Your thoughts.
Kept private.
CaptainsLog is a free Mac app that turns your recordings into clear, organized notes. Talk through your week, capture an idea, or practice a talk. Your recordings and notes stay on your Mac.
Apple Silicon · macOS 26 or later
Your recordings and notes aren’t uploaded
Recording, transcription, and text processing all run on your Mac. You choose where to save your recordings and notes.
Local AI models
Whisper transcribes your recordings. Qwen cleans up and organizes the notes. Both run on your Mac.
Offline after setup
Models download once, then recording and processing work offline. Semantic search downloads its own model on first use. Optional update checks use the network, without sending your logs.
Markdown you can keep
Completed logs are plain Markdown files in your chosen data folder. Read them in a text editor or use them with a Markdown tool such as Obsidian. The original audio and earlier processing stages are kept separately.
Why I built CaptainsLog
I built CaptainsLog for myself and have been using it for more than a year. I wanted to record what happened during the week and look back on it later, with my recordings and notes staying on my laptop.
It’s inspired by Star Trek. You know how Jean-Luc Picard starts his logs with “Captain’s Log, Stardate 41153.7”? I’ve always wanted a computer I could use the same way.
How I use it
- Review my workweek and see where my time went.
- Capture thoughts about my personal life, my kids, or friends.
- Practice conference talks.
- Flesh out new ideas by recording my stream of thought.
Common questions
What Mac do I need?
An Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 26 or later. The local models need several gigabytes of storage. First launch needs an internet connection and time to download them.
Does anything leave my computer?
Your audio and notes stay local. Model setup downloads the required models, and optional Homebrew update checks refresh metadata over the network. Those checks do not send your recordings or notes. You can disable automatic checks and installation in Settings.
How do I find a note?
Search in Logs matches both the words you type and their meaning. You’ll see the relevant entries and excerpts from your own notes.
Can I use the terminal?
Yes. One Homebrew install includes the Mac app and the cl CLI. Use cl pipeline to record and process, cl pipeline --input memo.m4a for a file, and cl search "project architecture" to find logs. Interrupted processing can be resumed with cl resume <stem>. Read the CLI instructions.
Can I trust the generated text?
Transcription and text processing can make mistakes. Review important names, facts, and wording before relying on a log. CaptainsLog keeps the original audio and earlier stage outputs so you can compare them with the completed entry.
How is the app installed?
Through the project’s Homebrew cask. The app is ad-hoc signed and not notarized; the cask removes macOS quarantine from the app bundle. Install only if you trust the project. Review the installation instructions.
Get CaptainsLog
I’m sharing CaptainsLog so others can build on it. It’s open source and completely free. Install it with Homebrew, or point your favorite AI coding agent to the GitHub repo to build it from source. View the source on GitHub.
brew install --cask vnglst/captainslog/captainslogApple Silicon · macOS 26+ · Several GB for local models
Ad-hoc signed, not notarized. The cask removes macOS quarantine.
Install only if you trust the project. Read the install instructions.