I vibe-coded a journaling app to understand life, not just record it

Hi Product Hunt 👋

For a long time, journaling has been my way of reflecting on life.

But something always felt missing.

Most journaling tools help us store memories, yet they rarely help us understand them.

My background is in data visualization and data storytelling, and I’ve always been fascinated by projects like Dear Data. They showed that personal data doesn’t have to be cold or analytical — it can be expressive, human, and even artistic.

That idea stayed with me for years:

What if the small fragments of our daily lives could gradually become a meaningful story?

Recently I started experimenting with AI-assisted coding and decided to build something around this idea. That project slowly became Lumos Diary.

The concept behind Lumos is a simple loop:

Human → AI → Visualization → Human

• People start by writing small fragments of their daily lives

• AI extracts structure from those entries — emotions, themes, patterns

• Visualization turns this data into narrative forms that reveal rhythms across time

• Seeing these patterns helps people reflect, reinterpret, and understand themselves better

And that reflection naturally feeds back into future journaling.

Over time, it becomes a feedback loop between reflection, data, and self-understanding.

My hope is to bring ideas from data humanism and personal data storytelling into everyday life — making personal data something meaningful and reflective, not just something we store.

Instead of just recording life,

maybe our journals could help us see the story behind it.

Curious if anyone here has explored similar ideas around AI + personal data + self-reflection.