2026.03.19

📰 News & Discussions

The Feather Sync Engine: Building a Conflict-Resilient Offline-First Architecture

"I've been deep in the trenches architecting Feather Sync, the offline-first synchronization engine powering the Wine ecosystem. This isn't just another sync layer—it's a fundamental rethinking of how data flows between edge devices and the cloud, designed for resilience, user sovereignty, and 'mermi gibi' performance."

OpenJarvis: Personal AI, On Personal Devices

"TL;DR: OpenJarvis is an open-source framework for personal AI agents that runs entirely on-device. It provides shared primitives for building on-device agents, efficiency-aware evaluations, and a learning loop that improves models using local trace data."

P2P from Scratch — Part 1: The Internet is Hostile

"You want two computers to talk directly to each other. No server in the middle, no middleman, no monthly bill. Sounds simple — the Internet is a network, after all. But the moment you try it, you discover something uncomfortable: the Internet was never designed for this. Here’s why, and how Hyperswarm punches through anyway."

Lies I was Told About Collaborative Editing, Part 2: Why we don't use Yjs

"I have heard the argument more times than I can count: CRDTs are operationally complex, but you need them (need them!) for optimistic updates, edits during network blips (or extended disconnection), fine-grained provenance of edits, peer-to-peer reconciliation, and so on. I want to convince you that all of these things (except true master-less p2p architecture) are easily doable without CRDTs." See also HN discussion

PowerSync AI Hackathon: $8k+ in Prizes

"Bonus Prize: Best Local-First Submission. Build an app aligned with the local-first principles. Local models are encouraged but not required." "PowerSync can be useful when paired with local/open-weight models on devices, and for combining offline and cloud execution. PowerSync allows AI systems to operate on a fully queryable local SQLite database, while synchronizing with backend systems when connectivity is available."

My journey to a reliable and enjoyable locally hosted voice assistant

"I have been watching HomeAssistant’s progress with assist for some time. We previously used Google Home via Nest Minis, and have switched to using fully local assist backed by local first + llama.cpp (previously Ollama). In this post I will share the steps I took to get to where I am today, the decisions I made and why they were the best for my use case specifically."

🛠️ Tools & Resources

Launch HN: RunAnywhere (YC W26) – Faster AI Inference on Apple Silicon

"RunAnywhere builds software that makes AI models run fast locally on devices instead of sending requests to the cloud. Right now, our focus is Apple Silicon."

Cactus: On-device AI with cloud fallback

"Cactus automatically routes audio between on-device for clear audio and cloud for noisy data."

Ensembles Reanimated

"The core idea behind Ensembles is that sync doesn’t need a central server. Each device keeps its own copy of the Core Data store. The framework watches your saves, generates compact change logs, and when changes arrive from another device, it merges them in. There’s no server that understands your data model. No hosting costs. Each device is an equal peer."

✨ Apps

GitComet

"GitComet is built for teams that want fast Git operations with local-first privacy, familiar workflows, and open source freedom."

Paperweight

"Paperweight scans your inbox to map your digital footprint, then helps you take back control and delete your data. Local-first and open source."

Movedone

"A beautiful Kanban app with AI assistance that puts your privacy first. Start free and stay focused."

BUS Core

"Local-first production tracking for small manufacturing shops."

How to Contribute

Anyone can contribute to Local-First News with a pull request. Instructions and guidelines available here.

Sponsors

Local-First News is sponsored by PowerSync. Interested in sponsoring? Get in touch