Show HN: Retain – A unified knowledge base for all your AI coding conversations

Posted by Bayram 2 days ago

Hey HN! I built Retain as the evolution of claude-reflect (github.com/BayramAnnakov/claude-reflect).

The original problem: I use Claude Code/Codex daily for coding, plus claude.ai and ChatGPT occasionally. Every conversation contains decisions, corrections, and patterns I forget existed weeks later. I kept re-explaining the same preferences.

claude-reflect was a CLI tool that extracted learnings from Claude Code sessions. Retain takes this further with a native macOS app that:

- Aggregates conversations from Claude Code, claude.ai, ChatGPT, and Codex CLI - Instant full-text search across thousands of conversations (SQLite + FTS5)

It's local-first - all data stays in a local SQLite database. No servers, no telemetry. Web sync uses your browser cookies to fetch conversations directly.

Comments

Comment by chux52 2 days ago

Would definitely try this out, but am Windows only.

Tried to create something like this but the best I got was a bookmarklet to copy the chat text. Ended up just exporting data and using that method for a one time pull.

Comment by ahachete 2 days ago

I'd also try it, but I'm Linux only ^_^

Comment by Bayram 2 days ago

(thinking about cross-platform version, recalling my Java past)

Comment by ahachete 2 days ago

Java (modern Java) would be awesome!

Comment by Bayram 2 days ago

sorry about that :(

Comment by elemdos 2 days ago

This is really cool, and also feels like it should be built into Claude Code (that’s a compliment btw). I’m gonna try it out this week, thanks.

Comment by elemdos 2 days ago

Also Bonsa looks like the future congrats

Comment by Bayram 2 days ago

Thank you :-)

Comment by tmaly 1 day ago

Do you find any issues with FTS5 where it will miss some semantic detail?

Comment by Bayram 1 day ago

Nope, at least not yet

Comment by nozzlegear 2 days ago

I don't use AI coding tools very much, but the conversation aggregation/search feature sounds useful. If anything I'm interested in trying this just as a replacement for Anthropic's own search feature – their electron app is utterly buns, and I've been looking for a native macOS app to use in place of it.

Comment by Bayram 2 days ago

Please try & let me know what you think - thanks

Comment by altmanaltman 2 days ago

I dont get the point of local-first here? Like why would it not be local and why is it a feature?

Also isnt the data being pulled from the LLM firms' servers?

Like what is the meaning of this? You dont take all my chats and put it on your servers and steal my data? That is what local-first is these days?