Seiton - Star Chart for Your Work

Stay messy. Get sorted.

Seiton is a privacy-first, self-hosted personal hub for work in progress. Drop in notes, links, files and folders as they are; Seiton turns tags and relationships into a map you can return to in seconds.

No cloud, no subscriptions, no accounts. It binds to 127.0.0.1, stores everything in SQLite, and has no telemetry. AI is optional, and when it's on it runs through a command-line tool you configure — Seiton never sends your notes anywhere on its own.

Python 3.9+ and the standard library. No pip install, no Node, no Docker.

日本語 README · Discussions · @d_studylab on X

Built by one person in Japan who kept losing track of his own work across a research project, client sites, and a pile of half-finished tools. Questions, ideas, and "this broke for me" reports are all welcome in Discussions.

Why Seiton?

• Dump first. Capture the thing before you know where it belongs.
• Relationships become a map. after, part_of, related, tags, and status draw a star chart instead of another folder tree.
• Your AI draws on your machine. AI help is optional, local, and routed through the CLI you configure.

Screenshots

Quick Start

Requirements: Python 3.9 or newer. No pip install, no Node.js, no external services.

Windows:

git clone https://github.com/D-studyLab/seiton.git
cd seiton
seiton.cmd

macOS / Linux:

git clone https://github.com/D-studyLab/seiton.git
cd seiton
sh seiton.sh

Open http://127.0.0.1:8768/ if the browser does not open automatically. Stop the server with Ctrl+C.

Useful options:

seiton.cmd --port 9000 --no-browser
python server.py --add "Follow up with the release checklist"
python server.py --import seiton-export-YYYYMMDD.json

Installer builds are published from GitHub Releases as seiton-vX.Y.Z-setup.exe. Portable zip builds can be unpacked and started with seiton.cmd.

Tray-resident mode (Windows): launch seiton-tray.exe (installer builds also add a "星頓 トレイ常駐" Start Menu entry), or run python server.py --tray from source. Seiton stays in the task tray — double-click to open, and the menu offers quick-open, a startup-registration toggle, and quit.

What It Does

• Desk: two panels side by side — files changed in the last 7 days, and quick-open.
• Quick-open: recent HTML reports from the folders you choose, favorite folders, and a box that opens any pasted path. Clicking a report locates it on the star chart.
• Star Chart: focus any item and read meaning by direction: left/right for sequence, up/down for parts, orbit for related context.
• Inbox: drop raw notes, links, and references, then accept tag/status/relation suggestions.
• Allowed roots: register only the folders Seiton may catalog. Choose names-only or content-reading per root.
• Exports: export JSON for backup/import and Markdown for readable archives, or download a one-click zip backup (SQLite snapshot + JSON, or all items as Markdown) from Settings.
• Search: space-separated words are ANDed — results contain every word across title, body, path, and tags.
• Tray resident (Windows): keep Seiton running from the task tray with seiton-tray.exe, with optional launch-at-startup.
• Roadmap (optional): drop a roadmap JSON at data/roadmap.json (or point the roadmap_path setting at one) and a "Roadmap" button appears, drawing north star -> areas -> tracks -> tasks. The file is the source of truth: edit it, reload, done. Start from roadmap.example.json (English) or roadmap.example.ja.json (Japanese). seed_demo.py places the Japanese one for you, since the demo data is Japanese. No file, no button.

Privacy Principles

• Allowed roots are the consent boundary. Seiton only reads folders you register in Settings.
• Local by default. The app binds to 127.0.0.1, stores data in SQLite, and does not include telemetry.
• No hidden cloud AI. AI features call the command-line tool you configure, or stay off.
• Human confirmation first. The default flow is suggest -> one-click confirm. Full auto-apply is opt-in.
• Optional hard blocklist. Paths listed in the SEITON_FORBIDDEN_PATHS environment variable (separated by ; on Windows, : elsewhere) can never be registered as allowed roots, even by mistake.

AI Integration

Seiton works without AI. When you want help, choose one of three modes:

• CLI mode: configure an AI command such as a local or account-owned CLI. Seiton sends a prompt to that command and reads JSON suggestions.
• Manual copy mode: copy the generated prompt, paste it into your AI tool, then paste the JSON response back into Seiton.
• Off: use the built-in heuristic suggestions only.

AI can suggest tags, status, and relationships. It does not rewrite your files.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) support is planned for the next release.

Data, Backups, and Uninstall

Source and portable runs store data next to the app in data/seiton.db. If an older data/myhub.db exists, Seiton migrates it on first startup and keeps a pre-migration copy in data/backups/.

Each startup creates data/backups/seiton-YYYYMMDD.db and keeps seven daily generations, including legacy myhub-YYYYMMDD.db backups.

To reset a source/portable checkout, stop Seiton and delete data/seiton.db*. To uninstall a source/portable checkout, delete the folder. Installer builds use the normal Windows uninstall entry and keep user data unless you remove it manually.

FAQ

Windows SmartScreen says the app is unknown. Is that expected?

Early Windows builds are unsigned, so SmartScreen may show a warning. Only run builds downloaded from the official GitHub Releases page. If you trust the download, choose More info -> Run anyway. Running from source with seiton.cmd does not use an installer.

Where is my data?

For source and portable runs: data/seiton.db inside the Seiton folder. Installer builds store data under the user profile, not under Program Files.

Does Seiton upload my notes?

No. Seiton has no telemetry and no built-in cloud sync. AI calls happen only through the CLI or manual copy flow you configure.

Can I keep using old MyHub data?

Yes. On first startup, data/myhub.db, data/myhub.db-wal, and data/myhub.db-shm are renamed to the seiton.db family after a backup copy is saved.

Keyboard

Key	Action
N	New item
/	Search
Ctrl+Z	Undo the last supported operation
Esc	Close panels and modals

Project Layout

seiton.cmd       Windows launcher
seiton.sh        macOS/Linux launcher
myhub.cmd/.sh    compatibility aliases
server.py        local HTTP server and API
store.py         SQLite storage layer
suggest.py       heuristic and optional AI suggestions
seed_demo.py     demo data loader
static/          browser UI
data/seiton.db   local data, created on first startup
assets/press/    README and press images

License

MIT. See LICENSE.