2025.07.10
📰 News & Discussions
Local-first software (2019) - Hacker News
The Local-First Software essay by Ink & Switch did the rounds on Hacker News again and generated a lot of discussion.
Extreme Native Perf on the Web with Superhuman - Syntax.fm #918 (podcast episode)
"Wes and Scott talk with Loïc Houssier about how Superhuman builds lightning-fast, delightfully-designed email software. They dig into engineering philosophy, offline-first architecture, local databases, AI-powered productivity, and what it takes to create tools that people love. "
Brendan O'Brien - n0, Iroh and the Future of Peer to Peer - devtools.fm (podcast episode)
"This week we're joined by Brendan O'Brien (b5), founder and CEO of n0, the company behind Iroh - a peer-to-peer networking library that prioritizes reliability and 'just works.' Iroh enables developers to establish direct, authenticated connections between any two devices using only their public keys, achieving near 100% connection success rates. We discuss the pragmatic approach to P2P networking, why they chose to focus solely on the transport layer, and how Iroh is already running in production on hundreds of thousands of devices."
Local-First Software is Easier to Scale
"Lots of cloud providers like to brag about being able to scale with their users. I like to brag about not having to scale at all."
LiveStore Office Hours #4
"It feels like every month that passes, people are diving deeper and deeper into LiveStore"
🛠️ Tools & Resources
Self-Hosting Models IS for Nerds
"This post outlines the local-first AI stack I use as a developer, homelab enthusiast, and open-source streamer and why I believe self-hosting models is not only doable, but it’s often the smartest path forward."
PowerSync React Native Background Syncing
How-to to implement "a working background sync task using PowerSync in your React Native + Expo app"
✨ Apps
FlexNote: Your Local-First Visual Whiteboard Note-taking App
"Local-first — Everything is stored on disk. No forced cloud. Cloud sync (optional) — You can sync via S3, WebDAV, OneDrive, or even Baidu Netdisk if you want." - One_Ask3409 on Reddit
Constella
"Maximizing Privacy: You own all your data. Encrypted buckets for cloud sync. Easily exportable Markdown format. Offline, local-first support"
Focus: Offline-first Eisenhower Matrix productivity app
"It uses Hive for local storage"
VTChat: Local-First AI Chat App with Advanced RAG
"Local-First Storage: All chat data stored in browser's IndexedDB via Dexie.js" See also HN discussion
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