Ask HN: What are you working on? (March 2025)

Late to the game here, but I'm working on Basic Memory (https://memory.basicmachines.co/docs/introduction), a knowledge management system for the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

What makes it different:

* Claude (and other MCP AIs) can both read from and write to your local markdown files

* Creates a connected network of notes that Claude can navigate between

* All data stays as markdown files on your computer

* When you chat with Claude, it automatically builds structure with simple patterns

* You can start a new chat and just say "Let's continue discussing X" without uploading files or copy/pasting

* Files are available locally, so you can edit them in and editor, like Obsidian, VS Code, etc.

I built this because I was tired of repeating myself to AI assistants and wanted my conversations to accumulate into something useful over time. It's basically a way to give Claude persistent memory while keeping your data local and be easily readable and editable my humans.

Some people are using it to maintain project context across sessions, document systems, and build topic maps without having to manually organize everything.

Demo video: https://basicmachines.co/images/Claude-Obsidian-Demo.mp4 GitHub: https://github.com/basicmachines-co/basic-memory

I'm working on Digest (usedigest.com) which curates content from nearly any source into your own personalized email newsletter. It also has a newsletter reader built into it as well so all of your newsletters get funneled into Digest, instead of your email inbox.

I'm building a new terminal multiplexer called cy: https://cfoust.github.io/cy/index.html

It records your sessions and is configurable with Janet, a Lisp. I'm having a lot of fun with it! (It's also the only thing I ever seem to post about on HN, heh)

Paid In Bio https://www.paidinbio.com

HN is probably not the target audience for this, but I've become really obsessed about solving my own problem of building apps, but struggling to market them. There are very few places online that welcome you to post links, enable you to post a link quickly, and drive targeted traffic at reasonable cost.

So I'm trying to bootstrap a new ad network on Link In Bio platforms that offers this trifecta (welcoming, quick, cost effective).

For context, I work as a QA tester who (currently) does exclusively manual testing. I'm trying very hard to get into automated testing, or possibly move over to Web Development.

At the moment, I've been doing very little. I had been hyperfixated on going "above and beyond" at work, doing close to 60 hours per week when I was only getting paid for 40 since January. I had been hoping that if I had been putting in an excessive amount of effort in terms of productivity, I would get some recognition for it, and more importantly: be given the opportunity to work on professional development things, in terms of, say, classes or training so I could learn more about automated testing. I really want to move towards something more intellectually stimulating the grinding manual process we have - I see so much room to improve. I really just want to learn more things, so I can become a better asset to the my employer, and so I don't feel like I'm just "treading water" in terms of industry knowledge.

Instead of things going that way, I was basically told that doing what I had been doing is... appreciated... but doesn't really change anything, because no one had asked or expected me to do it.

It was demoralizing to get the brush off in that way, but I've decided the best course of action then, is to forge my own way. Do the hours I'm required to do (and do them sincerely well), but put that creative hunger into building a website, building some repos, and finding my own way forward.

At this point, I've already bought a domain. Now I just need to figure out how to build one, and start making some cool stuff.

Its hard to set tone through text... I'm not bitter about what happened, everything they said was technically true. Heck, I'm not even angry about it. It was naive of me to get my hopes up thinking I would get my way, if I put in the effort up front. It just feels... bad to not really feel any kind of positive reinforcement for professional development, or even for working as hard as I’ve been working for the past 3-ish months. In fairness, what they said isn't unreasonable, but it sucks they don't want to invest into me, the way I invested into them.