---
source_id: SRC-0002
title: 'Local-first software: You own your data, in spite of the cloud'
author: Martin Kleppmann; Adam Wiggins; Peter van Hardenberg; Mark McGranaghan
locator: https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/local-first/
version: April 2019 web essay; accessed 2026-09-24; associated Onward! 2019 DOI 10.1145/3359591.3359737
accessed: '2026-09-24'
evidence_kind: primary
excerpt_scope: authority-placement pilot; not a full-source review
---

# Bounded primary-source packet

## Editorial scope (not source text)

This packet isolates authority placement. Only the quotation is original source
text. It is a contiguous fragment of the final sentence in the located paragraph;
the beginning of that sentence is omitted. The rest of the essay, its prototypes,
replication algorithms and product comparisons are outside this packet.

## Passage A — Seven ideals for local-first software, paragraph 3, final sentence fragment

> we treat the copy of the data on your local device — your laptop, tablet, or phone — as the primary copy.

## Investigation question (editorial)

What distinguishes a primary local copy from a subordinate cache? What additional
sources or passages are needed to establish persistence, concurrency and recovery?

## Excerpt boundary

Do not infer that this fragment defines merge semantics or makes every copy an
unrestricted writer. Its parent essay's domain and exceptions need separate review.