Offline
Your memory shouldn't disappear when the internet does.
You're on a plane. The Wi-Fi drops. A service goes down.
A personal memory should not become an empty shell when that happens.
Shelf's core loop is local, so it keeps working without a connection. Two things need the internet, and both are listed below rather than hidden.
01 · Without a connection
What still works.
- Saving somethingWorks on your Mac
Copied text, screenshots, files, images, PDFs and notes land in your library.
- Browsing your libraryWorks on your Mac
Everything already saved is on the machine.
- Reading text in imagesWorks on your Mac
OCR uses Apple's on-device Vision framework.
- TranscriptionWorks on your Mac
Apple's on-device speech recognition, where supported.
- SearchWorks on your Mac
Queried against the meaning index kept on your Mac.
- Connections and summariesWorks on your Mac
Built locally from what you already saved.
- Reading a saved pageWorks on your Mac
Shelf keeps an offline reading copy of pages you saved.
- Export and backupsWorks on your Mac
Files are written to your disk, not fetched from a service.
02 · With a connection
What needs the internet.
- Saving a new linkRequires internet
Shelf fetches the page for its title, preview picture and offline reading copy. Saving a link is a network action by definition.
- Image variationsOptional external service
Off by default. Needs your own provider key and a connection.
- Downloading Shelf or an updateRequires internet
Getting the app from this website. The app itself does not ping for updates.
Internet on
Internet off
03 · Why it holds
Nothing to wait for.
There is no account to authenticate, no library to download and no server round trip between typing a query and seeing a result. That is why offline is the ordinary case here rather than a degraded mode.
Stated plainly
Current limitations
- A link saved offline is thinner
- Without a connection Shelf cannot fetch the page, so you keep the address and your own note rather than a full reading copy.
- No sync to catch up with
- Shelf is a single-Mac app. Going offline and back online does not reconcile anything, because nothing was ever syncing.
Offline shouldn't feel like failure. It should feel like your Mac.
A memory that works on a plane.
Download Shelf and try searching with the Wi-Fi off.
Free. macOS 14 and later, Apple Silicon and Intel. No account.
Keep reading
Related pages
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.