SelfJournal

Your personal productivity companion that adapts to your life

A modern, privacy-first Bullet Journal Progressive Web App that combines the proven Bullet Journal methodology with smart features like recurring tasks, mood tracking, and productivity insights.

✨ Features

• 📝 True Bullet Journal Methodology - Rapid logging with bullets, tasks, events, and notes
• 📱 Mobile-First PWA - Works offline, installable on any device
• 🔄 Smart Recurring Tasks - Daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly task patterns
• 😊 Mood Tracking Timeline - Log multiple moods per day with contextual notes
• 📊 Productivity Insights - Activity heatmaps and performance analytics
• 📚 Collections - Organize related entries and tasks
• 🎯 Multi-View Navigation - Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Index views
• 🔒 Privacy-First - All data stored locally in SQLite
• 🎨 Beautiful Design - Clean, minimal interface with dark mode
• 💰 Free & Open Source - MIT licensed

🚀 Quick Start

Deploy to Cloud

Railway is the recommended cloud platform as it natively supports SQLite with persistent volumes.

Docker (Recommended for Self-Hosting)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Self-Journal/self-journal.git
cd selfjournal

# Copy environment variables
cp .env.example .env

# Edit .env and set your NEXTAUTH_SECRET
# Generate one with: openssl rand -base64 32

# Start with Docker Compose
docker-compose up -d

# Access at http://localhost:3000

Local Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Self-Journal/self-journal.git
cd selfjournal

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your NEXTAUTH_SECRET

# Start development server
npm run dev

# Access at http://localhost:3000

🎭 Demo Mode

Want to run a public demo instance? Enable demo mode for automatic login and sample data:

# Docker Compose
DEMO_MODE=true docker-compose up -d

# Or add to your .env file
DEMO_MODE=true

When DEMO_MODE=true:

• ✅ Auto-login - Users are automatically logged in as a demo user
• ✅ Sample data - Pre-populated with tasks, collections, and mood entries
• ✅ Demo banner - Fixed footer banner indicates this is a demo instance
• ✅ Auto-seed - Demo user is created automatically on first startup

Demo credentials (if manual login is needed):

• Username: demo
• Password: demo123

See DEMO_MODE.md for detailed documentation.

📦 Deployment Options

Railway (Recommended for Cloud)

1. Click the "Deploy on Railway" button above
2. Railway will auto-generate NEXTAUTH_SECRET
3. Set NEXTAUTH_URL to your Railway URL
4. Railway automatically creates a persistent volume for your SQLite database

Why Railway?

• ✅ Native SQLite support with persistent volumes
• ✅ Automatic SSL certificates
• ✅ Free tier available ($5 credit/month)
• ✅ Zero configuration needed
• ✅ Perfect for production use

Docker

Using Docker Compose (Recommended):

docker-compose up -d

Manual Docker:

# Build the image
docker build -t selfjournal .

# Run the container
docker run -d \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -e NEXTAUTH_SECRET="your-secret-here" \
  -e NEXTAUTH_URL="https://yourdomain.com" \
  -v selfjournal-data:/app/data \
  --name selfjournal \
  selfjournal

Self-Hosted (VPS)

# Install Node.js 20+
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Clone and setup
git clone https://github.com/Self-Journal/self-journal.git
cd selfjournal
npm install
npm run build

# Set up environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your values

# Start with PM2 (production process manager)
npm install -g pm2
pm2 start npm --name selfjournal -- start
pm2 save
pm2 startup

🔧 Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required	Default
NEXTAUTH_SECRET	Secret key for authentication (generate with openssl rand -base64 32)	✅ Yes	-
NEXTAUTH_URL	Canonical URL of your deployment	✅ Yes	http://localhost:3000
NODE_ENV	Environment mode	No	development

📖 Usage Guide

Getting Started

1. Register - Create your account (data stored locally)
2. Setup - Choose your journaling preferences
3. Start Logging - Use the Daily view to track tasks and moods

Bullet Journal Basics

• • Bullet - Open task
• × Complete - Finished task
• > Migrated - Moved to another day
• < Scheduled - Planned for future
• - Note - General note
• ○ Event - Special event

Views

• Daily - Focus on today's tasks and mood
• Weekly - Plan and review your week
• Monthly - Big picture overview
• Index - Quick navigation and search
• Collections - Organize related tasks and notes

Recurring Tasks

1. Create a task in Daily view
2. Tap the task menu (⋮)
3. Select "Make Recurring"
4. Choose pattern: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly
5. Task automatically appears on future dates

Mood Tracking

1. Tap a mood emoji in Daily view
2. Optionally add a note (predefined or custom)
3. Track multiple moods throughout the day
4. View your mood timeline and patterns

🛠 Tech Stack

• Framework: Next.js 15 (App Router)
• Language: TypeScript
• Database: SQLite (better-sqlite3)
• Auth: NextAuth.js
• Styling: Tailwind CSS
• Components: shadcn/ui
• PWA: next-pwa
• Deployment: Docker, Vercel, Railway

📊 Database Schema

SelfJournal uses SQLite for local-first data storage:

• users - User accounts
• entries - Daily/Weekly/Monthly journal entries
• tasks - Tasks with bullet symbols and recurrence
• mood_entries - Multiple mood logs per day
• collections - Custom collections
• collection_items - Items within collections

See lib/db.ts for complete schema.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guide first.

Development Setup

# Fork and clone
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/selfjournal.git

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Create feature branch
git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature

# Make changes and test
npm run dev

# Commit with conventional commits
git commit -m "feat: add amazing feature"

# Push and create PR
git push origin feature/amazing-feature

📝 Roadmap

See FUTURE_FEATURES.md for planned features.

Short-term:

• Cloud sync (optional)
• Native mobile apps (iOS/Android)
• Import/Export (JSON, Markdown)
• Templates gallery
• Habit tracking

Long-term:

• Collaboration features
• AI-powered insights
• Integration ecosystem
• Multi-language support

📸 Screenshots

Dashboard

Views

Click to see all views

Daily View Track your daily tasks, events, and mood

Weekly View Plan and review your week at a glance

Monthly View Big picture overview of your month

Collections Organize related tasks and notes in custom collections

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Inspired by the Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll
• Built with Next.js
• UI components from shadcn/ui
• Icons from Lucide

💬 Community & Support

• GitHub Issues: Report bugs or request features
• Discussions: Join the conversation
• Twitter: @lucianfialho

⭐ Star History

If you find SelfJournal useful, please consider giving it a star! It helps others discover the project.

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Made with ❤️ for mindful productivity