Local-first, and online

Most software treats your data as something that lives on a server you don't own, reachable only when the network agrees. Local-first flips that: your data lives with you, sync is a convenience rather than a dependency, and the app keeps working on a plane, a train, or a bad connection.

What it gives the user

Speed that doesn't depend on a round-trip. Ownership that doesn't depend on a company staying in business. And a kind of calm — the quiet confidence that the thing you're working in is actually yours.

What it asks of the builder

More care up front: conflict resolution, sync semantics, and a data model you can reason about offline. It's harder. We think it's worth it, because the result is software that respects the person on the other side of the screen.