However, unlike both of them, Pensieve allows you to have complete control over your data, avoiding the transfer of data to untrusted data centers.

Features

• Simple installation: just install dependencies via pip to get started
• Complete data control: all data is stored locally, allowing for full local operation and self-managed data processing
• Full-text and vector search support
• Interactive entity detail view with chronological context navigation
• Smart metadata capture including browser URL retrieval for web activities
• Integrates with Ollama, using it as the machine learning engine for Pensieve
• Compatible with any OpenAI API models (e.g., OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, vLLM, etc.)
• Supports Mac and Windows (Linux support is in development)
• Extensible functionality through plugins

Latest News

• Pensieve Agent Skill: Version v0.33.0 ships an agent skill so any Skill-aware AI tool — Claude Code, Codex, opencode, etc. — can search your screenshot archive in natural language and link straight to the entity detail page. See Searching with an Agent Skill.
• Application Blacklist Feature: Version v0.30.0 introduces an application blacklist feature that allows you to exclude specific applications from screenshot recording. This feature includes blacklist checking in both recording and file watching processes, with an enhanced UI for blacklist management in the configuration panel.
• Enhanced Entity Detail View: Version v0.29.0 introduces a new entity detail page with interactive context navigation, allowing you to browse through screenshots chronologically with improved visual context and metadata display.
• Configuration Management UI: Version v0.27.0 introduces an intuitive configuration management interface that allows you to easily configure all Pensieve settings through the web interface.

Quick Start

[!IMPORTANT]
It seems that not all versions of Python's sqlite3 library support enable_load_extension. However, I'm not sure which environments or Python versions might encounter this issue. I use conda to manage Python, and Python installed via conda works fine on macOS, Windows x86, and Ubuntu 22.04.

Please ensure the following command works in your Python environment:

python复制

import sqlite3

# Check sqlite version
print(f"SQLite version: {sqlite3.sqlite_version}")

# Test if enable_load_extension is supported
try:
    conn = sqlite3.connect(':memory:')
    conn.enable_load_extension(True)
    print("enable_load_extension is supported")
except AttributeError:
    print("enable_load_extension is not supported")
finally:
    conn.close()

If you find that this does not work properly, you can install miniconda to manage your Python environment. Alternatively, check the current issue list to see if others have encountered the same problem.

1. Install Pensieve

pip install memos

On Windows, prefer uv tool install memos or pipx install memos over bare pip install — see Windows Installation Notes for the full setup checklist.

2. Initialize

Initialize the pensieve configuration file and sqlite database:

memos init

Data will be stored in the ~/.memos directory.

3. Start the Service

memos enable
memos start

This command will:

• Begin recording all screens
• Start the Web service
• Set the service to start on boot

4. Access the Web Interface

Open your browser and visit http://localhost:8839

Mac Permission Issues

On Mac, Pensieve needs screen recording permission. The first time memos start runs, macOS will prompt you to allow screen recording — please allow it.

To check what is currently authorized (without triggering a prompt), run:

memos doctor

It will print the Python interpreter path that needs the permission, and tell you exactly where to find it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording.

If you upgrade Python (e.g. brew upgrade python, a new pyenv version, recreating a conda env), the previously granted permission becomes stale because TCC is keyed on the binary path. Reset and re-authorize:

tccutil reset ScreenCapture
memos stop && memos start

To avoid this churn, install via pipx install memos or uv tool install memos — both pin the interpreter path so authorization survives memos upgrades.

Windows Installation Notes

For a smoother Windows setup, install memos as an isolated tool rather than into the global site-packages:

# Option A: uv (fast, single binary)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"
uv tool install memos

# Option B: pipx
pip install --user pipx
python -m pipx ensurepath
pipx install memos

Both keep memos in a dedicated venv so the Python interpreter path stays stable across upgrades. After install, run memos doctor to verify the environment.

Before memos enable && memos start, two preparations make a real difference:

# Run in an Admin PowerShell

# Enable long paths — some ML wheels (torch, modelscope) have deep paths
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem" -Name "LongPathsEnabled" -Value 1

# Exclude ~/.memos from Defender so screenshot writes aren't scanned
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath "$env:USERPROFILE\.memos"

If your %USERPROFILE% is redirected to OneDrive, ~/.memos may sync ~400MB of screenshots per day to the cloud. Change base_dir in ~/.memos/config.yaml to a local, non-synced path.

