Feature Guide

A comprehensive guide to everything Historicle can do.

Last updated: October 2026

Core Features (Free)

Rich Text Journaling

Write entries using Markdown formatting with live preview. Support for headings, bold, italic, lists, links, code blocks, and more. Your entries are automatically saved as you type.

Photo Attachments

Add photos to your entries by dragging and dropping or using the upload button. Photos are stored locally and can be viewed in a lightbox. The Timeline view includes a photo scrubber for quickly browsing your visual memories.

People Tracking (@mentions)

Mention people in your entries using @name syntax. Create profiles for the people in your life with photos, bios, and relationship context. This builds a personal network that helps you find entries and understand connections.

Interests & Tags (#hashtags)

Organize your entries with hashtags like #travel, #cooking, or #work. Tags can have custom colors and icons. Filter your timeline by any combination of tags.

Search your journal by meaning, not just keywords. Ask "entries about feeling stressed" or "times I went hiking" and Historicle will find relevant entries even if they don't contain those exact words. Powered by a local AI embedding model.

Timeline View

Browse your entries chronologically with filtering by date, people, interests, and emotions. The photo scrubber at the top lets you quickly jump to entries with photos.

Journal History

View your journaling activity as a GitHub-style contribution heatmap or monthly calendar. See patterns in your writing frequency, word count, or emotional state over time.

Connections Graph

Visualize the relationships between people and interests in your journal using an interactive force-directed graph. Discover unexpected connections and see who appears together most often.

Backup & Sync

Export your journal to a portable backup format. Restore from backups at any time. Connect to cloud storage (iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox) for automatic backups. Turn on per-location encryption and everything is encrypted before it leaves your Mac — unlocked by your passphrase or a one-time recovery code, with automatic background backups kept running by your Mac's Keychain. A fresh Mac plus your backup folder plus your recovery code restores the entire journal. Your data never touches Historicle's servers, encrypted or otherwise.

Day One Import

Migrating from Day One? Import your entire journal including entries, photos, and metadata. Your history is preserved with original dates and timestamps.

Local Server

Access your journal from other devices on your local network. Write entries from your iPhone or iPad while the AI processing happens on your Mac. The free version includes 1 API key; Historicle Pro unlocks unlimited API keys for multiple devices. Set up phone and tablet access.

Pro Features

Historicle Pro is a one-time purchase that unlocks advanced AI capabilities:

Goals

Historicle notices the goals and intentions you mention while journaling - no separate to-do list to maintain. Phrases like "I want to run a half-marathon" or "I'm trying to read more" are detected automatically and collected on a dedicated Goals screen for you to review.

  • Automatic detection from your entries, sorted into categories (Health, Career, Learning, Relationships, and more)
  • Review, rate by importance, organize into boxes, and mark Active / Completed / Set aside
  • A skill tree that levels up each category as you complete goals, plus a "review your wins" summary
  • Add your own trigger phrases to tune what gets detected

Detection runs entirely on your device, and your goals are also available to the in-app AI and via the MCP server - so you can ask "which goals have I been neglecting?"

Have conversations with your journal using a local AI. Ask questions like:

  • "What did I do last Thanksgiving?"
  • "How has my relationship with @Mom changed over time?"
  • "What are my recurring sources of stress?"
  • "Summarize my #travel adventures from 2024"

The AI uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to find relevant entries and provide accurate, grounded responses with citations to source entries.

Emotion Analysis

Track emotional patterns in your writing over time. Historicle analyzes the sentiment of each entry and provides insights through visualizations. See how your mood correlates with people, activities, or time of year.

Audio Transcription

Upload voice memos or other audio files, then click Transcribe on an attachment in the desktop app to create searchable text. Transcription uses a downloaded Whisper model and runs locally.

Writing Coach

Get feedback on your writing style, including readability scores, word variety, and suggestions for improvement. The coach helps you develop your authentic voice.

Unlimited API Keys

Pro unlocks unlimited API keys for the Local Server, so you can connect all your devices - iPhone, iPad, and more - simultaneously.

MCP Server

Connect external AI assistants like Claude Desktop to your journal using the Model Context Protocol. Let powerful cloud AI help you explore your memories while keeping your data under your control. Learn more about MCP setup.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Work faster with these shortcuts:

  • Cmd+S - Save entry
  • Cmd+F - Find in entry

Need Help?

Check out our troubleshooting guide or contact support for assistance.