I built a small local-first tool for Claude Code: Whyline
I built a small local-first tool for Claude Code: Whyline
Git remembers what changed. Whyline remembers why.
I’ve been experimenting with AI coding workflows and kept running into the same problem: after a Claude Code session ends, all the reasoning behind a change disappears.
A commit tells me:
>
But it does not tell me:
- Why 90 days?
- Why did we choose a background job?
- What alternatives did we reject?
- What risks did we already know about?
- What should future Claude sessions avoid breaking?
So I built Whyline.
It is a local-first CLI + MCP server that stores concise “decision memories” for AI-assisted coding sessions.
When you finish a session, Whyline can save:
- intent
- decision
- rationale
- rejected alternatives
- risks
- follow-ups
- related files and commits
Later, when Claude Code works on the same repo, it can retrieve those memories through MCP before making changes.
No cloud. No auth. No new UI. Just SQLite on your machine.
Install:
npm install -g u/malindar/whyline
Basic flow:
whyline init
whyline install-claude
whyline doctor
Repo: https://github.com/malinda1986/whyline
It is still early, but the core idea feels useful: AI coding sessions produce reasoning that should outlive the context window.
Would love feedback from people using Claude Code / MCP / AI coding agents. Especially curious whether others are solving this “why did we do this?” problem differently.