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Show HN: Ichinichi – One note per day, E2E encrypted, local-first
Look, every journaling app out there wants you to organize things into folders and tags and templates. I just wanted to write something down every day.
So I built this. One note per day. That's the whole deal.
- Can't edit yesterday. What's done is done. Keeps you from fussing over old entries instead of writing today's.
- Year view with dots showing which days you actually wrote. It's a streak chart. Works better than it should.
- No signup required. Opens right up, stores everything locally in your browser. Optional cloud sync if you want it
- E2E encrypted with AES-GCM, zero-knowledge, the whole nine yards.
Tech-wise: React, TypeScript, Vite, Zustand, IndexedDB. Supabase for optional sync. Deployed on Cloudflare. PWA-capable.
The name means "one day" in Japanese (いちにち).
The read-only past turned out to be the thing that actually made me stick with it. Can't waste time perfecting yesterday if yesterday won't let you in.
Live at https://ichinichi.app https://ichinichi.app | Source: https://github.com/katspaugh/ichinichi https://github.com/katspaugh/ichinichi
- anwar_nairi 7mo ago[flagged]
- redgridtactical 7mo agoThe read-only past is a really smart design choice. I build local-first apps and it's always tempting to add edit-everything flexibility, but constraints like this are what keep a tool focused and actually useful. How does the Supabase sync work with the E2E encryption? Client-side encrypt before anything leaves the browser?
- katspaugh 7mo agoThanks! Exactly, client encrypts before syncing. Decryption keys are wrapped/encrypted with your password. If you change the password, only the decryption keys are re-encrypted, not your notes.
- redgridtactical 7mo agoSmart approach with the key wrapping. Re-encrypting every note on a password change would be brutal at scale. Do you have a recovery path if someone forgets their password, or is it truly zero-knowledge where the data is just gone?
- katspaugh 7mo agoAssuming the user still has access to their browser, the data would be still accessible locally (and I’m planning to add an export function too).
- jcynix 7mo agoNice, and I like the idea that the past is fixed, but ... is there a way to define the point of rollover to the next day? My "days" sometimes end at 0:50 for example and not at 23:59. So I might summarize the day a bit after midnight.
- katspaugh 7mo agoGood idea, I can do that!
- stavros 7mo agoIf you want to avoid too much choice, but still want the "the past is immutable" feel, you can prevent editing after noon next day or similar.
- throwaway81523 7mo agoI just use a .org file, with git to retain old versions if I edit something that might be of later relevance.
- PufPufPuf 7mo agoHaving the default "midnight" be something like 3AM would get you 90% there without any UI changes
- alde 7mo agoDays "roll-over" when you sleep, so it should be safe to rollover notes which haven't been edited for 6 hours. That way there is no fixed rollover time.
- stavros 7mo agoBut then if you edit a note in the morning to add something, by night it'll be locked.
- numpad0 7mo agoMany lootbox phone games do rollovers at 4AM local. Your sleep cycle would be seriously broken if you're awake 4:00 +/- 0:30
- elxr 7mo agoHow does the E2E work in terms of user flow? I assume a you need a password? Do you need to enter the password every time you open this?
- katspaugh 7mo agoYou can start using it right away without a password (it will generate a random one and use it only once to encrypt a DEK key). Once you create an account with a password, it re-encrypts your DEK and uploads it to Supabase (encrypted). Later on you only need to enter your password again if you sign out and want to sync with other devices.
- kaz-inc 7mo agoI really like the idea, and I've actually built something similar. Please format the writing in the post sound less gpt-esque; I believe in the tool you're making and I believe it will improve marketing to people that share my aversion to that writing style.
- elxr 7mo agoThe entire docs is gpt/claude-esque. It's gonna take a significant amount of work rewriting it all, all for a free tool. I think it fits fine with the type of app this is. Sure some people might be slightly put off, and there is a bit of fluff sprinkled in everywhere, but I think it's fine.
- thomasfrank09 7mo agoVery cool! I'm curious as to why you removed ProseMirror after trying it out. I've been building my own writing app for a different purpose over the last month and have been pretty happy with PM, but I'd be curious to know what you're using instead.
