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Local-first trust

Local-first means the workspace is a folder you own, and it stays that way.

Your files live on your disk as plain Markdown. Undra adds structure, search, and AI on top, and your work never leaves.

Most apps keep your work in a format only they can read, in a place only they control. Undra goes the other way: your workspace is an ordinary folder of ordinary files. The app makes that folder more capable without making it mysterious, and without trapping anything inside.

What that gets you

This is not really about storage, it is about confidence:

  • you can back up the folder, sync it, or move it to a new machine
  • you can open and edit the files in any other tool
  • you can recover from a mistake, because the files are right there
  • you can keep using the editors and scripts you already rely on
  • you can see what AI or automation changed, because the change lands in a file you can read

Plain files all the way down

  • your workspace lives on disk, as a folder you chose
  • notes are Markdown files, with natural filenames
  • folders are real folders, not a database with folders painted on
  • the app’s search and graph indexes are caches: if one is ever lost, Undra rebuilds it, and none of your work is at stake

See what changed

When something edits your workspace, it should be clear what changed and why. AI and automation are meant to be inspectable, especially before a change is applied, so you stay the one deciding. And because every note is a plain file, an earlier version is always recoverable through whatever backup, sync, or version control you already use.

What to try

  1. Reveal any item on disk and look at the actual file.
  2. Import an existing Markdown file and open it straight away.
  3. Restart the app and reopen the same workspace from its folder.
  4. Make an edit, then check that you could find and undo it outside the app if you had to.

The one rule

If something changes your workspace, you should be able to tell what it changed and why. Everything else in local-first follows from that.

Where to go next

  • Notes: the plain Markdown files at the center of it all.
  • Bringing Markdown into Undra: adopt Undra without a migration.
  • Folder Portals: point Undra at a real folder and let AI edit it with backups and one-click undo.
  • Agents: AI that proposes changes you review before they land.