# Local-First Software: Seven ideals for Collaboration and Ownership

**URL:** <https://community.humanetech.com/t/local-first-software-seven-ideals-for-collaboration-and-ownership/5068>\
**Category:** Best practices\
**Tags:** privacy, personal-data, decentralization\
**Created:** [November 7, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://community.humanetech.com/t/local-first-software-seven-ideals-for-collaboration-and-ownership/5068 "2020-11-07T19:57:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aschrijver](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/community.humanetech.com/aschrijver/32/1498_2.png) [@aschrijver](https://community.humanetech.com/u/aschrijver)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://community.humanetech.com/t/local-first-software-seven-ideals-for-collaboration-and-ownership/5068/1 "2020-11-07T19:57:26Z")

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## Local-first software

I found this interesting article that highlights 7 ideals for the creation of local-first applications.

> ### You own your data in spite of the cloud
> 
> In this article we propose “local-first software”: a set of principles for software that enables both collaboration and ownership for users. Local-first ideals include the ability to work offline and collaborate across multiple devices, while also improving the security, privacy, long-term preservation, and user control of data.
> 
> ### Motivation: collaboration and ownership
> 
> It’s amazing how easily we can collaborate online nowadays. [..] Today’s cloud apps offer big benefits compared to earlier generations of software: seamless collaboration, and being able to access data from any device. [..] However, in our research we have spoken to a lot of creative professionals, and in that process we have also learned about the downsides of cloud apps. [..] To sum up: the cloud gives us collaboration, but old-fashioned apps give us ownership. Can’t we have the best of both worlds?
> 
> ### Seven ideals for local-first software
> 
> 1. No spinners: your work at your fingertips
> 2. Your work is not trapped on one device
> 3. The network is optional
> 4. Seamless collaboration with your colleagues
> 5. The Long Now (Longevity)
> 6. Security and privacy by default
> 7. You retain ultimate ownership and control

Here’s the article:

> **[Local-first software: You own your data, in spite of the cloud](https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/)**
>
> A new generation of collaborative software that allows users to retain ownership of their data.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aschrijver](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/community.humanetech.com/aschrijver/32/1498_2.png) [@aschrijver](https://community.humanetech.com/u/aschrijver)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://community.humanetech.com/t/local-first-software-seven-ideals-for-collaboration-and-ownership/5068/2 "2020-11-07T20:24:44Z")

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As an example of actual implementation, the local-first ideals described above are adopted by CoBox in [Their Ethos](https://cobox.cloud/our-ethos).

CoBox is a very interesting decentralized FOSS project:

## CoBox: Building blocks for a co-operative cloud

### CoBox is a distributed, encrypted, offline-enabled data hosting cloud platform.

> **[CoBox – Building blocks for the cooperative cloud](https://cobox.cloud/)**