Skip to main content

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/JerryZLiu/Dayflow/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

​
Overview

Dayflow’s automatic timeline is the core feature that watches your screen and generates a detailed, AI-powered record of how you spend your time. Unlike traditional time trackers that only log which app is open, Dayflow understands context — the difference between “researching on YouTube” and “watching cat videos.”
Timeline generation runs entirely in the background. You don’t need to manually start or stop tracking — just enable recording and Dayflow handles the rest.

​
How It Works

​
1. Capture

Dayflow takes periodic screenshots of your active display every 10 seconds (configurable). These screenshots are:
  • Scaled to ~1080p resolution for efficiency
  • Compressed as JPEG at 85% quality
  • Stored locally in ~/Library/Application Support/Dayflow/recordings/
  • Never uploaded until you choose to analyze them
Privacy first: Screenshots stay on your Mac. Nothing leaves your machine until analysis is triggered, and only to the AI provider you’ve configured.
The capture system automatically pauses during:
  • System sleep
  • Screen lock
  • Screensaver activation
And automatically resumes when you return.

​
2. Analyze

Every minute, Dayflow checks for unprocessed screenshots and groups them into batches based on:
  • Duration: Batches target your configured duration (varies by AI provider)
  • Continuity: Gaps larger than the configured threshold create new batches
  • Minimum activity: Only batches with 5+ minutes of activity are processed
Batches are sent to your chosen AI provider for analysis.

​
3. Generate Timeline Cards

Your AI provider processes the screenshots and generates timeline cards — structured summaries of your activity: 
{
  "title": "Coding Swift animation work",
  "startTimestamp": "2:15 PM",
  "endTimestamp": "3:45 PM",
  "category": "Development",
  "summary": "Dialing in spring curves and reverse logic for timeline card animations"
}
Each card includes:
  • Time range: When the activity occurred
  • Title: Concise description of what you were doing
  • Summary: AI-generated context about the work
  • Category: Automatically classified (e.g., Development, Communication, Research)
  • Detailed summary: Deeper insights when available

​
4. Display

Timeline cards appear in the main Dayflow UI, organized chronologically. You can:
  • Scroll through your day — see exactly where your time went
  • Review summaries — understand context at a glance
  • Navigate by date — explore past days
  • View app icons — see which applications were active (optional)

​
Context-Aware Tracking

Dayflow’s AI analysis goes beyond simple app monitoring:
Traditional Time TrackerDayflow
”2 hours in Chrome""Researching SwiftUI animation APIs"
"1 hour in Slack""Planning Q1 roadmap with design team"
"30 minutes in YouTube""Learning about Combine framework patterns”
The AI understands:
  • What you were working on (not just which app)
  • Context from window titles, visible text, and UI elements
  • Transitions between different types of work
  • Focus periods vs. context switching

​
Viewing Today

The timeline defaults to “today” using a 4AM boundary — meaning your “day” runs from 4AM to 3:59AM the next morning. This ensures late-night work sessions aren’t artificially split across calendar days.

​
Browsing Past Days

Use the date picker or navigation arrows to explore previous days. Timeline cards are permanently stored in your local database (chunks.sqlite).

​
Searching & Filtering

While Dayflow doesn’t currently have built-in search, you can:
  1. Export your timeline as Markdown (see Export)
  2. Use your favorite text editor to search exported data

​
Storage Management

Screenshots accumulate quickly. Dayflow includes automatic storage cleanup:
  • Configurable limits: Set storage caps from 1GB to 20GB (or unlimited)
  • Automatic purging: Old screenshots are deleted when limits are reached
  • Manual cleanup: Quit Dayflow and delete ~/Library/Application Support/Dayflow/ to start fresh
See Storage Configuration for details.

​
Performance

Dayflow is designed to be lightweight:
  • App size: ~25MB
  • RAM usage: ~100MB
  • CPU usage: Less than 1% (during capture)
  • Battery impact: Minimal — screenshot capture is far less intensive than continuous video recording

​
Troubleshooting

  1. Check that Screen & System Audio Recording permission is enabled in System Settings → Privacy & Security
  2. Verify your AI provider is configured in Settings → AI Provider
  3. Ensure you have at least 5 minutes of continuous activity
  4. Check the Debug view (menu bar icon → Debug) for batch processing status
  1. Local models: May struggle with complex contexts — consider switching to Gemini or ChatGPT/Claude
  2. Low activity: Short bursts of activity (less than 5 minutes) are skipped
  3. Provider issues: Check your API key or CLI tool authentication
Recording automatically pauses during:
  • System sleep or screen lock
  • Screensaver activation
This is intentional to avoid capturing sensitive content or blank screens.

​
Next Steps

AI Providers

Learn about Gemini, local models, and ChatGPT/Claude options

Export Timeline

Export your timeline as Markdown for external use

Timelapse

Watch visual timelapses of your screen activity

Journal

Track intentions and reflections alongside your timeline

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us