Externalized working memory for macOS

Lingr is a small macOS menubar app designed to reduce mental load by keeping unfinished thoughts visible until they are resolved.

Instead of managing tasks, schedules, or projects, Lingr focuses on a simpler problem: thoughts that linger in your head and quietly consume attention. Lingr gives those thoughts a place to live outside your mind.

What Lingr is

Lingr is an always-available scratchpad that lives in the macOS menu bar. It shows your oldest unresolved item directly at the top of the screen, ensuring it does not disappear or get forgotten.

There are no reminders, deadlines, or notifications. Lingr relies on quiet visibility rather than pressure. It is not a task manager. It is externalized working memory.

How it work

Lingr runs in the background as a menubar app. You can add a new item instantly using a global keyboard shortcut. The input appears, you type a short thought, press Enter, and continue what you were doing.

Your oldest unresolved item is always visible in the menu bar. When an item is no longer relevant, you mark it as done and it disappears. Completed items are kept briefly for reference and then removed automatically.

Design principles

Lingr is intentionally constrained. It does not include projects, priorities, due dates, reminders, notifications, or cloud sync. These features were deliberately excluded to avoid turning the app into another productivity system.

The goal is not to optimize output, but to reduce background cognitive noise. Lingr is designed to feel calm, lightweight, and unobtrusive, while still being useful throughout the day.

Privacy and data

Lingr stores all data locally on the user’s Mac. There are no accounts, no analytics, and no data collection of any kind. Nothing leaves the device.

Availability

Lingr is distributed exclusively through the Mac App Store. It is free to use with a small active-item limit. A one-time upgrade unlocks a higher limit. There are no subscriptions.

Why I built it

Lingr started as a personal tool to reduce mental clutter during focused work.

It has since evolved into a small, carefully scoped utility that solves a specific problem without adding complexity. It is intentionally modest in scope and designed to integrate quietly into daily workflows.