Ask it. Use it. It’s yours.

The value is the surfacing, not the hoard

A memory that is actually useful has to save more than it will ever surface. You never know in June which moment you will need in November: the offhand remark that turns out to be the start of something, the name of the person you met once who is suddenly exactly who you need to call, the restaurant a friend mentioned loving.

None of these looked important at the time. A memory that kept only what seemed significant in the moment would be a diary of the obvious – and useless for the one thing memory is actually for, which is being surprised by what turns out to matter.

So ask it anything – and get a cited answer

Ask the assistant in plain English, or browse the wiki directly. “When did I last see Rae and what did I promise her?” “Who introduced me to David?” “What am I forgetting to reply to?” The answers come from your own records – not the internet – and every one shows its working, cited back to the message, meeting or note it came from.

Over-saving is only a comfort because it’s yours

Over-saving about you, held by someone else, is a loaded archive: everything you have ever done, retrievable by people with power over you, on their schedule, for their purposes. Over-saving by you, held on your own machine, is just… remembering. Same mechanism. Opposite meaning. The only variable that flips it is who holds it.

That is why Ostler can afford to remember everything: because everything stays here. On your device, shaped by you, going nowhere.

That is the whole reason remembering everything is a comfort instead of a threat. The full argument for why the memory has to live on your own hardware is on Why local.