Chronicle

Own your data, own your history.

Chronicle is an open-source, local-first memex that archives and indexes your digital history, so that your personal records are yours to keep and to search.

Today, Chronicle is a command-line tool that extracts your data from apps and services into a common JSON-LD format. It reads files and databases on your machine and writes to stdout.

Install

npm install -g @chronicle.app/cli

To run without installing, use npx @chronicle.app/cli@latest <command>.

Usage

chronicle sources                                          # list available sources
chronicle extract shell --limit 10                         # 10 shell history records
chronicle extract things-todo --type tasks                 # one record type
chronicle extract claude-code --loader yaml --output sessions.yaml

• Output is JSON by default. Use --loader csv, yaml, or table to change it.
• --output <file> writes to a file instead of stdout.
• --limit defaults to 100. --limit 0 reads everything.

Run chronicle extract <source> --help for a source's options. See the CLI README for more.

Sources

The CLI bundles shell, imessage, safari, things-todo, and claude-code. Install any other source by name, for example chronicle plugins install lastfm, or let chronicle extract <source> offer to install it.

Source	Package	Strategies
Claude Code transcripts	claude-code	transcripts (local)
iMessage/SMS, with iCloud and contact enrichment	imessage	app-db (local)
Safari browsing history	safari	app-db (local)
Shell history (bash, zsh, fish)	shell	history (local)
Things 3	things-todo	app-db (local)
Phone and FaceTime calls (Apple Call History)	apple-call-history	app-db (local)
Arc Timeline visits and trips	arc-timeline	icloud-backup (local)
Are.na channels, blocks, comments, and follows	arena	api
Bluesky follows, followers, and likes	bluesky	api
Email from mbox files	email	mbox (export)
Facebook export	facebook	archive (export)
FoodNoms meal logs	foodnoms	app-db (local)
Foursquare/Swarm check-ins	foursquare	api
Goodreads shelves and reading history	goodreads	csv (export)
GitHub pull requests, issues, comments, reviews, stars, and gists	github	api
Hacker News submissions, comments, and replies	hackernews	api
Instagram data export	instagram	archive (export)
Last.fm listens, loved tracks, and friends	lastfm	api
LinkedIn data export	linkedin	archive (export)
Obsidian notes and links	obsidian	vault (local)
Pinboard bookmarks	pinboard	api
Slack messages from a slackdump export	slack	archive (export)
Spotify listens, saved tracks and albums, playlists	spotify	api
Timing app usage, time entries, and calls	timing-app	app-db (local)
Twitter/X archive tweets, likes, and DMs	twitter	archive (export)
WhatsApp messages	whatsapp	app-db (local), backup (export)
YouTube likes, subscriptions, playlists, uploads, and Takeout history	youtube	api, takeout (export)
Zotero works, highlights, notes, and reading	zotero	app-db (local)

For services that no longer exist, shown by chronicle sources --all:

Source	Package	Strategies
Google Reader archive actions	google-reader	takeout (export)
Marvin reading sessions and highlights	marvin	csv (export)
Moves export places and moves	moves-app	moves-export (export)

chronicle plugins install also takes a package name or a local path. chronicle plugins new my-source creates a plugin of your own for a source, and chronicle plugins add ./my-source runs one you're writing in place. chronicle plugins lists what is installed.

Why

Imagine if your complete personal history was accessible to you in a single, unified archive: one place to search everything you've messaged, read, watched, and listened to.

In 1945, the Memex was supposed to be this device, but it was never built. Chronicle is the open-source adaptation of an experimental personal project that attempted to build a modern-day memex. Read the full story.

• Local-first. Your data stays on your machine and never touches a third-party service.
• Open-source. You can inspect everything that touches your data.
• Connected. Records from different sources share one schema, so they can be linked and searched together.

Roadmap

Available now:

• Extract. Read records from a source and output them as JSON-LD.

Planned:

• Archive. Import extracted records into a local archive.
• Query. Search across everything in the archive.
• Sync. Keep the archive in sync across devices.

How it works

• A source is where records come from: a service, an application, or an export.
• A plugin reads records from a source and transforms them to the schema.
• The schema (core/schema) defines the shared types and properties.

Each plugin exports an extractor and a transformer. You can use them from code with the ETL framework. SQLite sources use the read-only SQLite adapter. All packages are published to npm under @chronicle.app.

Development

Requires Node.js 22.13.0 or newer.

nvm install
npm ci
npm run quality

Directory	Contents
core/	Schema, ETL framework, and shared tooling
packages/	Reusable libraries
apps/	Applications, including the CLI
plugins/	Source plugins
tools/	Development tools

Tests use synthetic fixtures, not personal data. After changing packages or dependencies, run npm run packages:check to test the packed packages in an isolated install. See RELEASING.md for publishing.

License

MIT