Comparison
Anarlog, formerly Hyprnote, and Minutes both support local meeting workflows and external AI tools. Anarlog centers on an editable notepad backed by SQLite. Minutes centers on conversation records stored as Markdown with source and consent metadata. Choose by the workflow you will actually use.
Quick verdict
Choose Anarlog if you want to write and edit meeting notes in a local app, with local or hosted AI and optional sync.
Choose Minutes if you want meetings, voice memos, and dictation in a file-based corpus that your preferred assistant can search.
| Category | Anarlog | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | An editable meeting notepad | A conversation corpus for your existing AI |
| License | MIT community app; commercial enterprise components | MIT |
| Storage | Local SQLite, recordings and attachments; Markdown export | Markdown with YAML frontmatter as the primary record |
| AI processing | Local or hosted transcription and intelligence providers | Local transcription; optional local or cloud AI |
| Agent access | Local CLI, MCP server, and agent skills | MCP, CLI, SDK, and portable agent skills |
Where Anarlog wins
Where Minutes wins
Both projects now expose a CLI and MCP. Having MCP alone is not a reason to prefer Minutes. Evaluate setup, retrieval quality, and what your assistant is allowed to read.
In Minutes, try the sample pricing reversal through your own assistant, request source files, then repeat with a real conversation. A sample success does not establish recording reliability.
Choose Anarlog for the editable notepad workflow. Choose Minutes for a Markdown-first conversation archive.
With either product, verify transcription and AI provider settings separately. Optional cloud AI can receive meeting context.
Minutes may add unnecessary setup if you only want polished notes inside one app.
Check platform-specific capture support before committing to either tool.
Reviewed September 5, 2026 using the official repositories and documentation. This is a maintainer-written comparison, not a hands-on benchmark.
Anarlog is the maintained open-source project formerly called Hyprnote. Char is a separate current product from its team.
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