Screenpipe (YC S26) – Record how you work and turn that into agents

Hi Hacker News, I'm Louis. I built Screenpipe (https://screenpipe.com), an app that records your screen and audio locally (only!), and gives AI agents a searchable memory of what you've seen, said, and heard. This makes it easier to automate your repetitive tasks, turn them into SOPs (Standard Operating Procedure) and so on.I made a HN-style demo video at https://www.tella.tv/video/build-your-ai-second-brain-with-s... and there’s a marketing video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1jV6E9pyug.I’ve been obsessed with this for a long time. I’ve been maintaining a “second brain” since 2020, in which I would store journals, handwritten notes, music I listen to, projects I'm working on, conversations I have with people, personal CRM etc. I experimented a lot of RAG in the early days with ParlAI, hundreds of fine-tuned GPT2 models, and GPT3 (https://forum.obsidian.md/t/fine-tuning-openai-api-gpt3-on-y...). Later I built Ava, the first Obsidian AI plugin, which grew to a few thousands of users quickly. It then became Embedbase, an API to make it easier to build AI apps powered by RAG.What I learned from all this is how important it is for the models to have context about what you’re doing on your computer, in order to get them to do what you want.In the early days there was fine tuning but it was too much pain, then there was tool calling so that AI can access software you use but still kinda not autonomous enough. needing micro management. Then MCP came, but it felt too static, and non technical users struggled to build and use MCP. Then we got skills. Most recently we’ve seen Karpathy’s LLM-maintained wiki, Garry's GBrain, etc., where an agent incrementally maintains a persistent collection of Markdown pages. New sources update entity pages, strengthen or contradict existing claims, and improve a synthesis that compounds over time. I like this pattern, but it still begins with someone s

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FL score

72

out of 100

Verdict

VALIDATE

high confidence

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Local screen recording + searchable memory enables AI agents to automate repetitive work by understanding context from what users actually do.

The pain

Knowledge workers repeat the same tasks daily (data entry, form filling, report generation, email sorting) without automation because existing tools can't understand the full context of what's happening on screen. RPA tools require explicit programming. AI agents lack the memory of what users have actually done and seen.

The gap

Current AI automation solutions are either too rigid (RPA, MCP) requiring technical setup, or too dumb (generic LLMs without context). There's no bridge between what a user does on their computer and what an AI agent can learn from and automate. Screen recording exists but hasn't been connected to agentic automation at scale.

Build angle

Screenpipe solves the context problem by giving agents a searchable, persistent memory of user behavior. Local-only recording removes privacy friction that blocks adoption. The path from recording → searchable memory → agent automation is clear and compounds: more recordings = better agent performance = more use cases unlocked.

Strengths

  • Founder has 4+ years of deep RAG/AI context work (Ava, Embedbase) - not first attempt at this problem
  • Local-only recording is a genuine moat on privacy concerns that competitors will struggle to match
  • YC S26 validation and funding removes credibility risk
  • Large TAM: every knowledge worker with repetitive tasks (millions of potential users)
  • Network effects possible: better agents as more people record their workflows
  • Timing: LLM context windows and agentic frameworks now mature enough to make this work

Risks

  • Privacy concerns remain real despite local recording - regulatory risk (GDPR, workplace monitoring laws) could emerge as product scales
  • Requires users to trust the product with continuous screen/audio data - high barrier to mainstream adoption even with local-only claims
  • Monetization unclear: charging per agent? per recording hour? per automation? B2B vs B2C pricing model not established
  • Competitive response from Microsoft (Copilot + Recall), Apple, Google is likely once market validates
  • Requires critical mass of users recording workflows before agent quality becomes useful - chicken-egg problem
  • Technical execution risk: maintaining local recording reliability across OS/hardware combinations is harder than cloud
  • SOP extraction and agent building still requires user effort - not fully automated despite marketing claims

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