The archive · Consumer Apps · Product decision · 2024–2026
Timelinize's bet: everyone wants one private timeline of their life — 630 HN points
Matt Holt (Caddy's author) built Timelinize so every account export lives on one private local timeline; 630 HN points, GIGAZINE review, 3.6k stars.
Timelinize
What the business is
Open-source personal archival suite ('for modern family history'): imports exports from dozens of data sources into a single, searchable timeline with map, conversation, gallery and heatmap views — running locally on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Starting capital：Self-funded nights-and-weekends development; no funding announced.
How it started
Matt Holt — the Go developer behind the Caddy web server — wrote the Show HN post after about 10 years of nights-and-weekends work: he does not like his data living primarily on someone else's computer, wanted a local copy that would not 'gather dust and rot,' and built Timelinize to keep exported data alive and relevant. The project went open source in 2024 (GitHub repo created 2024-08-11 under AGPL-3.0).
What happened
The 2025-10-07 Show HN drew 630 points with about 163 comments, and GIGAZINE's review the next day walked through the timeline view, entity-aware world map, heatmaps, unified conversations and gallery — noting the AGPL v3.0 license, its then-current version 0.0.24, and the developers' own caveat that Timelinize is 'still in development and not yet complete.' The data-source list keeps growing: Facebook, Instagram, X, Google Photos, Apple Photos/iCloud, iMessage, SMS/MMS, Strava, GitHub, GPX and Telegram supported, with Chrome and Health on the planned list.
How it ended up
In active development as of 2026-09-02: repo updated 2026-09-01, 3,646 stars, 123 forks, Go + AGPL-3.0 at 0.0.x versions; the site and Discord community are running, and the author says he aims to get it stable for his own family's use.
Background
Timelinize is an open-source personal archival suite built around a simple question: what if all your life's data — photos, texts, emails, social posts, workouts, locations, contacts — lived on one private timeline on your own computer? Most apps store data in the cloud and out of your control; Timelinize instead imports exports from dozens of services (Google Takeout, Facebook, Instagram, X, Apple Photos, iMessage, SMS/MMS, Strava, GitHub, GPX, Telegram) and organizes them into a single linear timeline, plus an entity-aware world map, heatmaps, unified conversation views and a photo gallery.
The project is a decade-plus of nights and weekends by Matt Holt, the Go developer known for the Caddy web server. His Show HN (2025-10-07) got 630 points and about 163 comments, with the pitch being ownership and permanence: he wanted a local copy of his family's data that would not 'gather dust and rot' and that would survive losing access to Google, Apple or Facebook accounts. GIGAZINE reviewed it the next day, demonstrating the timeline, map and conversation features and noting the AGPL-3.0 license and 0.0.24-era status with the authors' 'still in development' caveat.
Since launch the project has stayed in active development: 3,646 GitHub stars and 123 forks as of 2026-09-01, with the maintainer committing the day before. The product deliberately 'sits behind' the apps people already use rather than replacing them — you keep living your life, Timelinize becomes the permanent private archive — and the roadmap keeps adding data sources and the family-history framing that gives the tool a non-technical audience.
What has to be true
- A decade of personal itch means the data model solves problems generic tools ignore: entity-aware linking pins a text message to the map via family photos taken at the same time and place.
- AGPL-3.0 plus 'runs on your computer' makes the privacy promise enforceable, which is why the HN and GIGAZINE audiences trusted it enough to try it.
- Importers for dozens of services make switching cheap — users bring exports they already have instead of being locked into a syncing pipeline.
- The 'family life archive' framing, with a tour video and storytelling, sells a feeling (your story, kept alive) to non-technical users a pure privacy argument would never reach.
What can be applied
Sell the archive, not the backup: people will keep their own data when the payoff is a living family history — one searchable timeline — and open licensing makes privacy enforceable.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-02 Timelinize is live and free, in open beta-like 0.0.x versions, maintained mainly by Matt Holt with an active Discord and GitHub community; Windows, macOS and Linux are supported, data sources keep expanding (Chrome, Home Assistant, Health on the roadmap), and the author's stated next milestone is making it stable enough for his own family to use daily. There is no company, funding or monetization announced — the bet remains that this is valuable enough, and the archive grows more valuable with every imported year of data.
Sources
- Show HN: Timelinize – Privately organize your own data from everywhere, locally
- Timelinize is an open-source tool that puts all your personal data on a single timeline.
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