DayOS

A calm, local-first personal desktop ecosystem for Windows 10/11 — your day, your learning, your knowledge and your desktop tools in one quiet app. Made by ETC Labs.

Everything is stored on your own computer in one SQLite database. No account, no telemetry, no ads. Every core feature works offline; the few online extras (weather, news, GitHub, AI) are off until you turn them on.

_{Screenshots use example data. A fresh DayOS starts empty and never invents tasks, results, headlines or weather.}

---

Download and run (no installation, no Python needed)

1. Download DayOS.exe from the latest release.
2. Put it in a folder you can write to — for example D:\Apps\DayOS\ or Documents\DayOS\.
3. Double-click DayOS.exe.

DayOS is a single portable Windows executable that carries its own Python runtime and Qt libraries, so you don't need Python, VS Code or anything else.

• Requires: Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit (x64).
• First launch takes a few seconds. The EXE isn't code-signed, so SmartScreen may show "Windows protected your PC" — choose More info → Run anyway if you trust the download.
• Updating from 1.x: replace DayOS.exe. Your DayOS Data folder is kept; before the database is upgraded DayOS writes a verified backup (backups\…-pre-upgrade-v1-to-v8.db).

Where your data lives, backups, recovery and privacy: docs/DATA_AND_PRIVACY.md.

---

What's inside

Group	Module	What it does
Your day	Today	Dashboard: plan, schedule, focus timer, habits, coming up, workload check, inbox, revision due, review — plus optional weather, news, projects and money widgets. Profile-based quick actions.
	Tasks	Due dates and times, priorities, tags, projects, checklists, repeating tasks, "waiting on" dependencies, estimates vs actual time, links to notes, undo.
	Calendar	Day, week, month and timetable views; repeating events (skip / end series); reminders; conflict warnings.
	Habits	Flexible schedules, reminders, weekly targets, morning and evening routines.
	Goals & reviews	Goals with milestones, journal, daily and weekly reviews.
	Insights	Charts counted only from your own records.
Learning	Focus	Pomodoro presets, custom lengths, break reminders, sessions linked to tasks, projects or StudyForge topics, notes, accurate timing.
	StudyForge	Courses as trees, local PDF/Word/text import with review, CBSE Class 10 starter (chapter lists marked provisional), question bank with provenance, blueprints, generated tests, timed test taking with autosave/resume, marking (auto + rubric self-marking), spaced revision with reasons, mistake notebook, flashcards, materials, fair analytics.
	Exams	v1 exams, chapters, mistakes and mock tests (kept).
Knowledge	Inbox	Everything captured quickly (Ctrl+Shift+Space, or a system-wide shortcut), ready to sort.
	SecondBrain	Notes, bookmarks, code snippets, terminal commands, ideas, troubleshooting and study notes; Markdown preview; collections; [[wiki links]] and backlinks; attachments; Markdown import/export.
Make & grow	Projects	Milestones, tasks, logs, changelog, release notes, time, links; optional read-only GitHub panel.
	Skills	Roadmaps with milestones, prerequisites, resources, practice, evidence; weekly look back (no scores).
Life	Briefing	Optional weather (Open-Meteo) and a quiet news briefing from publishers' RSS feeds.
	Money	Manual income/expense tracker, budgets, savings goals, subscriptions with renewal reminders, CSV export.
Desktop tools	ClipVault	Opt-in clipboard history with privacy filters, pause, retention, snippets and templates.
	FilePilot	Read-only scans, true duplicates (SHA-256), large files, old downloads; previewed, recorded, undoable moves and Recycle Bin.
	AudioDock	Microphones and speakers, default-device switching (verified), volume/mute, microphone check, recording and meeting profiles.

Everywhere: Ctrl+K command palette with search across modules, quick capture, reminders with snooze and quiet hours, profiles (school, college, self-learner, developer, professional, creator, general) that choose modules and widgets, five themes, reduced motion, text size, and optional AI suggestions (your own key, consent before every request).

Which sidebar entries you see depends on your profile; turn modules on or off in Settings → Profile & layout.

Five themes

Paper & Sage (default)	Midnight Focus	Zen Minimal

Aurora	Espresso

Each theme has its own palette, type, shape and illustrations; all meet text contrast checks. Accent colours and text size are adjustable; Settings → Appearance → Reduce motion removes animations. Details: docs/THEMES.md.

Keyboard

Keys	Action
Ctrl+K	Command palette and search
Ctrl+Shift+Space	Quick capture (system-wide shortcut configurable, default Ctrl+Alt+N)
Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+9, Ctrl+,	Go to a page, Settings
Ctrl+N / Ctrl+F	New item / search on the current page
Ctrl+S / Ctrl+E	Save note now / Markdown preview (SecondBrain)
Ctrl+B	Collapse the sidebar
F1	All shortcuts

---

Troubleshooting

• It closes or nothing happens: read DayOS Data\logs\dayos.log next to the EXE, or run DayOS.exe --debug from a Command Prompt.
• "Where should DayOS keep your data?" — the EXE's folder isn't writable; pick a location or move the EXE to a folder you own.
• End-to-end check against a throwaway folder:

  set DAYOS_HOME=%TEMP%\dayos-check
  DayOS.exe --self-test write
  DayOS.exe --self-test verify

• Database health: Settings → Data & backups → Check database health.

Develop, test and build

See docs/DEVELOPMENT.md (setup, tests, build, release) and docs/ARCHITECTURE.md (modules, database, migrations). Current status and next steps: PROJECT_STATUS.md.

Version

2.0.0 — DayOS v2: modular ecosystem, five themes, StudyForge, SecondBrain, ClipVault, FilePilot, AudioDock, briefing, money, skills, projects, optional AI.

Known limitations

• The EXE isn't code-signed (SmartScreen warns on first run).
• Online features depend on third-party services: Open-Meteo, publishers' RSS feeds, GitHub, and your AI provider. They're optional and DayOS keeps working when they're unavailable.
• AI features were tested with a simulated provider only; no real API key was available while building this release.
• AudioDock: switching the default device uses Windows' undocumented IPolicyConfig interface (the one the Sound control panel uses) and checks the result; the microphone meter was tested with a simulated driver (DayOS never opened the microphone during automated testing).
• ClipVault's sensitive-content detection is a helpful filter, not a guarantee — pause it before copying secrets.
• CBSE chapter lists are a provisional starter; check them against the current official syllabus.
• Tested on Windows 10 Pro (x64) at one display scale.