untangl.me
Your second brain, minus the tangle.
Untangl remembers everything you learn at work — every note, decision and half-forgotten detail — and hands it back at exactly the right moment. Knot the cat keeps the threads tidy. You just capture.
Dump your day. Knot does the rest.
Type into one daily scratchpad. Behind the scenes, Untangl untangles it into knowledge that compounds — nothing summarised away, nothing lost.
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📝
Capture
One scratchpad per day. Notes, tasks, files — drop them in freeform. No filing, no folders, no ceremony.
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🧶
Distil
While you work, your scribbles are wound into balls of yarn — the people, projects and systems you keep coming back to, each with its facts attached.
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✨
Resurface
Mention a client and last month's gotcha appears beside your cursor. The right thread, pulled at the right moment.
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Ask
"What did we decide about the payment API?" Ask in plain words — every answer cites the exact note it came from.
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🔐
Why?
Because the power of a large language model shouldn't cost you your ideas. Writers, designers and researchers keep their creative IP; people who handle sensitive personal information keep it private. Untangl runs its AI on your own machine by default, so your words are never handed to a model provider to store, train on or leak.
"Let's untangle the day. Capture freely — I'll keep the thread." — Knot, your gentle thread-cat
A brain that matches your vibe
Four cosy colour moods, one tap away — try them on this very page. Your yarn keeps its colours in every one.
🏠 Your brain stays home
Untangl is local-first: everything lives on your machine, nothing is summarised away, and nothing leaves your device. Knot is a homebody.
Frequently asked questions
What is Untangl?
Untangl is a local-first second-brain desktop app for one person. You type notes into a single daily scratchpad, and Untangl automatically distils them into people, projects, systems and facts, then resurfaces the right knowledge at the moment you need it. Every answer cites the original note it came from.
How much does Untangl cost?
Untangl is free. There is no purchase price, no subscription and no recurring fee.
What platforms does Untangl run on?
Untangl runs on macOS and Windows as a native desktop app.
Is my data private?
Yes. Untangl is local-first: your notes and knowledge are stored on your own machine and nothing leaves your device. There is no cloud account and no server-side copy of your brain.
What is the AI component of Untangl?
Untangl's AI distils your daily notes into entities and facts, resurfaces them when they matter, and answers your questions. By default it runs entirely on your device, using a built-in local model and local embeddings — nothing is sent to the cloud. You can optionally connect a cloud model, and Untangl asks for your explicit consent before any of your notes leave your machine. Every AI answer cites the original note it came from.
How does changing the AI source in Untangl change the data sovereignty and privacy?
Your notes are always stored locally on your machine, whatever AI source you choose. With the default built-in local model, processing also happens on-device, so nothing ever leaves your computer. If you switch to a cloud model, the notes being processed are sent to that provider under its data terms — a trade of some data sovereignty for model quality. Untangl shows a clear warning and requires your explicit consent before activating any cloud model, and if your settings are ever missing or corrupted it fails safe back to on-device processing.
How do I get help or contact support?
Email Knot at knot@untangl.me — it goes straight to the people who build Untangl. Include your app version and platform if it's a bug, and check the FAQ on untangl.me first for the common questions.
Who is Knot?
Knot is Untangl's helper — a gentle cartoon thread-cat who greets you, nudges you about loose threads, and keeps your captured knowledge tidy. Knot offers hunches and prompts, but anything stated as fact always carries a citation back to your own notes.
Start untangling
Free — no subscription: Knot doesn't do recurring tangles. macOS & Windows.