Pieces for Developers Review - Does This Actually Fix Your Memory Problem?

Pieces calls itself the "first AI-powered Long-Term Memory for developers" which sounds like marketing bullshit. What it actually is: a tool that screenshots your screen, watches your browser tabs, and tries to remember that snippet you copied from Stack Overflow when you were panicking about the production bug last month.

The Three Things It's Supposed To Do

1. Watch Everything You Do: It watches everything you do - screenshots your screen, stalks your browser tabs, logs whatever you're coding. It's supposed to keep this context for 9+ months, which would be impressive if I could trust it to work consistently. The whole thing runs through PiecesOS, which is like having Docker for your development context.

The Long-Term Memory system automatically captures your workflow context across browsers, IDEs, and terminals - when it's working properly.

2. Save Your Shit Automatically: Pieces Drive is their fancy name for "automatically save code snippets." Unlike other snippet managers where you have to manually organize everything, this one tries to figure out what's important and tag it for you. The AI tries to figure out what's important and tag it automatically, but sometimes it works, sometimes it saves random garbage from Reddit threads that aren't even code.

3. AI Assistant That Knows Your Codebase: The Copilot feature can supposedly access your entire project history and help debug problems. It connects to ChatGPT, Claude, or other LLMs and has context about your specific code. GitHub Copilot just does autocomplete, but this bastard actually remembers your debugging history. When it works, it's pretty helpful. When it doesn't, you're back to asking ChatGPT the same question for the third time.

How It Actually Works (And Why It's Confusing)

Unlike a simple browser extension, Pieces installs two separate things: PiecesOS (runs in the background like Docker) and a Desktop App (the UI you actually see). This confused the hell out of me initially - why do I need two apps for one tool?

The setup process exists for macOS, Windows, and Linux, but it's not obvious which one to install first. I wasted 10 minutes staring at a broken desktop app before realizing I hadn't started PiecesOS. On macOS Ventura 13.4, you have to manually approve the system extension twice because Apple's paranoid security won't let anything run. Windows users get hit with SmartScreen warnings that make it look like fucking malware. There's a troubleshooting guide for this exact issue, but who the hell reads docs before banging their head against the wall?

Your code stays local by default, which is good for privacy but means you need to trust this thing to watch everything you do. And I mean everything - it captures your browser tabs, monitors your code editors, and takes screenshots of your workflow. The first time it did this automatically, I wasn't sure if I should be impressed or concerned. Unlike GitHub Copilot that sends your code to Microsoft's cloud, this runs air-gapped if you want.

What Actually Happens When You Use It

The Live Context feature is their crown jewel - it's supposed to understand what you're working on by watching your screen. Sometimes it's scary accurate: I was debugging a React infinite render loop at 2am and it correctly identified the problem from just my browser tab titles and error messages. Other times it's completely useless and suggests JavaScript solutions when I'm clearly working in fucking Python.

The search actually works better than I expected. I can type "that auth middleware fix from last month" and it finds the exact snippet, complete with the Stack Overflow link where I found it. The natural language queries are genuinely useful - unlike tools like Alfred or Raycast where you need to remember specific syntax. It's like having Google for your own codebase, if Google actually worked the way you wanted it to.

The search interface lets you find code using natural language queries - "that authentication bug from last week" actually works.

CPU Usage Is Real

This thing absolutely murders your CPU when you actually use it. I've got VS Code, Chrome with 47 tabs, Docker containers, and Pieces trying to watch it all. My laptop sounds like a fucking jet engine. I've had to kill PiecesOS during client calls because the fan noise was drowning out my voice and making me look unprofessional.

Memory sits around 300MB most of the time, jumps higher when it's actively capturing. Not the worst thing on my system - Discord uses twice that - but you'll notice it. And sometimes the Live Context just stops working for no reason. You realize hours later that it hasn't captured anything since this morning and you have to restart the whole thing.

The Stuff That Actually Saves Time

Finding Old Code: This is where Pieces shines. I can search "React useEffect memory leak fix" and it finds the exact snippet from two months ago, along with the GitHub issue that explained why useCallback wasn't working. The 9-month memory retention actually works - unlike browser history that gets cleared or code comment searches that miss context.

