
Show HN: Flow Dashboard – open-source habit tracker and personal analytics app - onejgordon
http://flowdash.co/
======
onejgordon
This started out as a learning project (objective: collect a bunch of my
personal data, connect it with BigQuery, and play with regressions in
TensorFlow), but I've found it useful in the last 2 months of usage to
outsource memory for the purpose of tracking tasks, goals and projects, on
multiple time scales.

There are plenty of habit trackers out there, obviously, so this has really
been an exercise in figuring out how to integrate a tracking app as seamlessly
as possible into a daily routine, while generating a dataset that has the
potential to give meaningful personal insights. The jury's still out on that.

Testers, collaborators, and feedback of all kinds welcome.

[https://github.com/onejgordon/flow-
dashboard](https://github.com/onejgordon/flow-dashboard)

~~~
mercer
I've been toying with various projects in this area myself, so I'll definitely
give it a look!

Is there any chance you could make a video that shows how the app works? The
screenshots look nice, but especially with an app that is 'always there' a
video showing how it works in practice is important.

~~~
onejgordon
Agreed the screenshots dont give a clear enough overview of the functionality,
and a video is a good idea. Let me see what I can do.

------
quadrature
Very cool project. I think the front page should have a little more
information on it though, in fact if
[http://flowdash.co/app/about](http://flowdash.co/app/about) was the front
page that would be perfect.

~~~
onejgordon
This is good feedback, will definitely work on a more informative first page.

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distracteddev90
Just signed up and this is almost exactly what I've been looking for.

The Github repo mentions a REST api that can be used to push arbitrary data
into the system. Are there any docs around this yet?

~~~
onejgordon
Thanks for having a look, and glad to hear it. No API docs yet, but I've just
created an issue for this ([https://github.com/onejgordon/flow-
dashboard/issues/24](https://github.com/onejgordon/flow-dashboard/issues/24)).

If you're familiar with python webapps, you can see api.py:TrackingAPI, which
takes a date and a simple JSON data param.

Let me know if that looks like it fits your need, and if not, I'd be curious
to hear more about how you'd like such an API to work.

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throwaway2016a
Great work. I think quantified self is one of those area that is under-looked.
We put all this energy into BI (Business Intelligence) but we don't put much
effort into making products to help people better understand themselves.

I'm working on a similar project myself but I welcome innovation in the space.

~~~
onejgordon
I agree on QS vs BI, and I think it all comes down to monetization. I'm sure
more QS apps will come, but I'll be worried about data use and privacy unless
there's a very clear alternative business model.

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Will_Do
This looks really cool! It looks much more feature rich and UX-friendly than
any similar tools I've ever seen.

I can't wait to poke around this a bit more. It also uses the same stack I'm
planning to use on my next personal project (Django + React).

------
hokvel
Very interesting. My main concern is that such systems should suit their
owners very well. But, of course, everyone has their own preferences regarding
task management, time tracking, app ecosystems, usage patterns etc.
Consequently, it is very hard to make a single open source project that fits
everyone.

Me and my friend were working on a very similar project for the last 10
months, and we still hesitate to publish it (also, it is written in Scala,
thus limiting potential audience). Below, I provide more information about our
work, some insights discovered during development, and future plans. I hope it
could help other projects too.

The project is focused on outsourcing memory, providing smooth, most of the
time automatic, time-tracking, being hackable and keeping personal data
private.

Key features needed for that are different integrations (we use JIRA, Trello,
Hubstaff, Trakt.tv, Apple Health, sleepasandroid, Beddit); constant location
tracking; convenient input (currently, Telegram bot with NLP capabilities,
suggestions and autocompletion).

Eventually, it turned out, that chatbot interface works like a charm for
actions like forwarding links to read them later, managing tasks in JIRA (when
chatbot sends you updates, and then you can use your messenger to comment on
or manage tickets; also works well with time-tracking), aggregating
notifications.

We also have some analytics: daily briefs, time tracking summaries, metric-
based reports. Another features include global search, flashbacks, GPX track
export (to use with Lightroom, for example), history-based notifications.
Future plans include: finance tracking, delivery tracking, ReSpeaker
integration, newsfeed aggregation.

