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Thoughtstead is a life operating system. It holds your company — invoices, clients, contracts, meetings, decisions — and the rest of your life in the same system, without letting either one see the other.

This page is the map. Everything else in these docs hangs off it.

Getting started

Thoughtstead is a hosted service. There is nothing to install on a server, nothing to deploy, and no API key to obtain — AI usage is part of the subscription. Sign in and your contexts, defaults, and document categories are created for you on first sign-in.

From signing in to your first capture is under a minute.

Contexts

Everything in Thoughtstead lives in a context. Business is one. Personal is another. You can add more — a second company, a side project, a household.

A context is a wall, not a folder. Search in one never returns results from another, and an agent working in one cannot see into another. That separation is enforced in the database rather than by you remembering which app you were supposed to have open, which is what makes it safe to keep your accounts receivable and your dentist appointments in the same product.

Switch contexts from the context switcher; manage them in Settings → Contexts.

What lives in each

Business gets invoices in and out, clients, vendors, contracts, projects, meetings, decisions, documents, and people. Personal gets health appointments and checkups, home and auto upkeep, warranties, and lifestyle plans. Both get the same capture, the same semantic search, and the same agents.

Where you use it

• The Mac app is the main surface. It records and transcribes your meetings, and stays a keystroke away for a thought you need to get down.
• The web app is there for a machine that is not yours.
• Your phone catches whatever happens away from the desk.

Make it yours

• Connect AI tools — wire up Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client so they can read from and write into Thoughtstead.
• Gmail & Calendar — sync your mail and calendar.
• Import your notes — bring in an Obsidian vault or a ChatGPT export.
• Agents & approval — how the built-in agents work, and why nothing leaves Thoughtstead without your sign-off.
• Costs — what the subscription covers.