Anytype

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Build the local-first notes application I actually need instead of Anytype — and understand what makes this ALMOST, because the hard part is not the notes.

**It is convergence.** Two devices editing offline, then meeting, and agreeing on a result without losing anything — with no server in the middle to arbitrate. That is a conflict-free replicated data type problem, and writing one yourself is a research project.

STACK
- An existing CRDT library. Do not write one — getting it subtly wrong loses people's writing, quietly, months later
- A PWA or a native application, with SQLite on device
- An optional relay: Node 20+ with Fastify, storing ciphertext only
- Caddy in front

THE SIMPLER SHAPE THAT USUALLY WINS
- Files on disk, in Markdown, with an existing sync tool between devices. Syncthing does peer-to-peer sync of a directory for nothing, and a conflict becomes a second file rather than a lost paragraph
- That covers the great majority of what people want from this, and it is an afternoon
- Build the CRDT version when several people edit the same note at once, which is a different requirement

THE DATA MODEL, IF YOU BUILD IT
- objects: id, type_id, created_at, updated_at, deleted_at — a page, a task, a person and a bookmark are all objects
- types: id, name, icon, layout, relation_ids_json — defined by the user, which is the idea worth copying
- relations: id, key, name, format — text, number, date, checkbox, object reference, file
- values: object_id, relation_id, value_json
- blocks: id, object_id, parent_id, position, kind, content_json — the page content
- devices, keys, and a change feed per object
- Everything encrypted on the device before it is stored or sent

ENCRYPTION AND SYNC
- Content encrypted with a key derived from a recovery phrase, on the device. The relay stores ciphertext and can read nothing
- **The recovery phrase is the whole security and the whole risk.** Lose it and the data is gone with no reset. Say so at setup, in plain words, and make the user write it down and confirm it
- Sync as an ordered change feed per object, applied through the CRDT. Never last-write-wins on a document
- A conflict that the type cannot merge produces both versions and says so, rather than choosing

WHAT LOCAL-FIRST ACTUALLY REQUIRES
- The application works fully with no network, forever. Not degraded — fully
- Search, filtering and every view run against the local store
- Sync status visible: what has not reached which device, and when the last successful sync was. A sync you cannot verify is a sync you do not trust
- Export everything as Markdown and JSON in one command, and test that the export is complete rather than assuming

OPERATIONS
- If there is a relay: .env with DATABASE_PATH, STORAGE_PATH, BASE_URL, SESSION_SECRET; migrations on boot; nightly backup of ciphertext
- No analytics in the application. Not one event

WHAT MATTERS MOST
Use an existing CRDT library, and check first whether files plus Syncthing answers the question. If they do, that is the build — and it is an afternoon rather than a year.