Avoid these setups on Windows:

• Python from the Microsoft Store — sandboxed filesystem breaks ~/.memos paths and subprocess behavior
• Running memos inside WSL — WSL can't capture the Windows host's screen
• A %USERPROFILE% synced by OneDrive (see above)

Using PostgreSQL Database

To use PostgreSQL with Pensieve, you need to install the package with PostgreSQL support:

pip install memos[postgresql]

Starting from version v0.25.4, Pensieve fully supports using PostgreSQL as the backend database. Compared to SQLite, PostgreSQL can maintain excellent retrieval performance even with large data volumes.

If your screenshot data is large or you require high retrieval response speed, it is strongly recommended to use PostgreSQL as the backend database.

1. Start PostgreSQL with Docker

Since Pensieve uses vector search functionality, it requires PostgreSQL with the pgvector extension. We recommend using the official pgvector image:

On Linux/macOS:

docker run -d \
    --name pensieve-pgvector \
    --restart always \
    -p 5432:5432 \
    -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword \
    -v pensieve-pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data \
    pgvector/pgvector:pg17

On Windows PowerShell:

docker run -d `
    --name pensieve-pgvector `
    --restart always `
    -p 5432:5432 `
    -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword `
    -v pensieve-pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data `
    pgvector/pgvector:pg17

On Windows Command Prompt:

docker run -d ^
    --name pensieve-pgvector ^
    --restart always ^
    -p 5432:5432 ^
    -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword ^
    -v pensieve-pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data ^
    pgvector/pgvector:pg17

This command will:

• Create a container named pensieve-pgvector
• Set the PostgreSQL password to mysecretpassword
• Map the container's port 5432 to the host's port 5432
• Use PostgreSQL version 17 with vector search support
• Create a data volume named pensieve-pgdata for persistent data storage
• Set the container to start automatically after Docker restarts

Note: If you are using Windows, make sure Docker Desktop is installed and running. You can download and install Docker Desktop from the Docker website.

2. Configure Pensieve to Use PostgreSQL

Modify the database configuration in the ~/.memos/config.yaml file:

# Change the original SQLite configuration:
database_path: database.db

# To PostgreSQL configuration:
database_path: postgresql://postgres:mysecretpassword@localhost:5432/postgres

Configuration explanation:

• postgres:mysecretpassword: Database username and password
• localhost:5432: PostgreSQL server address and port
• postgres: Database name

3. Migrate from SQLite to PostgreSQL

If you previously used SQLite and want to migrate to PostgreSQL, Pensieve provides a dedicated migration command:

# Stop the Pensieve service
memos stop

# Execute the migration
memos migrate \
  --sqlite-url "sqlite:///absolute/path/to/your/database.db" \
  --pg-url "postgresql://postgres:mysecretpassword@localhost:5432/postgres"

# Modify the configuration file to point to PostgreSQL
# Edit ~/.memos/config.yaml to update database_path

# Restart the service
memos start

Notes:

1. Ensure the PostgreSQL service is running before migration
2. The migration process will completely clear the target PostgreSQL database, ensure there is no important data
3. The migration will not affect the original SQLite database
4. The migration process may take some time depending on the data size
5. After migration, you can choose to backup and delete the original SQLite database file

Below are the migration commands for Mac and Windows:

# Mac
memos migrate \
  --sqlite-url "sqlite:///~/.memos/database.db" \
  --pg-url "postgresql://postgres:mysecretpassword@localhost:5432/postgres"

# Windows PowerShell
memos migrate `
  --sqlite-url "sqlite:///$env:USERPROFILE/.memos/database.db" `
  --pg-url "postgresql://postgres:mysecretpassword@localhost:5432/postgres"

# Windows Command Line
memos migrate ^
  --sqlite-url "sqlite:///%USERPROFILE%/.memos/database.db" ^
  --pg-url "postgresql://postgres:mysecretpassword@localhost:5432/postgres"

User Guide

Enhanced Entity Detail View

Pensieve v0.29.0 introduces a comprehensive entity detail view that provides deeper insights into your screenshots:

1. Interactive Context Navigation: Click on any search result to open the detailed entity view with chronological context navigation
2. Context Bar: Navigate through screenshots using the horizontal context bar at the bottom, showing previous and next screenshots in chronological order
3. Rich Metadata Display: View comprehensive metadata including browser URLs, application names, timestamps, and extracted text
4. Enhanced Visual Context: Get better understanding of your digital activities with improved metadata capture

The new entity view makes it easier to reconstruct your digital timeline and find related content around specific moments.

Searching with an Agent Skill

Pensieve v0.33.0 ships an agent skill — a portable, agent-agnostic instruction file that teaches any Skill-aware AI tool (Claude Code, Codex, opencode, …) how to query your screenshot archive over the HTTP API.

What you get:

1. Natural-language queries: ask things like "find that thing I looked at last week" or *"show me when I was working on the Mastra i