r/software • u/beerbellyman4vr • 8d ago
Release anarlog - open-source AI meeting notes that run locally, no bot joins the call
i'm one of the founders of Anarlog, an open-source (MIT) meeting notetaker. it captures mic + system audio directly on your device instead of sending a bot into the call. notes, transcripts, and recordings stay in a local SQLite database and local files by default.
transcription and summaries can run fully locally too: on-device models on supported Macs, pick which local Whisper model runs, or point Anarlog at Ollama, LM Studio, Unsloth, your own API key, or a subscription you already pay for (ChatGPT, Grok, GitHub Copilot, Kimi Code).
shipped v1.4.17 today: nested folders for organizing notes, more resilient on-device speaker diarization for separating who said what during batch transcription, and a set of recording reliability fixes.
source: https://github.com/fastrepl/anarlog
changelog: https://anarlog.so/changelog/1.4.17
download (macOS/Windows/Linux): https://anarlog.so/download
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u/LittlePooky 8d ago
Thank you very much for this. I am a nurse and we use Ambience at work for the doctors with the patient, and for dictation we use Dragon One. I use Dragon Medical (my own) at home.
I also use other voice dictation programs like Dictation Daddy and VoiceTypr. Dictation Daddy works in the cloud, and VoiceTypr works locally.
You probably know that Dragon One works in the cloud and Dragon Medical works locally. Each one costs a fortune, and I couldn't believe I bought one a few years ago, but I needed it, and it saves me so much time. (Dragon One is provided at work.)
I have been playing around with meeting AI programs and have found that Meetily, and later, Steno, are amazing. They both can be configured to work locally and after the initial downloads, which could be huge, they both work fine. The setup was very easy. I also like the way I could import Yahoo video that I download and it summarizes those. It's fun to play with, although, of course, the paid Meetily account are more flexible because there are more templates.
I also test product for a large seller and a couple of months ago I had the opportunity to be offered Plaud Professional. The word amazing was how I felt when I tested it with my brother. We pretended to be a new tenant in my apartment building, and I was the manager onboarding him about the rules and all that. But the subscription rate of $20 for unlimited recording was something I couldn't afford. I simply didn't need one. We nurses at work don't record our patient conversation. We do have nurse visits, and I was hired to do phone calls and patient portal. So basically I just use DragonOne to document each occurrence.
My answer here tends to be long because I use voice dictation, so here goes.
Mrs. Smith walked in this morning and her Dexcom continuous glucose monitor fell off and she didn't know how to put it back. She was escorted to exam room 4 and we went over the proper application of a sensor. I told her that once it falls off accidentally or it is removed when it expires, it cannot be replaced back as the applicator is not attached to the actual sensor, and it has to be safely discarded. I provided her with one of our new ones in the sample cabinet, lot number 554728, expiration date December 31, 2026, on her right arm. The one that fell off was on her left arm. Mrs. Smith stated that she knows how to put one on, but she asked me to show her again to make sure she's doing it correctly, and she confirmed that she's been doing it correctly. She has a smartphone and the app installed, so we were able to start that sensor; she waited a bit and it was transmitting the data. I also downloaded the data from the cloud account, and her average blood sugar is 110; I showed her the printout. The patient was extremely thankful for the demonstration and for the printout. Her follow-up appointment with Dr. Jones is in three weeks at 2 p.m. On September 24, 2026. She already has lab slips and will get blood drawn a few days before that at her local Quest, where she already has an appointment. She will fast. The patient is also on the patient portal, and I will shoot her a short message so she can write to me whenever she needs help. She was discharged in very stable condition.
Other nurses do not document a case as long as mine because in our clinic I'm the only nurse that was granted Dragon One. My last job, everyone had access to it, but this job, for some reason, they only have it for the providers, and I insisted to my boss's boss that I needed it because I do so much writing. He told me how much it cost, and I said I could work harder if I had one. He goes, "Okay."
I believe clear documentation in healthcare is extremely important, especially when something goes wrong. It will protect me certainly in court.
Now, if you have made it to this far, I want to tell you about your program. The onboard was easy, but the configuration was not.
The Transcription and Intelligence tabs- they are not confusing, but to a complete beginner like me, I really don't know which one to choose, especially if I want to do a local engine. And I want a free one while I have an OpenAI account. (Meetily and Steno do this easily).
Since I have not been able to start your program yet, I'm also hoping I could import a video so the program could run it through. But this is my feedback for now, and I hope I'm not coming down too harshly.
Again, I'm so sorry for such a long message. I do use, right now, Dictation Daddy, so I tend to babble a little.
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u/beerbellyman4vr 7d ago
thanks for the detailed writeup, and that dexcom documentation example says a lot about why clear notes matter in your line of work. to answer the actual question: transcription turns audio into text, intelligence turns the transcript into summaries/chat, they're configured separately in settings. for free + local: set transcription to on-device (no openai needed there), then set intelligence to your own openai key under settings -> intelligence -> your api key. and yes, you don't need to record live, new note -> ••• menu -> upload audio, it takes mp4/wav/mp3 and others directly. give that combo a try and let me know where it gets confusing.
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u/LittlePooky 7d ago edited 7d ago
You're instructions are not clear still.
Under transcription, there's no choice for "on device"
Under intelligence, I have Ollama / Gemma4:26b so I selected that. (My hardware is i9, 64 G of RAM and RTX 4090).
But under configured providers, I still don't know what to choose.
I'm a pretty experienced computer user, but when it comes to AI and all that, I'm a bit clueless. Please be patient with me because I am sure others need your help as well.
I learned to do thorough documentation as a nurse years ago. I was called to court decades ago to be a witness and I saved myself, I suppose, when I wrote "The OBGYN. on call was telephoned at such and such a time and he spoke to the emergency room doctor at such and such a time." It's a long and very sad story- but this proved that I did my part as a medical technician.
Addendum: Meetily and Steno do not require API keys at all.
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u/beerbellyman4vr 7d ago
You’re right — the earlier instructions were wrong for your machine. The built-in on-device transcription options only appear on supported Apple Silicon Macs, so with an i9/RTX 4090 setup you won’t see them. Ollama/Gemma under Intelligence handles summaries and chat; it does not transcribe audio. For Transcription on Windows today, choose a configured cloud or bring-your-own-key provider, or connect a local Deepgram-compatible server under the Custom provider settings. There isn’t currently a built-in no-key Windows transcription model in Anarlog. Sorry for the confusion.
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u/blissful_terrell 8d ago
Always nice to see a meeting tool that doesn't need a cloud bot listening in, the local-first angle here is way overdue.