The latest articles on DEV Community by Raf.Goldman (@goldman_raf). https://dev.to/goldman_raf https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4156438%2Ffd9c35e1-20a4-4736-a195-3d9c0c150d83.png https://dev.to/goldman_raf en Raf.Goldman Fri, 02 Oct 2026 06:13:03 +0000 https://dev.to/goldman_raf/reopening-a-project-after-two-weeks-i-built-a-tool-so-i-never-lose-the-thread-again-2ppm https://dev.to/goldman_raf/reopening-a-project-after-two-weeks-i-built-a-tool-so-i-never-lose-the-thread-again-2ppm <h2> The problem </h2> <p>Every developer has ten projects sitting in their Documents folder. Reopen one after two weeks and you ask yourself:</p> <ul> <li>What was I working on?</li> <li>What was blocking me?</li> <li>Did I leave a stash somewhere?</li> <li>Is there uncommitted work I forgot about?</li> </ul> <p>Git tells you <em>what</em> changed. It doesn't tell you <em>what you were thinking</em>.</p> <h2> The idea </h2> <p>FlowRecall keeps a tiny context note per project, with three fields:</p> <ol> <li> <strong>Goal</strong>: what I'm trying to achieve</li> <li> <strong>Blocker</strong>: what's in the way</li> <li> <strong>Next action</strong>: the very next thing to do</li> </ol> <p>Open the app in the morning and in a few seconds you see which project needs you first, and why.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fn3uq9xazyux2yfhn5mva.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fn3uq9xazyux2yfhn5mva.png" alt=" " width="800" height="503"></a></p> <h2> Smart Git alerts </h2> <p>FlowRecall also watches your repositories and warns you about:</p> <ul> <li>a <strong>forgotten stash</strong> (older than a threshold you choose)</li> <li> <strong>uncommitted WIP</strong> that has been sitting there too long</li> <li>a <strong>possibly outdated note</strong> (the code moved on, the note didn't)</li> </ul> <h2> How it's built </h2> <ul> <li>Java 21 + Swing</li> <li>SQLite for local storage: no account, no cloud</li> <li>Packaged as a Snap with strict confinement</li> </ul> <p>The packaging was the most surprising part. Shipping a Swing app as a strictly confined Snap (bundled JRE, bundled git, no access to hidden folders) took more time than some features. I might write about that next.</p> <h2> Try it </h2> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight shell"><code><span class="nb">sudo </span>snap <span class="nb">install </span>flowrecall </code></pre> </div> <ul> <li>Snap Store: <a href="https://snapcraft.io/flowrecall" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://snapcraft.io/flowrecall</a> </li> <li>Screenshots and download: <a href="https://goldman-raf.itch.io/flowrecall" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://goldman-raf.itch.io/flowrecall</a> </li> </ul> <p>It's version 1.0, so I'd love your feedback:</p> <ul> <li>Does the goal / blocker / next action format make sense to you?</li> <li>What other alerts would be useful?</li> <li>Would you want it on other platforms?</li> </ul> productivity git java linux