Dory & the time layer

Some notes only need to live a day: the parking spot, the confirmation code, the errand. Dory memos let you say so up front, and then never think about them again. And Dory's department has grown: she can also nudge you about a memo at a time you pick, or carry a message in a bottle that stays hidden until its day arrives.

Dory memos: how it works

1. Open the Dory button (the little blue tang 🐟) in the editor — at creation, or later from a memo's action menu — and pick a forget window: 1 hour, 24 hours, 3 days, or 7 days (24 hours is the classic).
2. The memo shows a countdown badge: "forgets in 23h" (or "3d" for the long windows).
3. Over its final six hours, the card gently fades.
4. When time is up, the server deletes it — truly deletes it, along with its comments, attachments, and share links.

The timer runs server-side, so forgetting happens even when nobody has the app open. Re-picking a window on an existing memo starts a fresh countdown; choosing Off cancels it. Plain edits don't touch the clock.

The warning shot

One hour before Dory forgets a memo, a notice lands in your inbox: "Dory is about to forget this memo" — with a one-click Keep it button that cancels the countdown. Anxiety becomes trust. (A 1-hour Dory memo gets its notice right away — accurate, if a little eager.)

The rules

• Pinned memos can't be Dory memos. Pinned means "keep forever"; the two are mutually exclusive, and the app will refuse the combination with a friendly error.
• Archiving rescues. Archive a Dory memo and its countdown is cancelled permanently — archive means "keep."
• Comments sink with the ship. Commenting on a Dory memo is fine, but when Dory forgets the memo, the conversation goes too. The comment box warns you.
• No recovery after zero. Forgotten is forgotten. That's the feature.

Reminders: "Nudge me about this"

Any memo can carry a nudge. Open its ⋯ menu → Nudge me about this, pick a time, and Dory taps you on the shoulder when it arrives: an inbox note, plus an email if your instance sends mail. Nudges can repeat daily, weekly, or monthly — "every Monday: water the plants." Pair it with Dory for the full move: remind me, then forget it.

If your instance was asleep when a recurring nudge came due, you get one catch-up nudge, not a pile.

Message in a bottle

The inverse of Dory: instead of forgetting a memo, hide it until a future day. Press the Bottle button (⏳) in the editor and pick a tide — tomorrow, in a week, in a month, in a year — or choose any day on the calendar. The dialog tells you in plain words when it returns ("Washes ashore Sunday, August 30 · in 7 days") while a little bottle drifts further from shore the further out you throw it. Sealed, the memo goes to sea — invisible in every feed, even yours, until its day arrives. Then it washes ashore as an inbox note: a memo from past you.

• A bottle at sea is yours alone — nobody else can see it, share links included, until it surfaces.
• Bottles can't be pinned, and comments can't be bottled.
• A bottle can also be a Dory memo, as long as it surfaces before she'd forget it.
• Changed your mind? Open the bottle dialog again and pull it back ashore.

Dory's Memory page

The Dory entry in the sidebar opens her memory: everything currently fading (soonest first), your bottles still at sea, and her lifetime count — "Dory has forgotten 214 memos for you." 🫧

Changing the default window

Admins can shorten or lengthen Dory's default memory instance-wide with the DORY_TTL_SECONDS environment variable (default 86400). Setting it to 60 is a fun way to watch her work. The per-memo window picker always offers 1h / 24h / 3d / 7d.