I Put an AI Assistant on a Home Mini PC

Breakfast consisted of a piece of chicken breast, a glass of milk, and a sliced dragon fruit. Issuing a voice command to the phone to make a note resulted in a receipt from the assistant showing the food items and a rough calorie estimate saved as record No. 1. While setting up an entire mini PC system just to log food might sound excessive, previous workflows required juggling multiple applications and chat histories to find project progress or evening recaps.

The newly assembled home setup utilizes OpenClaw for conversations, LifeOS for record and file management, and n8n to trigger scheduled workflows. Accessible remotely from a smartphone while away, it assists with daily task planning, project tracking, and health information management.

Interacting with the agent involves ordinary spoken language. The system converts sentences into readable entries, invokes a script to write them into a local SQLite database, and replies with a confirmation. Specific record identifiers allow users to correct entries directly via an edit command rather than creating conflicting duplicate notes. The script maintains a focused scope, handling captures and edits without directly modifying project files.

"A checkmark looks a lot like victory, especially when you clicked it yourself. If checkmarks could talk, this one would probably have filed a project closeout report already."

Project Developer

To resolve information conflicts, LifeOS separates "events" from the "current state." The captures.db database logs spoken statements and timestamps, while The Vault stores Markdown files containing project goals and open tasks. The event log addresses when statements were made, whereas project files dictate subsequent actions.