~~~
onejgordon
Your project sounds very interesting, and feature packed. Will it be open
source, commercial, both? Thanks for sharing your insights on the agent
interface, I've found that I (unexpectedly) use the messenger bot frequently
for simple 'task completed' functionality and others.

Is there anything public on the web about your project at this point?

~~~
hokvel
It was started as a pet project with no plans regarding its future. As it
turned out, recent hype around AI, personal assistants, privacy and wearables
created some interest around such type of projects. It is definitely going to
be OSS, if we decide to publish it. I see no other way to make it transparent
and secure, also people who are ready to provide full access to their accounts
and location to third party service aren't target audience =)

------
diegoprzl
Awesome project. Currently I use org-mode for this but Flow Dashboard seems
way prettier and user-friendly. It may not be flexible enough, but as it is
open source I may be able to make it fit my needs.

Sadly I tried to log in with my gmail account and it just returns me to the
Login page again.

~~~
onejgordon
Did you ever make it into the app? If not, what browser are you using? If you
find steps to reproduce this issue, please let me know, or file an issue on
the repo.

~~~
diegoprzl
Chromium in Debian. I installed Firefox now and it does work.

I'm not going to migrate from Org-Mode and Emacs as I'm too invested there but
I find Flow Dashboard a very good project for people who are new to Quantified
Self and doesn't want to spend dozens/hundreds of hours setting up their own
system or don't need that level of detail/features.

Anyway, these are some features which I miss:

\- Being able to clock inside tasks. Also expected time to completion of the
task so you can adjust future predictions.

\- Child tasks. At least projects should have them. Common tasks may just have
checklists.

\- Good editor and markdown support for the journal.

\- Integration with some finance/budgeting app like YNAB or Ledger.

\- Work without Google AppEngine. My journal shouldn't be a hack or a search
warrant away. Too sensitive.

\- Being able to schedule the tasks and habits. Maybe integration with Google
Calendar, but privacy again..

------
kfrzcode
I like the looks of this, can I import all of my current time data somehow? I
totally want to dig into the code when I have more time this summer because
I've been wanting this exact tool. Thanks for posting this!

~~~
onejgordon
Thanks for taking a look! What kind of time data do you want to import?

~~~
nitemice
Not OP, but I have a lot of tasks in Google Tasks, and goals & journaling etc.
in Google Calendars. Being able to import, or (even better) sync with these
would be a real winner for me.

~~~
onejgordon
I fully agree, and have the same need, in fact as I use gCal/goals frequently
(which conveniently integrate with gFit), and end up having to double-mark
currently.

It seems like Google's APIs for tasks/keep/goals, etc are in flux right now,
which is not ideal, but I will be looking into an integration to remove that
redundancy.

------
exodust
I recently discovered 'hacknplan' which has some nice project tracking
features particularly suited to game dev, but could be used for anything...
hacknplan.com, easy to use and I like the milestones and kanban style.

I wouldn't attempt using more than once tracker, and I'm not keen on tracking
personal matters. I prefer the freedom of taking action on personal matters in
response to how I feel and what's happening around me. A dynamic organic
order, (or permissible lack of discipline).

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macawfish
This reminds me of an idea I've had for a while.

TLDR: why are we relying so heavily on cloud based search engines to organize
hyperlinks? Local bookmarking tools could be so much better!

I've often thought it'd be great to have some kind of browser extension that
used search queries to automatically tag and categorize bookmarks and threads
of browsing history. Then, instead of having to manually put bookmarks into
"folders", or think of tags, they'd be organized smartly based on the tree of
searches and links that they are related to.

Here's a more concrete example: Say you searched for "curry recipes". You
click through a number of different pages, finding one you like. When you
bookmark it, bookmark would carry that "curry recipes" metadata, and be more
searchable in that way.

