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The past, present, and future of local-first - Martin Kleppmann (Local-First Conf)

Local-First Conf · 17.5K views · 2024-06-18 · 29:46

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Overview

Martin Kleppmann's Local-First Conf talk reviewing where the local-first idea came from, where it stands five years after the essay, and what the community should work toward. He argues for generic sync infrastructure.

On Hacker News

Cited in sync-engine and local-first threads for Kleppmann's argument for a generic, standardised sync protocol or service.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2025–2025

Topics

Distributed systemsSoftware architecture & designDatabases & storage
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local-firstsync enginescrdtsmartin kleppmann

What people said

rapnie · 2025-05 · Recommendation

There is a proliferation of sync tools and little standardization. Here some in local-first space [0]. Martin Kleppmann in his talk last year spoke [1] the need for a generic sync protocol, which was very interesting. [0] [LINK] [1] [VIDEO]

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samwillis · 2025-07 · Reference

> This is trying to solve a business problem (I can't trust cloud-providers) with a technical trade-off (avoid centralized architecture). I don't think that's quite correct. I think the authors fully acknowledge that the business case for local-first is not complexly solved and is a closely related problem. These issues need both a business and technical solution, and the paper proposes a set of characteristics of what a solution could look like. It's also incorrect to suggest that local-first is an argument for decentralisation - Martin Kleppmann has explicitly stated that he doesn't think decentralised tech solves these issues in a way that could become mass market. He is a proponent of centralised standardised sync engines that enable the ideals of local-first. See his talk from Local-first conf last year: [VIDEO]

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sorrythanks · 2025-04 · Reference

I see, I hear you. That isn't what local-first means, though. This is what local-first means: • [LINK] • [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Local-First Conf, played through YouTube.

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