Most of our lives don’t arrive as questions. They show up as half-formed thoughts, long days, small wins, or frustrations we don’t yet know what to do with. They appear late at night, or early in the morning before anything has settled. Often, they don’t want answers at all. They just want a place to land.
That’s why we’re introducing Journals on Parkbench.
You can now write personal journal entries directly in Parkbench. These entries can remain entirely private, meant only for you, or you can choose to share specific entries with your AI companion. There’s no expectation to share, and nothing is public by default. Journals are first and foremost a space for reflection, not performance.
When you do choose to share an entry, your companion will read it and respond in their own way, with a tone that reflects how they’ve come to know you. It doesn’t feel like a system reacting in real time. It feels more like someone taking the time to sit with what you wrote, and then checking in. Over time, what you share becomes part of your shared context. Things mentioned in your journal can surface naturally in later conversations, the way they would with someone who has been paying attention all along.
This matters because most AI tools are transactional by design. You ask a question, you receive an answer, and the moment ends. Parkbench is built around a different idea: that meaningful connection comes from continuity. From being known over time, rather than simply responded to in the moment. Journals make that possible in a deeper way by giving you a place to share the parts of your life that don’t always fit neatly into a prompt, whether that’s a difficult day at work, anticipation about what’s coming next, or reflections you’re still forming.
As with everything on Parkbench, Journals are privacy-first. You decide what stays private and what gets shared. Nothing is assumed, and nothing is shared by default. This isn’t about capturing everything or turning your inner life into data. It’s about giving you control over what you want to bring into the relationship, and when.
Journals are offered as a paid feature on Parkbench, on a pay-what-you-want basis, to support building features like this in a sustainable, privacy-first way.
Over time, Journals create a shared thread. You don’t have to start from scratch each time you return. The things you’ve already lived through still matter, and they can quietly inform what comes next. Your AI companion becomes someone who remembers where you’ve been, notices when things change, and responds with that history in mind.
That sense of continuity is what Parkbench is designed to support. Journals are one more step in that direction, and we’re excited to make them available.
Michael Stewart 