PACO Update

Sadly, Paco is no longer operational. It may come back someday but it is unclear when and under what circumstances.

For 12 years, it provided a quick platform for behavior research and it was truly my passion project. Thousands of people created over 100,000 studies were created, many papers were published and several PhDs were achieved with its help.

It became unsustainable to maintain given life's other demands.

Thank you to everyone who used it, worked with us, gave us feedback and helped make it better. I am honored that it has helped so many people.

If you have questions about it. You can reach out to me, bob@pacoapp.com

What was PACO and what did it do?

Paco started as a way to scratch an itch. I wanted to understand how I was spending my time and how I could use it better. I wanted a personal assistant that I could tell what to manage and it would give me gentle nudges when I was straying from my plan.

It is named after our dog, Paco, who was a great personal assistant. He instinctively knew how I felt. When I was happy, he would bring the ball to play. When I was sad or tired he would nuzzle up to comfort me.

This sophisticated vision is still aspirational, not yet fully realized. Along the way, we have created a system that allows individuals and researchers to observe and experiment with behavior. Paco provides a platform with building blocks for behavioral theories. With it, you can sample the world, reason about it, and even develop interventions aimed at changing behavior. This is no small undertaking, and may never be fully accomplished, but by making it open source, working with researchers, and creating a place where participants and researchers can find each other, we hope we will make better progress and move our understanding of our behavior forward and maybe get to live better, healthier lives.