Last updated on 14 June 2026
In organizing my life, I’ve been converging on a plain text world. Plain text is absolutely the most durable data format: It never needs upgrading, there is no server to patch, there are no SSL certificates to expire, anything can edit it.
Finances: Beancount keeps track of everything from lunch to house purchase. Every transaction I’ve made over the last 20 years is in there. It handles multiple currencies too.
Todo: Todo.txt has an old web site but still works great. I usually use pter to edit, but other tools work too.
Calendar: Remind keeps track of calendar dates, everything from fortnightly rubbish day through passport expiry a decade from now.
Sync: Syncthing keeps everything in sync across devices.
Mobile editor: Markor for Android can edit any kind of plain text file.
Other projects:
Building the Neon programming language
Eliminating dependencies on Big Tech
Setting up a FreeBSD server at home
Jellyfin media server
Immich photo server
Forgejo git server
Paperless-ngx document server
Learning Rust
Learning te reo Māori
This /now page was inspired by Derek Sivers. What are you working on?.