How Keeping a Work Log Changed How I Work (and Grow as an Engineer)

Most engineers can tell you what their app did last night from the logs — but not what they did last week. I used to stare at a blank "What did I do?" document and realize my memory was as empty as a freshly initialised git repo.

I built Aissist so I could track my own work the way I track my code: local, version-controlled, and easy to search. It's a CLI that saves your goals, todos, and history in Markdown files, then uses Claude Code for semantic recall when you need to remember what happened.

Why a work log matters

• You actually remember your wins. Without writing things down, your accomplishments dissolve into "I've been busy" without specifics.
• You spot patterns. When you review a log, you see where your time goes and what energizes or drains you.
• You grow faster. Looking back at your own history is like running retrospectives for your career.

My routine

At the end of each day I log what I did. It's quick:

 aissist history log "Refactored calendar sync flow for performance" aissist history log "Fixed session timeout bug" 

Everything lives in Markdown under ~/.aissist/ and can be versioned with Git. Later, when prepping for a performance review or just reflecting, I run:

 aissist recall "what did I ship last month?" 

Aissist uses Claude Code integration to semantically search my files and assemble a summary of what I worked on.

Why this matters for your career

When promotion season hits or you're updating your CV, you won't be stuck guessing. You'll have a factual timeline of the bugs you squashed, features you shipped, and the impact you made.

If you've ever said "I wish I tracked this better," try Aissist. It's open source, fully local, and built for developers who want to connect their past, present, and future — all in Markdown.