The Builders
Meet the organizations shaping the sovereign web—from research labs to foundations to startups pushing the boundaries.
Pioneering offline-first, user-owned software
The pioneers who coined "Local First" in their landmark 2019 paper. Ink & Switch is an independent research lab exploring the future of creative tools and computing.
Key Contributions
- • Published "Local-First Software" paper defining the movement
- • Created Automerge, a CRDT library for real-time collaboration
- • Research on collaborative editing, infinite canvases, and programmable ink
The organization behind IPFS, Filecoin, and libp2p—foundational infrastructure for a decentralized web where data lives everywhere and nowhere.
Key Contributions
- • IPFS: Content-addressed storage for the distributed web
- • libp2p: Modular peer-to-peer networking stack
- • Filecoin: Decentralized storage marketplace
Making local-first development accessible through Postgres-compatible sync. ElectricSQL brings the power of local-first to every developer who knows SQL.
Key Contributions
- • Electric: Real-time sync engine for Postgres
- • Shape-based replication for efficient data transfer
- • CRDT-like merge semantics with familiar SQL
Building the next evolution of open-source: apps that run everywhere with data that users own. DXOS provides a complete stack for local-first development.
Key Contributions
- • ECHO: Encrypted, replicated object database
- • HALO: Decentralized identity and access control
- • Composer: Local-first application framework
Explore Their Technology
See the tools and projects these organizations have built.