Ricordo remembers what you see on your computer and tells you when you ask. Here's everything: installing, granting permission, asking well, and why your life never leaves your machine.
Ricordo is a desktop application that runs in the background and keeps —only on your computer— a record of what appears on your screen: text, websites, apps, conversations. Then you ask it in your own language and it answers citing when and in which app you saw it.
It's like having a photographic memory of your digital life. The difference with other similar apps (Littlebird, Rewind…): your life doesn't travel to anyone's cloud, and it runs on Mac, Windows and Linux.
At ricordo.blog, choose Mac, Windows or Linux. A file downloads.
Mac: open the .dmg and drag Ricordo to Applications. Windows: run the installer. Linux: give execution permission to the .AppImage and open it.
Since Ricordo is still young, the system may warn you it's from an "unidentified developer". That's normal. Mac: right-click on the app → Open. Windows: More info → Run anyway.
To be able to remember, Ricordo needs your permission to see the screen. The first time you open it, a welcome screen guides you. All you have to do:
System Settings opens on the Screen Recording section.
Check the box next to Ricordo (on Mac: Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen Recording).
Within seconds, the app tells you "Now remembering!" and the dot at the top turns turquoise. From there, you don't have to do anything else.
Ricordo captures and searches everything on your computer, but to write your answer it uses an AI model. You plug in a key (free) just once:
Paste your Google Gemini key — it's the required one, and it's free at aistudio.google.com/apikey.
If you want more elaborate answers for hard questions (long summaries), add a Claude/Anthropic key. Ricordo uses Gemini for the easy stuff and Claude for the hard stuff, automatically.
~/.ricordo/config.json), never uploaded anywhere.Type in the box below (or tap an example) and click recall. Ricordo lights up the "nodes" of your mind it used and answers citing time and app. There are three ways to ask:
To have it tell you what you've done, with a time window:
It understands "today", "yesterday", "this week", "the last hour" and "the last N hours".
To rescue a piece of data, a message, a website:
To gather everything you've seen about something:
This is Ricordo's reason for being. Know exactly what happens to your data:
| What | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Everything Ricordo captures from your screen | Stays on your computer. Never uploaded to any cloud. |
| The search over your memory | 100% local, on your own machine. |
| When you ask for a cloud AI answer | Only your question + the exact fragments travel to the model you chose, with your key. Never your entire database. |
| The old stuff | Cleans itself up after 45 days (the text stays searchable; the space is reclaimed). |
It's almost always the Screen Recording permission. Look at the dot at the top: if it's not turquoise with "remembering…", go to Settings › Privacy › Screen Recording and turn on Ricordo. It could also just be capturing for a short while: give it some time.
Open the gear ⚙ at the top right and paste your key (free at aistudio.google.com/apikey).
Add the time word to the question ("today", "last 2 hours"). And remember: if your computer was off or asleep, those hours have no memories — that's normal.
For long periods, Ricordo samples your activity. If you want the detail of a moment, ask something more specific about that window.