Local-first notes, plainly explained
Local-first means your notes live on your machine as the source of truth — not as a cached copy of someone’s server. Here’s why that matters for a notebook, and the seven tests worth applying to any notes app that claims it.
Local-first notes are notes whose source of truth is a file on your own device — readable without the app that made them, usable without a connection, and owned without an account. The cloud, if involved at all, is a copy; your machine holds the original.
A notebook is a decades-long relationship. The notes you take this year should be readable when the company that made the app has pivoted twice and sunset three sync services. Cloud apps ask you to rent access to your own thinking; local-first apps let you own it. The difference shows up in four places: longevity, privacy, speed, and exit.
Seven tests for a local-first notes app
01The airplane test
Does everything work with Wi-Fi off — not a degraded mode, but everything? Local-first apps don’t have an offline mode; offline is the mode.
02The no-account test
Can you use it forever without signing up? An account means a server; a server means your notes have a second home you don’t control.
03The plain-file test
Can you find your notes in Finder and open them with something else? Databases you can’t read are just private clouds on your own disk.
04The shutdown test
If the developer disappears tomorrow, do you still have everything? With a local file and standard export formats, the answer stays yes.
05The export test
Markdown, HTML, PDF — can you leave at any time, with formatting intact? Lock-in is the opposite of ownership.
06The latency test
Does the caret move the instant you type? Native, local software has no excuse for lag — there’s no round-trip hiding in every keystroke.
07The backup test
Does your existing backup habit protect your notes automatically? If Time Machine already covers it, the app respects your system.
How Locus answers
Locus passes all seven by construction: no account or cloud sync, a workspace of plain local files, Markdown/HTML/PDF export, native Swift speed, local backups, and a signed updater that never accesses your notes. The full picture is on the private notes app page — and if you’re coming from a cloud workspace, the honest Notion comparison covers the trade-offs without the marketing squint.
Questions people ask
What are local-first apps?
Apps where the copy on your device is the real one — they work fully offline, need no account, and keep your data in files you can reach without the app. A cloud copy, if one exists, is a convenience, not the source of truth. Locus takes the strict version of this: there is no cloud copy at all.
Where does the term “local-first” come from?
It was popularized by a 2019 essay from the research lab Ink & Switch, which laid out ideals for software where data lives on your device first and the cloud, if any, is secondary. Locus takes the strictest reading: your notes live on your Mac, full stop.
What are the principles of local-first software?
The Ink & Switch essay names seven ideals: software should be fast, work across your devices, work offline, support collaboration, keep data safe for the long term, keep it private, and leave you in ultimate control. No app satisfies all seven — the multi-device and collaboration ideals require sync, which Locus deliberately doesn’t have. It takes the other five as far as they go: local files, offline always, no account, no server.
Is local-first the same as offline-first?
Close cousins. Offline-first apps still assume a server and sync when they can. Local-first makes your device the source of truth. Locus goes one step further — there is no server at all.
What do I give up?
Real-time collaboration and automatic multi-device sync. That’s a real trade, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest — local-first is for the writing you do alone, in exchange for ownership, speed, and privacy.
How does Locus store notes, concretely?
Plain files in your own user folder, images alongside them, a daily backup next to that, and up to 60 version snapshots per page. Nothing is uploaded, and you can copy the whole folder to a drive whenever you like.