- elxr 7mo agoAs someone else building a notes app, I went with CodeMirror because I enjoy the feature-set of the obsidian editor (which is CodeMirror), and I'm trying to emulate the features on that that I use the most, in addition to some more "experimental" features I'm currently playing with. Personally, I really don't enjoy WYSIWIG editors when writing notes. It's just unnecessarily different compared to what I'm used to. Though I can see non-devs enjoying it more.
- katspaugh 7mo agoI tried ProseMirror and Tiptap but typing in both felt slower than a vanilla contenteditable. Maybe it’s just a placebo effect. Also I’m trying out various experimental enhancements like if you type “+meditation” and press Enter, it will create a labeled section for you. Perhaps I should try CodeMirror as elxr suggested.
- zesptra 7mo ago[dead]
- thatgurjot 7mo agoLove it! The name, the design, the concept, the open source codebase, everything! It’s less like a note taking app and more like a diary writing app. I think that’s very neat and has its own niche. Love the local-first, browser-based nature of it. If you ever consider making a native app for it, consider looking at antinote (https://antinote.io/ https://antinote.io/). Been using it for over a year. It’s the only notes app that I haven’t uninstalled or forgotten about. I think the simplicity of it is what draws me to it. I feel it aligns with your philosophy for this app! Thanks for sharing Ichinichi with the world!
- NewsaHackO 7mo agoIf you like the open-source codebase, then why are you peddling your closed-source paid platform?
- elxr 7mo agoYou're allowed to like both. Antinote is very unique, and devs should be allowed to charge for their work if it's a quality app with a really polished UX. Also, its not theirs.
- fuzzy_biscuit 7mo agoMacOS only, I gather? That's too bad. My next machine will be Linux, and I rather like the concept of the application.
- johannesrexx 7mo agoIt installs easily under Linux.
- dddw 7mo agoHow?
- johannesrexx 7mo ago
- lukasb 7mo agoVery cool! Also have a daily journaling app, hoping the space grows. I've gotten far more value out of journaling than I have out of note-taking.
- tomekw 7mo agoFor this purpose I wrote an app called Five Years Back: I can write one entry daily, but I can see what I wrote on this day for the past 5 years. My writing streak is… 1399 days as of today. Only me is using the app. Good job and good luck!
- lxgr 7mo agoA website where "sign in" is featured more prominently than "sign up"? You have my attention!
- dr_kiszonka 7mo agoThat divider with a time stamp on the right is very cute! I am looking for, in a sense, the opposite of this app. I need an AI-powered IDE-like editor for markdown files. I keep a ton of research notes in markdown and when it comes to writing reports for admins and such, I need something to help me make sense of them, integrate them, reformat, do a "semantic refactoring" across files, diffs. etc. I saw people use Obsidian with some plugins, but I think I need Cursor for markdown. Any suggestions?
- elxr 7mo ago> need something to help me make sense of them, integrate them, reformat, do a "semantic refactoring" across files, diffs. etc I'm building this exact thing. Heavily inspired by obsidian (and the obsidian workflow where you launch claude code in your vault), but with a leaner UX, and a web-first app. Not launched yet, but I'll let you know when I do.
- anesxvito 7mo ago[flagged]
- sigbottle 7mo agoAppend only logs >>> in-place writing and rewriting. I mean, in real life, we call this a "diary" LOL. But even the fact that a mere "diary" doesn't have the same prestiege as say, all other forms of communication, I feel like just a tiny part of it was because it was generally hard throughout human history for the majority of people to write. Like most people were not knowledge workers, typing has definitely made it easier to write, and distribution of writing is prolific. Obviously, there's actual benefits - compression, the concept of iterating on thoughts over and over, all of that is good. But some of it I feel like is undeserved. Append only logs are great :D
- katspaugh 7mo agoThanks for this larger-scale observation! I personally always feel a bit like a Lovecraft character writing those entries. :)
- pabdav 7mo agoLove the app. Wondering if it shouldn't be a rolling 12 month calendar perhaps instead of Jan-Dec. The reason being that once you hit January after writing daily notes for a year, you won't see your existing streak of dots of the previous 12 months. Just a thought.
- katspaugh 7mo agoAh, good point. I didn’t think about that. Good solution to make it rolling! I’ll look into it closer to the end of the year to self-test how both feel.
