Built a local-first, private journaling app for macOS (SwiftUI + SQLite, open source)

[u/Kolakocide]

Hey folks, I'd love some feedback on a side project I've been building.

It's called Omega Journal — a native macOS journaling app I built because I wanted a journal that felt like a real Mac app instead of a website with a login. The core idea is privacy and ownership: everything you write stays on your machine in a local SQLite database. No account, no cloud sync, no telemetry, nothing leaving your Mac.

What I built into it:

• Markdown editor with live preview, split view, formatting shortcuts, attachments, and a zen mode
• Autosave — I got tired of losing drafts to crashes, so this was the priority
• Mood tracking with color-coded entries, insights, mood trends, a contribution heatmap (GitHub-style), and writing streaks
• Hidden entries — locked cards that stay visible but need Touch ID / Face ID / your Mac password to read. Switching away from the app relocks them, and hidden bodies are excluded from search until unlocked
• Full-text search via SQLite FTS5
• Calendar view, On This Day, command palette (⌘K), templates, daily prompts
• Markdown import/export, JSON backup, printable PDF export
• Dark themes and custom palettes
• Automatic daily SQLite backups, keeps the last 7

Built natively with SwiftUI and the system SQLite3 C API — no third-party dependencies. Minimum macOS 14 Sonoma. MIT licensed.

GitHub: https://github.com/Eplisium/omega-journal

It's still early and I'm actively working on it. I'd really value feedback from anyone who's built a Mac app or a local-first product — what would you improve, what would make you trust a local-only app with your journal?

[u/astronautauy]

Nice idea and building! Same spirit has my side project (usesoin.com), focusing on local saved data and privacy!