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The built-in summaries run on Apple Intelligence, so you need an Apple Silicon Mac on macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence turned on in System Settings. The on-device model also has to finish downloading the first time, which can take a while on a slow connection. Recaps also need a few entries to draw from, so a brand-new journal won't have enough yet. If you'd rather not rely on the built-in model, connect your own Claude, OpenAI, or Gemini key under Settings → Connections and Nisshi will use that instead.

Because they run entirely on your Mac. Apple's on-device model is deliberately small and private. It never sends your journal anywhere, which trades some raw power for that privacy. For longer, sharper drafts like STAR stories and full performance reviews, connect your own Claude, OpenAI, or Gemini key in Settings → Connections; Nisshi will use that stronger model while keeping everything else local.

The on-device model has real limits: it can only hold so much text at once, it's smaller than cloud models, and it occasionally plays it safe or declines on certain content. Try generating again, narrow the date range so there's less to work through, or connect your own AI key for longer and more detailed output.

The private, on-device summaries (recaps, STAR stories and review drafts) are built on Apple's Foundation Models, the on-device AI framework Apple first opened to apps in macOS 26 (Tahoe). On earlier versions that framework simply doesn't exist, so there'd be no way to run the intelligence on your Mac without sending your journal to a cloud service. macOS 26 is the floor that lets everything stay local.

No. Journaling, tasks, goals, meetings, and search all work fully offline. The only thing that needs a connection is drafting summaries through your own cloud AI provider, and even that is skipped when you use Apple's on-device model.

No. Summaries are written by Apple's on-device model, which comes with your Mac. You only need an account if you'd rather use Claude, OpenAI or Gemini, in Settings → Connections.

Yes. In Settings → Connections, choose Other and enter the address and key. Nisshi works out whether it speaks the OpenAI or the Claude format on its own, and models running on your Mac usually don't need a key. That includes Vertex AI and Bedrock, through the address and key your company gives you. With your company's gateway, your work stays inside the setup your company already approved: summaries go from your Mac to that endpoint and nowhere else. Where to find the address and key.

Nowhere, by default. It stays in a database on your Mac and Apple's on-device model writes the summaries. If you choose your own provider, the text needed for each summary goes from your Mac straight to it. If you connect an assistant, what it reads is handled under that assistant's own terms. Nisshi has no server of its own. The privacy policy has the details.

Yes. Turn on Connect an App in Settings → Connections and follow the step shown for ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or Codex. Your assistant can then read and search your journal and write entries for you, under the right heading and tailored to your role. It reads before it changes anything, so nothing you've written is lost.

Add one line to its instructions: custom instructions in ChatGPT, personal preferences in Claude, CLAUDE.md for Claude Code, or Cursor's rules. For example: "When we finish a piece of work, add a short entry to my Nisshi journal saying what we did and why it mattered." From then on it keeps your record as you work. More on assistants.

No. Nisshi is a Mac app and your journal stays in one local database on that Mac, with no account and no cloud sync. To carry your history to another Mac, export a backup and restore it there.

Nisshi backs itself up once a day to a folder on your Mac and keeps the last two weeks. In Settings, under Data, you can have each backup copied to a folder you choose as well, such as OneDrive, Dropbox or an external drive, and nothing goes to a cloud you didn't pick. To move to a new Mac, copy a backup folder across and choose Restore a Backup there. Export saves a single file other apps can read, and Import an Export adds what's missing without overwriting anything.

Yes, with no account and no subscription. If you connect your own AI provider key, that provider may bill you for its own usage, but Nisshi itself charges nothing and has no servers.

Settings → Data has an erase option that permanently removes every entry, meeting, goal, person, task, and document from your Mac and wipes any saved provider keys from the Keychain. It can't be undone, so export a backup first if you might want your history later.