Local-First Software

The cluster centers on discussions of local-first software, including its principles of offline access, data ownership, and synchronization challenges without central servers, with references to key articles and real-world examples.

➡️ Stable 1.0x Web Development
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Keywords

JSON JS IBM kleppmann.com HTTP WWW example.com first.pdf actualbudget.com HTML local app apps sync data server software use local cloud locally

Sample Comments

fabianhjr Mar 5, 2023 View on HN

Its better to design, implement, and use local-first software: https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/

ddanieltan Feb 13, 2025 View on HN

Related idea to local-first: https://stephango.com/file-over-app

"Local-First software." Isn't that just a desktop application that syncs?

teleforce May 10, 2022 View on HN

Local-first software is the future:[1]Local-First Software:You Own Your Data, in spite of the Cloud:https://martin.kleppmann.com/papers/local-first.pdf

cobbzilla Oct 28, 2024 View on HN

You may be interested in the concept of “local-first” software — https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/Data storage concerns are orthogonal to app distribution method, as others have pointed out.

sorrythanks Sep 12, 2024 View on HN

Maybe you're missing some other context.Here's an article about local-first software: https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/Here's an article about why you might want this: https://medium.com/all-the-things/a-web-app

meiraleal Jul 2, 2024 View on HN

Local-first is the future. Most cases don't even need a backend to self-host.

Aldipower Aug 8, 2025 View on HN

Me neither. Considered we are talking about collaborative network applications, you are loosing the single-source-of-thruth (the server database) with the local first approach. And it just adds so much more complexity. Also, as your app grows, you probably end up to implement the business logic twice. On the server and locally. I really do not get it.

owebmaster Jul 6, 2025 View on HN

Local-first apps should not need hosting.

cldr Jul 21, 2013 View on HN

One of the points of the article was that storing data completely on the net, instead of synchronising local and remote versions, is not in their vision of the future because "users shouldn't have to worry whether they're online or not", so what you proposed is specifically what they're avoiding.