Update (31st. Jan. 2026) Recurring themes/pains from replies so far (tl;dr)

1.On-demand recall & retrieval is the core pain: people capture a lot but can’t reliably resurface the right note/link at the right time; they want stronger search (fuzzy/semantic), snapshots/context, and “pull-based” recall when needed.

2.Privacy/local-first is a hard requirement for many: “no cloud, no third-party access,” ideally open-source and self-hostable; any AI must run fully on-device to be trusted.

3.Low-friction matters more than perfect organization: users prefer systems that don’t force structure or add maintenance overhead—messy-first, iterate only when a real problem appears.

4.Avoid interruption by default: many dislike proactive “AI suggestions”; they want controlled resurfacing (opt-in prompts), not constant nudges.

5.Different goals coexist: for many, notes are for memory/inspiration/reference (not turning into tasks), while others want action workflows—tools should respect both modes.

6.Cost and scalability must be predictable: long-term indexing (years of notes/history) can get expensive; pricing needs to be transparent and not “per task,” and context signals across tools are often noisy/unreliable.