Blog
Notes on keeping the receipts.
Writing about tracking, data ownership, and the small habits that quietly change things — from the team behind Powerful one-file tools.
Latest · Behind the tools
Designing for people who already have too many apps
The average phone holds around eighty apps and opens thirty. Building a tracker for someone with no room for one more changes every decision.
More articles
How to track
When to stop tracking something
Most tracking advice tells you how to start. Almost none tells you when to stop, which is the part that turns a useful habit into a chore.
Why tracking
The gym vs the spreadsheet: which one actually changes you
The gym and the spreadsheet aren't rivals. One is where the work happens; the other decides whether the work adds up to anything at all.
Data ownership
Where your tracking data actually goes
Your tracking data is rarely stolen. It's sent, on purpose, the moment you tap save — to analytics kits, ad auctions, and brokers you've never met.
Behind the tools
The case for paying once
Subscription software wasn't always the default. Adobe flipped the switch in 2013 and the industry followed. Paying once for what you use is still allowed.
Field notes
What AI for your health is actually doing under the hood
The AI health coaches that shipped through 2026 send your data to a server so a model can guess what it means. Under the hood, that is most of the story.
How to track
Tracking sleep without buying a wearable
The tool sleep clinicians reach for first isn't a ring or a watch. It's a few lines you fill in each morning, and it works better than the gadget.
Why tracking
Why doctors ask you to keep a food diary
Doctors ask for a food diary when the problem is a pattern, not a single food. The surprise is that the writing-down does most of the work itself.
Behind the tools
What a peptide tracker is actually for
If you're running peptides, the protocol is too fiddly to hold in your head. A peptide tracker keeps the doses, dates, vials and effects honest.
Data ownership
App acquisitions and your data
Software gets bought and sold like furniture. When a tracking app changes hands, your years of records go with it — and the new owner sets the terms.
Field notes
The case against streaks
A streak counter rewards showing up, then quietly replaces the reason you showed up. At some point you're protecting a number, not a habit.
Behind the tools
Why we ship one HTML file instead of an app
A working tool in one file, that opens in any browser and outlasts the company that made it. The case for the smallest piece of software.
How to track
How to start tracking when you've failed at it three times
Most people who fail at tracking have done the same thing each time, then blamed themselves. They had the wrong setup, not the wrong character.
Data ownership
Subscription rot
When Pocket shut down in 2025, eighteen years of saved articles went to a deletion queue. Subscription rot is the small print of every monthly app.
Why tracking
People who track vs people who don't
Two months in, the difference between people who track and people who don't isn't motivation. It's information.