Let’s be honest. Most “productivity” apps today are just procrastination tools in disguise.
We spend more time setting up dashboards, picking tag colors, and waiting for loading spinners than actually doing the work. Especially for household chores. Tracking AC maintenance, inventory, grocery lists. Do you really need to wait for a massive React component to render just to write down “buy lightbulbs”?
That’s why when I saw Micasa popping up in my feed today, I knew I had to try it.
What is Micasa?
Micasa is a terminal application for managing your home. Not a to-do list with a house emoji slapped on it. It actually tracks the things homeowners deal with: maintenance schedules, appliances, vendors, projects, incidents, quotes, and documents. All from the command line.
The creator built it because his home maintenance system was, in his words, “a shoebox of receipts and the vague feeling I was supposed to call someone about the roof.” I felt that in my bones.
First impression? Fast. Genuinely, annoyingly fast. Written in Go, installed with go install or a single binary. No ads, no tracking, no “Sign up with Google”. Just a text-based interface that responds before my fingers leave the keys.
What it actually tracks
This is where Micasa surprised me. It’s not just a list app. It has actual structure for household things that I used to scatter across Notion pages, WhatsApp reminders, and sticky notes on the fridge.
Maintenance schedules with auto-computed due dates. So when I log that I changed the AC filter, it tells me when the next one is due. No more guessing “was it three months ago or six?”
Appliance tracking with purchase dates and warranty status. My dishwasher’s warranty card? It’s in the SQLite file now, not in a drawer I’ll never open again. You can attach files directly to records: manuals, invoices, photos, all stored in the same database.
A vendor directory that remembers who did what. Last time my AC needed servicing, I spent twenty minutes scrolling through WhatsApp to find the technician’s number. I’ve also called people to clean my grease trap several times over the last few years, and every single time I had to dig through old chats to find who I used last. Micasa keeps vendor contacts linked to every job they’ve done.
Project tracking for those “someday” home improvements. From “napkin sketch to completion, or graceful abandonment,” as the docs put it. You can compare quotes side by side and see actual costs.
Incident logging for when things break. My sink tap broke once and I had no idea who to call or whether it was still under the building’s warranty. With Micasa you log incidents with severity and location, link them to appliances and vendors, and mark them resolved when fixed.
The interface uses vim-style modal keys, inspired by VisiData. You can sort by any column, fuzzy-search to jump between fields, and hide columns you don’t care about. If you’ve used VisiData before, you’ll feel right at home. If you haven’t, run micasa --demo to poke around with sample data before committing your own house to it.
Why TUI in 2026?
You might ask, “Why use a black and white screen in this day and age? Doesn’t it hurt your eyes?”
Quite the opposite. When every web app is trying to be a heavy “Super App,” going back to TUI feels like drinking ice water on a scorching day.
Your hands never leave the keyboard. j, k, enter are faster than aiming a mouse at tiny buttons. There’s nothing on screen except the thing you’re actually trying to do. And it runs on anything, even a ten-year-old laptop. No need for 16GB RAM just to open a to-do list (looking at you, Electron apps).
Local-first or nothing
The thing that sold me on Micasa is that data stays on my machine. SQLite file, local disk. That’s it.
I’m tired of the “SaaS Fatigue” cycle:
- Find a great tool.
- Upload my life’s data to it.
- A year later, the startup goes bust or pivots to an “AI-Powered Enterprise Solution,” slashing free features.
- Data is lost or hard to export.
With Micasa, none of that matters. Internet down? Developer retired? The binary still runs on my machine. I can backup the database myself via cron job, rsync, or Syncthing.
Try it
If you’re the type who feels opening a browser is “heavy” and prefers living inside a Tmux session, Micasa is worth a try.
For me, the terminal is home. And now, my home is in the terminal.