OneTrue

OneTrue is a Mac app I built for myself: one window that holds the small tools I used to pay for or keep in ten browser tabs. Its tagline is “the one true app you need”, and the rule behind it is simple. Everything runs on my Mac and saves to plain files. There is no account, no server and no subscription.

What’s inside

• Notes with one Markdown file per note, plus dictation, so I can talk an idea into a note.
• Tasks as a Markdown checklist. Typing /t in quick capture turns a thought into a task.
• Clipboard history with search and pinning. It skips password managers.
• Teleprompter that plays any note as a script, with mirror mode for recording.
• Instagram Work Mode: an intention gate and a timer, so I post and leave.
• Live Studio, a separate Swift app that OneTrue embeds, for a solo streaming setup with scenes, camera and mic preview and local recording.
• My own HTML tools. Any folder with an index.html shows up in the sidebar as an app.

A global shortcut (⌥Space) captures a thought from anywhere, and ⌘K jumps to any app or note.

The part I like most: HTML tools as first-class apps

Most of my small tools are single HTML files that an AI assistant helped me write. OneTrue gives each of them a home and a small bridge, window.onetrue, so a web page can do what a web page normally can’t: list a folder, read and write text files, open or reveal a path, and pick a folder. Every call returns a Promise.

That means a new tool is one file. “New App” creates it from a template, and a note can be sent straight to Claude as a build prompt. ClipsHQ, the dashboard I use to review short videos, runs inside OneTrue this way.

How it’s built

• Native SwiftUI, built with the Swift toolchain and a small build script. No Xcode project is needed.
• All data lives in ~/OneTrue as plain files: Notes/, Apps/, Studio/. If the app disappeared tomorrow, the files would still open anywhere.
• A lavender brand system (logo, icon set, colour tokens, Manrope type) shared by the Swift code and the HTML template, so new tools match without effort.

What I learned

Each feature had to pass three tests before I built it: I own it, it is cheap to build, and it earns its place by being opened daily or weekly. That filter kept the app small. It also changed how I think about software I use every day: a lot of paid utilities are an afternoon of work once you have an AI assistant and a place to put the result.