Ownly

Own less, Live more, Decide better.

A local-first ownership memory and decision ledger.

Ownly helps you record what you own, what it costs, how you used it, and what you learned. Personal data stays in an Ownly data folder as plain Markdown with YAML frontmatter.

Ownly doesn't host your data. You choose where your files live.

The Ownly data folder can live in a normal local directory or inside a local folder synchronized by a personal cloud provider you control. Obsidian is useful for inspecting the Markdown, but it is not required for the hosted Web app, installed PWA, Agent CLI, or local MCP server.

Open Ownly

Entry point	Obsidian required?	Local process required?	Best for
GitHub Pages Web app	No	No	Immediate use in a supported desktop browser
Installed PWA	No	No	A standalone app window with offline application-shell startup
Obsidian plugin	Yes	No	Native Vault integration and direct Markdown work
Agent CLI	No	Yes	Deterministic scripting and validated local mutations
Local MCP	No	Yes	Bounded reads plus opt-in, preview-before-commit maintenance for compatible agents

The Web app and PWA are the same browser runtime. Installation changes the launch experience, not the data model. The product homepage itself is not a PWA surface.

First use: choose where your data lives

When Ownly starts without an existing folder permission, choose a storage location and then create new data or open an existing Ownly data folder.

On this device

Choose a normal local filesystem folder. Ownly reads and writes that folder directly. Nothing is synchronized unless you configure synchronization outside Ownly.

In your personal cloud folder

Choose a local folder already synchronized by Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud Drive, or another provider you control.

Ownly still works with normal local files. It does not use provider APIs, OAuth, provider credentials, an Ownly cloud mirror, or a separate remote filesystem. Your provider handles synchronization under its own privacy and security policies.

Keep the folder available offline when the provider supports online-only placeholders, and use one sync provider per Ownly data folder to reduce conflicting copies.

Create new data

Select a parent location such as Documents, an Obsidian Vault root, a local personal-cloud folder, or an empty folder already named Ownly.

Ownly initializes:

text

Ownly/
  Objects/
  Accounts/
  Snapshots/
  Reviews/
  Trips/
  Trip Places/
  Trip Visits/
  Trip Legs/
  Trip Expenses/
  Logs/
    Object Experiences/
  Archive/
    Objects/
    Accounts/
    Snapshots/
    Reviews/
    Object Logs/

If the selected folder is already named Ownly, Ownly uses it directly and does not create Ownly/Ownly.

Open existing data

Select any supported filesystem location:

an initialized Ownly data root containing Objects/;
an empty or initialized folder named Ownly;
an Obsidian Vault containing an Ownly/ child folder;
an Obsidian Vault using the plugin's configured Ownly data folder;
any of the above inside a local folder synchronized by the user's own provider.

The browser asks for explicit read/write permission. Personal Markdown files are not uploaded to GitHub Pages and are not copied into the PWA service-worker cache. If the selected folder is synchronized by a third-party provider, that provider may upload and synchronize those files independently of Ownly.

The hosted Web/PWA runtime uses Google Analytics 4 measurement ID G-KXXVS33FQ2 for product adoption and can also load Cloudflare Web Analytics for aggregate traffic and Web Vitals when NEXT_PUBLIC_CLOUDFLARE_WEB_ANALYTICS_TOKEN is configured at build time. Ownly custom analytics events never include Markdown contents, local file names, form values, object records, reviews, account snapshots, selected-folder data, local paths, inferred provider names, or MCP tool results. The Obsidian plugin, Agent CLI and MCP runtime do not load either web analytics provider.

Recommended storage

Standalone local use:

text

<My local folder>/
  Ownly/
    Objects/
    Accounts/
    Snapshots/
    Reviews/
    Trips/
    Trip Places/
    Trip Visits/
    Trip Legs/
    Trip Expenses/
    Logs/
    Archive/

Inside an Obsidian Vault:

text

<My Obsidian Vault>/
  Ownly/
    Objects/
    Accounts/
    Snapshots/
    Reviews/
    Trips/
    Trip Places/
    Trip Visits/
    Trip Legs/
    Trip Expenses/
    Logs/
    Archive/

Inside a personal cloud-synced local folder:

text

<My Dropbox / Google Drive / OneDrive / iCloud Drive folder>/
  Ownly/
    Objects/
    Accounts/
    Snapshots/
    Reviews/
    Trips/
    Trip Places/
    Trip Visits/
    Trip Legs/
    Trip Expenses/
    Logs/
    Archive/

All three layouts use the same Ownly data model. The personal-cloud option does not introduce a second storage backend; the external provider synchronizes the normal filesystem folder.

Product principles

User-controlled storage — Ownly does not host your personal ledger. You choose where the filesystem folder lives.
Local by default — no required cloud account, hosted database, provider OAuth, or mandatory synchronization.
Markdown native — records remain portable and human-readable.
Decision led — observe, acquire or pass, use, exit, and review.
Recoverable mutations — archive and restore are distinct from permanent deletion.
One data model — Web, PWA, Obsidian, CLI and MCP operate on the same schemas and directory structure.
Fact ready — scripts and external AI agents can consume deterministic data contracts; Ownly itself is not an AI assistant.