A more complex example. Say you search for "gravitational force", and end up
reading part of a blog post, then clicking through to another page and
another. The third page is really interesting. So you bookmark it. Since the
original search of "gravitational force" was the seed of finding this third
page, that query would, by default be associated with the bookmark, even if
it's not directly related.

This could be extended with all kinds of interfaces. For example, your browser
could display a kind of "tree" of recent search queries at all times, which
could be pruned, cleared, or added to at any time. A new tab would by default
inherit the old tab's tree. Bookmarking would flow naturally from this, as a
way of snapshotting a given thread of browsing.

Another, more complicated option would be to bookmark actual threads or trees
of links themselves. A cluster of related wikipedia pages could be bookmarked
_together_ and traced to the search query that initiated their discovery.

If a page was implicated in multiple bookmarked clusters, it'd be easier to
find it in your local bookmarks.

The upcoming annotation standard could end up being a great tool for extending
this idea: [https://hypothes.is/blog/annotation-is-now-a-web-
standard/](https://hypothes.is/blog/annotation-is-now-a-web-standard/)

~~~
dmix
> TLDR: why are we relying so heavily on cloud based search engines to
> organize hyperlinks? Local bookmarking tools could be so much better!

Isn't this just a variation of the old pagerank algo?

~~~
swsieber
Yes - though I think it's in the same way that DropBox is just a variation of
rsync.

That is to say, yes, but I think I'd like the proposed solution so much more.

------
meesterdude
congratulations! it looks really slick and powerful.

I'm working on a simpler/cuter solution for habit tracking and quantification
([http://willyoudidyou.com](http://willyoudidyou.com)) but i think flow
dashboard looks great for hackers and quantification enthusiasts that want
total control and to create their own integrations.

------
werber
Trivial suggestion, but in addition to adding the info and a video to the
homepage, a big visual representation of the project as soon as the page loads
would be awesome, and having a sign up option in addition to the login would
be more clear, but great work!

~~~
onejgordon
Agreed and agreed, thanks for this feedback.

------
longnguyen
Nice work. Congratulation! However, I personally find it very difficult to use
the app on Desktop. I had to click the App Menu on the left repeatedly to
navigate to other pages. Can you make it visible by default on desktop?

------
jcstryker
I really like the look of this, though is there any way to self-host without
google cloud components?

From the local devserver instructions: >gcloud components update

Looks like there isn't?

~~~
onejgordon
Not at present. I chose GCP/GAE because I know it well, and there's some
convenience when integrating with other google cloud services (like BigQuery,
gSheets/gCal, etc).

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tjoff
"Flow owns none of your data. That's yours."

But it is stored in the cloud?

Only google login? Guess I won't be trying it out then.

~~~
onejgordon
Yep, it's a web application.

A number of people have commented that Google login only is a barrier, so will
definitely be adding another signup method.

The source is on GH with instructions to spin up your own instance if you
prefer.

~~~
tjoff
I guess calling it an app and saying that I own the data made me think it was
an electron-app or something.

If I can't export the data (I see nothing about it) and it's not stored on my
device I think it is a stretch to say that I own my data. I get that it might
not the first feature to implement, but for the future that is something that
at least I would expect.

~~~
onejgordon
All data is exportable from the reports page. Looks like I fail to mention
that in the about text, I'll add it there.

------
xivusr
Really nice design - love the charts and how you can track any activities.
Very cool project!

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sghiassy
Very cool. Nice work!

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StephenAshmore
Signed up, and using this! I'm enjoying it.

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progsmile
man, that's awesome!)

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erikb
I'm very unahppy that I need to make a choice before seeing anything on the
page.

And what does it offer beside what any other tracking software offers? I still
don't know after reading the page. Looks like the same thing a thousand others
have done before.

~~~
meesterdude
Curious, what do you want to see?

~~~
chaostheory
As someone as already mentioned - this:
[http://flowdash.co/app/about](http://flowdash.co/app/about)

Awesome app though. Good features and aesthetics

