Documentation

How to use Jarvis

Capture first, organize later. Everything stays on your machine.

Download for macOS Back to home
01

Get started

Download the macOS app — menu bar capture, on-device Whisper, and Wi‑Fi sharing to your phone.

Install

  1. Download the .dmg from GitHub Releases.
  2. Open the disk image and drag Jarvis to Applications.
  3. Launch Jarvis — it appears in the menu bar for quick capture.

First launch

  • Jarvis downloads the speech model once (~150 MB) — allow a minute on slow connections.
  • Grant microphone access when prompted for voice capture.
  • Optional: add an LLM API key in Settings for graph extraction and Ask Jarvis — capture works without one.

Want Jarvis on your phone? Pair over Wi‑Fi — see Phone & sync below.

02

Capture every day

Three surfaces, seven input modes, one vault. Fire off bursts quickly — transcription and linking happen in the background.

WhereWhat to do
Floating orbTap to speak. Tap + or press ⌘N / c for text, links, and files. Press v to start voice from the keyboard.
Menu bar panelClick the tray icon. Voice tab for bursts; Dump tab for text, link, tab, PDF, photo, and screenshot.
HomeWeekly feed, open actions on top, capture bar at the bottom. Switch day / week / month in the header.

While listening, the orb animates and a waveform appears. Tap again or wait ~2.5s of silence to finish. You can capture burst after burst without waiting for transcription.

InputHow
VoiceOrb, menu bar, or tray → Voice capture
TextBar +, ⌘N, or Dump tab
Link / tabPaste a URL; use tab mode for address-bar URLs
FileDrag, drop, or attach PDFs, images, audio
ScreenshotPaste ⌘V into the capture area

Thought lifecycle

  • New — saved, not yet in the graph
  • Processing — extracting concepts & links
  • Ready — summary, concepts, searchable
  • Error — raw capture still saved
03

Hi Jarvis

Always-on wake with Whisper. Say Hi Jarvis or press J to start a session. The mic stays open for follow-ups.

You sayJarvis does
“Hi Jarvis” aloneOpens Home and reads your period briefing aloud
“Brief me” / “What's on my board”Spoken briefing of your week
“Take a note” / “Capture”Starts voice capture immediately
Anything else to JarvisSearches your vault and answers with citations
“Tell me more” / “Go deeper”Expands on the notes it just cited
“That's all” / “Stop”Ends the session

Hover the capture orb when wake is armed for Say Hi Jarvis. Mute wake from the mic button on the bar — preference is remembered. Wake needs Whisper (local or cloud) and an LLM key for intent routing.

04

Explore your vault

Four main views plus search. Capture first — browse and curate when you have a moment.

Home

Open actions on top, this week's captures as a day-grouped stream, full archive below. Listen reads a briefing aloud.

Graph

Interactive map of concepts and links. Filter by type. Click nodes to inspect notes and neighbors.

Review

Suggested links the LLM wasn't sure about. Accept or reject — high-confidence links apply automatically.

Concepts

Library of every extracted topic, person, project, and idea. Open one to see related thoughts.

Set your name in Settings so AI summaries say “Nick decided…” instead of generic “you”. Check off actions on Home — snooze until tomorrow or undo anytime.

05

Ask & search

Don't search folders — ask in plain language. Jarvis hybrid-searches your vault and cites source dumps.

  1. Open Hi Jarvis (J) or the Ask bar on Home.
  2. Type or speak a question — “What did I say about the demo?”
  3. Read the answer and tap source chips to jump to original notes.
  4. Follow up naturally — pronouns and “tell me more” carry over for a few turns.

Press ⌘K for the command palette — search thoughts and concepts, then navigate straight there.

ShortcutAction
⌘KSearch
⌘NNew text capture
vStart voice capture
jHi Jarvis
cOpen text capture
⌘1–⌘4Home, Graph, Review, Concepts
06

Phone on Wi‑Fi

Your phone is a live window onto your Mac's vault — not a second copy. Whisper and LLM still run on the desktop.

  1. On Mac: Settings → Share on Wi‑Fi → Start sharing.
  2. On phone (same network): scan the QR code or open the URL.
  3. Enter the 6-digit PIN. Accept the self-signed certificate warning — expected for local HTTPS.
  4. Use the full app on your phone. Keep the Mac awake and Jarvis running.

Join desktop merges two Macs' SQLite copies over LAN (last-write-wins, tombstone-aware deletes). Open Wi‑Fi & sync on both machines — no cloud relay.

07

Your data

Everything lives under ~/.jarvis/ on desktop. Back it up, rsync it, or delete it — your call.

PathContents
data/jarvis.sqliteThoughts, concepts, edges, embeddings
data/blobs/Voice audio, PDFs, photos
models/Whisper model files
hub/TLS cert for Wi‑Fi sharing
  • Capture first, organize later — processing is async.
  • Skim Review when the sidebar badge appears.
  • Check Settings for LLM and transcription backend status.
  • Optional LLM API key in Settings — capture never requires it.