Cross-App Code Flow: The VS Code extension and browser integration actually work well together. When I save a snippet from Stack Overflow, it appears in VS Code with the original question context. No more "where the hell did I find this code?" moments. This beats traditional snippet managers like SnippetsLab where you have to manually copy-paste everything.

AI Debugging: When the Copilot works, it's legitimately helpful. I paste an error message and it often knows exactly what's wrong because it saw me encounter the same issue before. It connects to multiple LLM providers (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) so you're not locked into OpenAI's ecosystem like with GitHub Copilot. The Model Context Protocol support means it can integrate with Cursor, Goose, and other tools.

The Annoying Shit That Needs Fixing

CPU Usage From Hell: This thing absolutely murders your CPU when it's watching everything. During Zoom calls my fan sounds like a fucking leaf blower drowning out my microphone. I've had to explain to confused coworkers why my computer sounds like it's mining Bitcoin in the background. Uses more battery than Chrome with 47 tabs open. I had to kill it during a client demo because the fan noise was so embarrassing the client asked if my laptop was broken. On my old ThinkPad T480, it's completely unusable - the machine gets hot enough to fry an egg on the keyboard. Memory usage jumps from 300MB to 800MB when it's actively capturing everything, and the performance requirements page just says "modern computer" like that's helpful to anyone.

UI Bugs That Make You Want To Punch Your Monitor: The interface has random hiccups - markdown renders like shit, copy-paste fails for no fucking reason, and sometimes the whole app freezes for 10 seconds while you're trying to work. Last Tuesday it crashed right when I was grabbing that PostgreSQL connection fix, and I wasted 20 minutes finding the Stack Overflow answer again. You learn to CMD+C everything twice because you can't trust this piece of shit won't lose your work. The bug reporting process exists, but I shouldn't need to file tickets for basic copy-paste functionality.

Trust Issues Are Real: You have to rewire your brain to trust that this thing is actually capturing what you need. I still manually save important snippets to Notion because I don't trust it won't fuck up when I'm debugging at 3am. I lost 3 hours of work when it crashed during a database migration fix - it perfectly remembered my JWT authentication bug from March but completely forgot the API endpoint I was using yesterday. The learning curve is learning to trust this unpredictable shit won't lose your important code when you're on deadline. Unlike tools where you know exactly what's saved, Pieces operates like machine learning - sometimes brilliant, sometimes completely fucking useless.

Privacy: Actually Better Than Expected

The local-first approach means your code doesn't leave your machine unless you explicitly enable cloud features. This is huge if you work with sensitive codebases - everything processes locally by default, unlike GitHub Copilot which sends your code to Microsoft's servers. You can run it completely air-gapped if needed.

Pieces processes everything locally by default - your code snippets and context never leave your machine unless you explicitly connect cloud AI services.

But here's the thing: this tool watches everything. Screenshots, browser tabs, file changes, terminal commands. You need to be comfortable with that level of monitoring, even if it's all local. I had to add certain directories to the ignore list when working on client projects. The privacy settings help, but it's still comprehensive monitoring.

Is It Worth the Price? (Spoiler: It's Free)

Currently completely free, which is almost suspicious in 2025. They plan to add paid Pro features eventually, and they're discussing pricing openly on GitHub instead of surprising users later. This transparency beats the usual SaaS pricing surprises.

Compared to GitHub Copilot at $10/month, Pieces offers different functionality - Copilot is better for real-time code completion, Pieces is better for long-term memory and context. Right now, it's a no-brainer to try since it costs nothing. Even compared to free alternatives like massCode, the AI features add real value.

Team Usage: Don't Hold Your Breath

This is very much an individual developer tool. You can share snippets, but the rich context doesn't transfer between team members. The system doesn't understand that my "user auth fix" might be relevant to my teammate's current problem. Tools like Notion or Confluence are still better for team knowledge sharing.

The JetBrains plugin feels like it was written by someone who's never used IntelliJ - half the shortcuts don't work and it conflicts with other IDE plugins. The Chrome extension breaks on any site more complex than a static blog, and don't even think about using it on GitHub or complex web apps.

For enterprise adoption, the local processing is a plus, but there are no admin controls or team management features yet. It's still in the "let individual developers try it" phase, not the "roll out to 500 engineers" phase. Companies using Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace will find the integration story lacking.