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Best of

Best local-first apps

Local-first isn't nostalgia. It's a claim about who holds your material.

The tools below all keep their primary data on your machine. That single decision changes what happens when a service shuts down, a subscription lapses, or you're offline for a day.

01 · How we judged

What actually matters here.

Data on your machine
The primary copy lives locally, not in someone's account system.
Works offline
Not degraded mode. Actually works.
Open exit
You can get your material out in a format that survives.
Local intelligence
If it's clever, is the cleverness happening on device?

02 · The options

The list.

In no ranked order. Each one is genuinely better than the others at something.

  • Obsidian

    Notes

    Markdown files in a folder you own, with optional paid sync.

    Best for
    Writing you want to still own in a decade.
    Trade-off
    You have to write it.
    Shelf vs ObsidianObsidian website

  • Shelf

    Local-first memory layer for Mac

    A native macOS app that reads what you save, screenshots, links, PDFs, images and notes, writes a short summary and topics on device, connects each save to the things it belongs with, and finds it again from a rough description.

    Best for
    People on a Mac whose real problem is recall, and who want the library to stay on their own machine.
    Trade-off
    Mac only, single machine, no canvas, no collaboration, no mobile app.

  • Eagle

    Assets

    A locally stored image and asset library on macOS and Windows.

    Best for
    A large visual library you keep on disk.
    Trade-off
    Organisation is manual.
    Shelf vs EagleEagle website

  • DEVONthink

    Documents

    A long-standing Mac document manager with local databases and deep search.

    Best for
    Serious document archives on a Mac.
    Trade-off
    Powerful, and correspondingly involved to set up.

  • Plain files and folders

    Built in

    The filesystem, plus Spotlight.

    Best for
    Maximum portability, zero lock-in.
    Trade-off
    No understanding, no connections, no recall from a vague memory.

The most private architecture is the one with nowhere to leak from.

03 · Where Shelf fits

Our own bias, stated.

Shelf takes local-first past storage: OCR, transcription, summaries, topics, search and connections all run on device, which is why it keeps working with the network off.

There's no account and no sync server, which is also why there's no cross-device library. That's the trade, stated plainly.

04 · Questions

Common questions.

What does local-first actually mean?
The primary copy of your data lives on your machine and the app works without a network. Sync, if any, is an addition rather than the foundation.
Is Shelf fully local?
Yes. Your library and its index stay on your Mac, the understanding work runs on device, and there is no account or sync server.

Next thought

Your library lives with you.

Local-first, explained

If this idea interested you…

Shelf V3 is out now

Shelf V3 is the current build. Shelf does not use automatic updates, so download the latest build here and install it over your current version.

This is intentional. Shelf is built around a local-first, privacy-focused philosophy. An automatic updater requires additional background processes, network connections, update infrastructure, and another system with permission to modify the app. We prefer to keep Shelf’s network footprint and background activity as small as possible.

Manual updates keep the process explicit: Shelf only checks the internet when a feature actually needs it, and you decide when a new version is downloaded and installed.

Download the latest version →Version 3.0 · macOS 14+