AI memory for Mac: what to check before you choose

An AI memory assistant keeps useful work context so you can find it again without reconstructing the whole story. For a Mac user, the practical question is not how much an app can record. It is whether it can recover the right decision, show its source, and help with the next task without taking more access than you want.

This guide is written by the team building ShogunAI. It is a selection checklist, not an independent ranking or a benchmark of competing products. Product details were checked against the current implementation on September 8, 2026; availability depends on your installed version, plan and enabled integrations.

Start with the job, not the category

• If you only need a summary of a call, evaluate a meeting-note tool first. Check transcription accuracy, speaker attribution and how notes reach your existing workflow.
• If you lose decisions across windows, documents and conversations, evaluate work memory. Ask how it captures context and whether results include the original source and time.
• If finding the answer is only half the work, evaluate execution too. Check whether it can prepare a real draft or action, and where it stops for your approval.

These needs overlap. A product saying “memory” does not establish that it covers all three. A larger model context window also does not, by itself, create a durable record of your work.

Six questions to ask before installing

1. What is captured? Distinguish text, screenshots and audio. Check the default settings, exclusions and pause control before using confidential work as a test.
2. Can you inspect the evidence? A useful answer should lead back to the relevant record. Check whether an older decision can be distinguished from a later correction.
3. What leaves the Mac? Separate local storage from cloud processing. Ask about model requests, transcription and connector providers individually.
4. What works offline? Searching saved text and generating a new AI answer are different capabilities. Test them separately with the network disconnected.
5. Which actions need approval? A saved draft is not a sent email. Look for a clear boundary between local changes, drafts and external actions.
6. What is the total cost? Check the app subscription, annual versus monthly billing, model access and any transcription-provider usage. Do not assume “included feature” means all third-party usage is included.

Where ShogunAI fits

ShogunAI is a local-first AI memory and execution assistant for macOS. The current Mac app targets Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or later. It is designed to retain work context and use it to prepare follow-up work in supported tools.

Capture and retention

The memory layer reads text through macOS Accessibility permissions. Visual recall is off by default. When enabled, it can save a local encrypted frame where a permitted window yields no text. Retention is finite and selectable: one-to-seven-day presets or a bounded custom duration, with three days as the default. Frames expire automatically. If the frame store reaches its safety limit, new capture pauses instead of silently deleting retained frames early.

Turning visual recall off stops passive frame capture and removes passive frames. An explicitly requested manual screenshot is a separate action and can still be saved under the same retention rules. See visual recall and its controls.

Local search is not the same as an offline AI

The shipping search path uses local text matching, not a bundled embedding model. Previously captured text can be searched locally; do not assume a paraphrase will match if the words differ. AI reasoning and drafting depend on the configured model or supported assistant runtime and may need the network.

Local-first means the memory store is on the Mac. It does not mean every operation is offline. Enabled model requests, integrations and live transcription can send information to external services. Check the security explanation and the disclosures for each connection.

Meetings and actions

Meeting notes are included as an app feature in Standard, Pro and the trial. Live transcription currently uses Deepgram with your own Deepgram API key; provider usage is separate. ShogunAI does not write audio files to disk, but audio is streamed for transcription and transcript text is retained. No audio file does not mean no sensitive data. See meeting notes and cloud processing.

For execution, local reversible actions, drafts and external actions have different permission levels. Sending or posting requires approval. Supported assistant-plan delegation and bring-your-own-key access are alternatives for agent work, subject to the provider's terms. See the execution layer and the current integration list; a brand logo is not a guarantee that every action is available.

Pricing and access

Early-access waitlist registration is free. It is not a permanent free product plan. The published plans are Standard at $49 per month billed annually ($588 per year), or $62 billed monthly; Pro at $99 per month billed annually ($1,188 per year), or $124 billed monthly. Both have a seven-day trial. Model and transcription-provider charges can be separate. Check current pricing and plan details before purchasing.

A small evaluation you can repeat

Use non-sensitive sample work rather than real client data. Write down three questions before testing:

1. Find a decision made yesterday and open its source. Then change the decision and check that you can tell which version is current.
2. Pause capture or exclude an app. Verify that new work from that source is not added to memory. Inspect and delete the test records afterward.
3. Ask for a follow-up draft. Confirm the recipient, source facts and attachment yourself, and check that nothing is sent without approval.

Record successes, missing evidence and steps you still had to do by hand. There is no universal “best” tool: select the one whose verified behavior fits your work and privacy requirements. We have not published a comparative success-rate benchmark for ShogunAI.

Frequently asked questions

Does AI memory guarantee accurate answers?

No. A relevant record can be missed or interpreted incorrectly. Keep the source visible and verify important facts before using an answer or approving an action.

Can I replace every work app with ShogunAI?

Do not assume that. ShogunAI works with supported tools; it does not establish that every meeting, browser or CRM subscription can be cancelled. Evaluate your required actions and ongoing costs separately.

Is it completely offline?

Local text storage and search are distinct from cloud-assisted operations. Model requests, live transcription and connected-tool actions may need external services. Choose and review those permissions explicitly.

Sources and further reading

• ShogunAI features, security and pricing describe this product. They are first-party documentation, not independent reviews.
• Apple: control access to Accessibility on Mac explains the system permission. It does not audit ShogunAI.
• SQLite FTS5 documentation explains full-text search and trigram tokenization, not ShogunAI's recall accuracy.
• Deepgram model improvement opt-out explains the provider control. ShogunAI sets mip_opt_out=true on its transcription requests; this is not a promise about every service a user may connect.