[HN Gopher] Show HN: Dlog - Journaling and AI coach that learns ...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Show HN: Dlog - Journaling and AI coach that learns what drives
       well-being (Mac)
        
       Hi HN! I'm Johan. I built Dlog, a journaling app with an AI coach
       that tracks how your personality, daily experiences, and well-being
       connect over time. It's based on my PhD research in entrepreneurial
       well-being.  Edit: here's a video demo so you can see it before
       downloading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74C4P8I164M - it's
       unvarnished but I'm told that's how people like it here :)  How
       Dlog works * Journal and set goals/projects; Dlog scores entries
       on-device (sentiment + narrative signals) and updates your personal
       model. * A built-in structural equation model (SEM) estimates which
       factors actually move your well-being week to week. * The Coach
       turns those findings into specific guidance (e.g., "protect 90
       minutes after client calls; that's when energy dips for you"). * No
       account; your journals live locally (in your calendar). You decide
       what, if anything, leaves the device.  The problem * Generic AI
       coaches give advice without understanding your personality or
       context. * Traditional journaling is reflective but doesn't surface
       causal patterns. * Well-being apps rarely account for individual
       differences or test what works for you over time.  What my research
       found (plain English) In my PhD I modeled how Personality,
       Character, Resources, and Well-Being interact over time. The key is
       latent relationships: for example, Autonomy can buffer the impact
       of low Extraversion on social drain, while time/energy constraints
       mediate whether "good advice" is actionable. These effects are
       person-specific and evolve--so you need a model that learns you,
       not averages.  The solution Dlog pairs on-device journaling
       analytics with an SEM that updates weekly. You get a running
       estimate of "what moves the needle for me," and the Coach
       translates that into concrete suggestions aligned with your goals
       and constraints.  Early stories (anonymized from pilot users) * A
       founder saw energy dips clustered after external calls; moving deep
       work to mornings reduced "bad days" and improved weekly mood
       stability. * A solo designer's autonomy scores predicted well-being
       more than raw hours worked; small boundary changes (client comms
       windows) helped more than time-tracking tweaks.  Tech & security *
       Platform: macOS (Swift/SwiftUI). Data: local storage + EventKit
       calendar for entries/timestamps. * Analytics: on-device sentiment +
       narrative features; SEM computed locally; weekly updates compare to
       your baseline. * AI Coach: uses an enterprise LLM API for reasoning
       on derived features/summaries. By default, raw journal text does
       not leave the device; you can opt-in per prompt if you want the
       Coach to read a specific passage. * Why 61 baseline variables? The
       SEM needs multiple indicators per construct (Personality,
       Character, Resources, Well-Being) to estimate stable latent factors
       without overfitting; weekly check-ins refresh those signals.  What
       I've learned building this * Users value clarity with depth:
       concise recommendations paired with focused dashboards, often 5-10
       charts, to explain the "why" and trade-offs. * Cold start matters:
       a solid baseline makes the first week of insights credibly useful.
       * Privacy UX needs to be explicit: users want granular control over
       what the Coach can read, per request.  I'm looking for feedback on:
       * Onboarding (baseline survey and first-week experience) * Coach
       guidance clarity and usefulness * Analytics accuracy vs. your lived
       experience * Edge cases, bugs, and performance  Download:
       https://dlog.pro  If you hit token limits while testing, email me
       at johan@dlog.pro  Background PhD (Hunter Center for
       Entrepreneurship, Strathclyde), MBA (Babson), BComm (UCD). I study
       solo self-employment and well-being, and built Dlog to bring that
       research into a tool practitioners can use.  Note: The Coach
       activates after your first scored entry. If you haven't written one
       yet, you'll see a hold state--add a quick journal entry and it
       unlocks.  Appearance: On a few Macs the initial theme can render
       darker than intended. If you see this, switch to Light Mode as a
       temporary workaround; a fix is incoming.
        
       Author : dr-j
       Score  : 8 points
       Date   : 2025-10-27 17:14 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (dlog.pro)
 (TXT) w3m dump (dlog.pro)
        
       | kstrauser wrote:
       | First comment: I freaking love your privacy policy. Seriously.
       | Great job!
       | 
       | Second: I haven't downloaded it yet because my itsatrap.gif
       | warning bells are going off about pricing. On a scale of free to
       | kidney, what are we looking at here? Is this going to be priced
       | for end users, or will it look closer to an enterprisey kind of
       | plan?
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2025-10-27 23:01 UTC)