What Ownly tracks

Record	Purpose
Physical item	Purchase, use, cost, condition, retirement, transfer, or discard lifecycle
Recurring cost	Subscription or other repeating obligation, billing cycle, status, and annualized cost
One-time experience	Plan, budget, actual cost, location, completion, and review
Snapshot	Point-in-time net-worth and account-balance facts
Review	Structured post-use, post-exit, monthly, or annual reflection
Object experience log	Append-only usage, issue, maintenance, regret, lesson, comparison, or exit event

Fact-ready Agent CLI

Ownly exposes deterministic JSON read/write commands for scripts and external agents. It does not include model APIs, embeddings, AI chat, or generated recommendations.

server.ts

export OWNLY_VAULT=/path/to/location-containing-Ownly

# Recommended (wyqd remains for backward compatibility)
npm run --silent ownly -- object list --json
# Legacy alias
npm run --silent wyqd -- object list --json
npm run --silent wyqd -- object get --id <id> --json
npm run --silent wyqd -- object history --id <id> --json
npm run --silent wyqd -- object review-needed --json
npm run --silent wyqd -- recurring list --active --json
npm run --silent wyqd -- summary --json

See:

The CLI data location may point to an Obsidian Vault or another filesystem location containing the Ownly data folder, including a user-controlled synchronized local folder.

Agent / MCP

Ownly also exposes a local-first MCP server for Codex, Claude Code and other MCP clients that can start a local STDIO process. It is read-only by default; persistent mutations require explicit startup permission plus a separate preview and commit call.

The MCP server is an adapter over the same validated Ownly data model. It does not create a second database, hosted mirror or embedded AI assistant.

The MCP tool surface covers:

data summary and Doctor health checks;
object search and bounded object facts;
object history with reviews and append-only experience logs;
active recurring costs;
upcoming subscription renewals;
recurring costs grouped by payment account with currencies kept separate;
deterministic review-needed records.
opt-in creation and updates, lifecycle changes, append-only logs, reviews, snapshots, and recoverable archive/restore;
short-lived before/after previews, pre-write backups, stale-write conflict detection, and idempotent commits.

The source-of-truth stays in the user-selected Ownly data folder. Facts returned by an MCP tool can enter the connected external agent's context, so Ownly does not claim that every selected fact remains on-device during an agent session.

The publish-ready MCP package lives in packages/mcp. See the Ownly MCP Guide for Codex and Claude Code setup, privacy boundaries and example prompts.

Current runtime status

Area	Status
Product homepage	Static bilingual product explanation with an embedded interactive preview
Hosted Web app	Static GitHub Pages runtime with user-selected filesystem access
Installed PWA	App-route-only install surface, standalone launch and cached app shell
Obsidian plugin	Native Vault interface over the shared Ownly data model
Agent CLI	Stable, strict-typed fact-ready JSON contract
Local MCP	Read-only by default; opt-in two-phase writes over the canonical Ownly evidence store
Data storage	Plain Markdown + YAML frontmatter in a user-controlled filesystem folder
Mutation safety	Validation, preview/commit confirmation, atomic writes, safety backups, audit logs, conflict detection, archive/restore, and CI contracts

Current validation and known coverage gaps are documented in Quality Baseline.

Browser support

Direct folder access uses the File System Access API.

Recommended: current desktop Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
Unsupported browsers can view the product page and embedded preview but cannot connect a real Ownly data folder.
Mobile direct-folder access is not a production target.
Browser permission may need to be renewed after restart or permission reset.
A personal cloud folder must be exposed by its provider as a usable local filesystem folder; Ownly does not provide a remote-drive API fallback.

See Web Runtime for privacy boundaries, PWA behavior, and deployment details.

Obsidian plugin

Install from Obsidian Community Plugins:

👉 Install Ownly

The plugin is optional for Web/PWA users. Use the term Obsidian Vault only for a real Vault or the Obsidian runtime; the cross-runtime storage term is Ownly data folder.

Data health

Ownly includes deterministic Doctor checks for issues such as:

duplicate IDs;
unsupported schema versions;
invalid costs or dates;
missing object/review references;
stale snapshots;
missing data directories.

These checks operate on Ownly facts and filesystem accessibility. Doctor does not inspect cloud-provider accounts or use AI.

Documentation

Development

Terminal

npm ci
npm run validate
npm run test
npm run test:e2e:data
npm run test:mcp
npm run wyqd -- --vault <path> object list --json

MCP package validation additionally runs only for MCP-specific changes:

Terminal

npm install --prefix packages/mcp --ignore-scripts --no-audit --no-fund
npm run build --prefix packages/mcp
node packages/mcp/dist/index.js --help
(cd packages/mcp && npm pack --dry-run)

License

MIT. See LICENSE. Ownly does not host personal ledger data. A user-selected filesystem-sync provider or external MCP client may process data under its own privacy and security policies. Hosted Web/PWA may use GA4 for limited product-adoption events and Cloudflare Web Analytics for aggregate traffic and Web Vitals; the Obsidian plugin, CLI and MCP runtime do not load either analytics provider.