Why Local Wins
Your AI conversations are the most valuable context you have. Keeping them in someone else’s account means keeping them on a shelf you don’t own — and can be asked to leave.
A cloud archive is only as durable as your access to it
A conversation you can only read by signing in is not really an archive. It is a bookmark. The history lives behind a login, subject to a plan change, an account suspension, a provider shutting a product down, or simply a policy shift about what you’re allowed to retrieve.
This is not a hypothetical: it is exactly why this app exists. Provider-side downloads are inconsistent across the eight assistants people actually use, and some offer no practical export at all.
What local files actually give you
- Durability. If a provider shuts down or suspends your account, your conversations are already on your disk, in a format a text editor can open.
- Portability. Move the folder to another drive, a NAS, or a new PC whenever you want. Nothing to export, nothing to re-authorise.
- Independence. No vendor lock-in and no account-recovery problem. The files do not need a service to be readable.
- Backups. Your library is a plain folder, so any backup tool you already use can look after it.
- Privacy. TotalRecalls never hosts your tokens, your chats, or your session data — nothing to breach on our side.
| A cloud archive | A local library | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the files live | Behind a provider login | A folder on your own disk |
| Readable with a text editor | Usually not | Yes — Markdown and JSON |
| Survives a plan change or suspension | Only if access continues | Yes |
| Survives a provider shutting down | No | Yes |
| Search across all your AI tools | Per-provider, if at all | One folder, one search |
| Who controls the copy | The provider | You |
What “local” means for TotalRecalls specifically
TotalRecalls runs on your Windows PC and writes each conversation into a folder you choose, as Markdown for reading and JSON for structure. It reads your own browser session to do it; there is deliberately no hosted “send us your cookies” service, and no TotalRecalls server holds your chats. The free tier covers three providers and five conversations per download; the $24 one-time licence covers all eight with unlimited downloads.
Common objections
- “I’ll do it later.” Sessions expire and history rotates. The cost of a local archive is one download while your session is live.
- “I already have a subscription, so my history is safe.” A subscription keeps a provider accountable to a plan, not to your archive.
- “Isn’t a local copy just clutter?” It is one folder, named by provider, sorted by date, that any search tool can read.
FAQ
- Is a local library the same thing as a backup?
- No, but it is what makes one possible. A cloud archive is only as good as your continued access to it. Once the files are on your machine, any backup tool you already use can pick them up.
- Can I still sync my library to the cloud?
- Yes. The library is a plain folder, so you can put it on OneDrive, Dropbox, a NAS, or an external drive. That is your choice and your provider, not a service TotalRecalls runs.
- Does TotalRecalls store my chats on its own servers?
- No. The app runs locally on Windows, does not connect to a TotalRecalls server, and does not host your chats. You sign in only to the AI providers you already use.
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