- iam_circuit 7mo ago[dead]
- ladax72707 7mo agoNice idea. Well done on the implementation. One tiny nitpick - layout is uncomfortable. More than 1/4th of the screen width is taken by the calendar widget (and even more when there's multiple windows open side-by-side), and the editor widget/area is off-center. Also, showing the weather in the note itself is a cool idea. It pairs well with the journal nature of the app. Thanks for sharing!
- katspaugh 7mo agoThanks for the feedback! I can see how the month widget can be not useful in the editor view. I’ll add an option to show only the editor and to remember that choice.
- myrak 7mo ago[dead]
- kreicer 7mo agoThis is a very interesting idea for a project. At some point I was thinking about building something similar, but more in a wiki-style format where ideas could gradually accumulate and build up layer by layer. Unfortunately I never got around to it because of work and other projects. Really nice to see someone exploring this space - I’m curious how the concept evolves over time.
- jjimmy2k 7mo agoThis is very cool thank you, How about an option that when you are editing the note, on the lower part of it, it show the note taken from the same day a year ago, Or a random past note… I also think the home page (calendar view) can be improved, but i am not sure how, Anyway amazing app, thank you cheers
- katspaugh 7mo agoThanks! Yes, “this day a year ago” would be cool! The app has only existed since January this year so I’ll look into it next year. :)
- sajb 7mo agoI love the idea and the implementation! However, I have a hard time remembering which day something happened, so I would constantly want to use a search function.
- katspaugh 7mo agoOn my to do list! Thank you!
- sajb 7mo agoBlogged a lot on my phone during the day, then decided to sign up for the account. Stuff synched. A little later Logged in from chrome on my computer, got a blank page for the day. Checked back on my phone, and everything gone here also. Did I mess up? Can I get the day back somehow? Could it happen again?
- katspaugh 7mo agoOh no, that’s the worst that could happen in an app like this. Sorry about that! I’ll investigate and fix it asap. Filed an issue here: https://github.com/katspaugh/ichinichi/issues/32 https://github.com/katspaugh/ichinichi/issues/32
- katspaugh 7mo agoFixed the bug + added the option to restore empty notes from local DB. It might not restore your note (apologies for that!) but this should never happen again.
- johannesrexx 7mo agoGood to know. Without a search function this tool becomes more of a write-only application ;-)
- Western0 7mo agowhy not using normal paper notebook? one write, local storage one question : why not?
- katspaugh 7mo agoPaper notebooks certainly have their place. It’s the same debate as paper books vs e-readers. I personally don’t like how my handwriting looks and also don’t want to carry more things around.
- ossianericson 7mo ago[flagged]
- useftmly 7mo ago[dead]
- tonyekh 7mo ago[dead]
- sincarne 7mo agoLooks great; love the concept and the design. Reminds me in a way (conceptually) of a DOS program I used to use when I was at my desk more. It’s called Carousel, it’s one-file-per-day as well, but multiple topics which you rotate through (hence Carousel). I don’t need this kind of thing as much anymore, but I appreciate the creativity that goes into them, and knowing they’re out there. Carousel: https://partytimehexcellent.itch.io/carousel https://partytimehexcellent.itch.io/carousel
- b__d 7mo agoNice. I do that in my (iCloud) calendar. Have been doing it for 8+ years now, can recommend :)
- katspaugh 7mo agoInteresting! So you just create an all-day event with a note in the description? Never thought about that.
- unsaved159 7mo agoNice idea for a diary app. "Can't edit yesterday" is off-putting for me. Such a constraint should not be something a software imposes on you, should be a person's mental policy, if they so wish. I want to have full control over my data, without arbitrary restrictions. Another thing is easy deployment. Would love to give it a shot, but I need something like that to be available on both mobile and desktop, that would mean server deployment with all the headache of managing a server and backups... I am using daily notes currently with Obsidian + Calendar plugin. Also E2EE, available on all devices, no problems syncing, plain-old files so I am not afraid of vendor-lock and can backup any way I want.
- bysiber 7mo agoThe read-only past is a nice touch. I kept abandoning journaling apps because I'd spend more time editing old entries than writing new ones. This removes that trap entirely. One thing I'd want: the ability to export everything as plain text or markdown. If the app ever goes away, I want my data.
- katspaugh 7mo agoExport is my todo #1. Cheers!
- swaminarayan 7mo agoWhy do minimal apps sometimes work better than feature-rich ones?