MOC - Local-First Systems and Synchronization

● Evergreen

Architectural patterns for applications that read and write to local disk first, operating with full functionality in zero-connectivity environments, and synchronizing asynchronously across peers without centralized custodial lock-in.

System Invariants

  • Append-Only Outbox Journals: Local mutations append to durable transaction logs (outbox.jsonl) with deterministic SHA-256 state hashing before sync handoff.
  • Network Independence: Core operations (indexing, searching, reading, editing, and rendering) never issue synchronous blocking HTTP requests.
  • Explicit Sync Conflict Surfacing: Ambiguous updates and non-overlapping edits prompt user review rather than applying destructive silent auto-merges.

Connected Dispatches & Notes

  • [BSN-1015 - Local-First Without Isolation](BSN-1015 - Local-First Without Isolation)
  • [BSN-1019 - The Uncomfortable Trade-offs of Local-First Systems](BSN-1019 - The Uncomfortable Trade-offs of Local-First Systems)
  • [HAR-1001 - Ditching the Full-Stack SSR Monolith](HAR-1001 - Ditching the Full-Stack SSR Monolith)
  • [HAR-1003 - Mastering Edge Cache Headers](HAR-1003 - Mastering Edge Cache Headers)
  • [BSN-1010 - Designing Digital Gardens for Multi-Tenant Quartz Publishing](BSN-1010 - Designing Digital Gardens for Multi-Tenant Quartz Publishing)
  • [MOC - Harbor Ecosystem](MOC - Harbor Ecosystem)
  • [MOC - Fleet Operations](MOC - Fleet Operations)