General Text & Computing Company

~/generaltext · local-first app engine

Local-first, plain-text apps you own. A workspace for apps that read and write plain files on your computer. Use them locally or sync collaboratively, end-to-end encrypted. Open them on your desktop, phone, or browser.

The gallery

Built by the community, available to all

From one-shot widgets to tools you lean on every day. Install one and that version is yours, running locally even if its maker moves on.

Browse the full gallery →
SIKEStructured writing. Outlines, drafts, and notes as plain Markdown.
CRUMSmall-batch bookkeeping. Your ledger is a plain text file.
SPUDIdeas that aren't projects yet. Loose notes in open formats.
PACTContracts and agreements, versioned in plain text.
FOLKPlaintext genealogy. Lineage and kin, readable for generations.
YEARYour events, annually recorded. Dates and holidays in plain text.
LOGSTimestamped entries now, structured sense later.
QUIDQuick utilities for income and debt. Financial clarity.
Browse the full galleryOr try a ready-made demo workspace →

Built the way we want our data, privacy, and code to work. Collaborative and synced. End-to-end encrypted. Local-first, over plain files you own. Offline friendly. Available across all devices. Free to make and share. Yours to keep.

Take it offline. It lives on your disk.

The desktop app keeps a real folder of your plain files on your machine. It syncs end-to-end encrypted when you are online and keeps working when you are not. The same workspaces open in any browser and are available on mobile as a PWA.

On mobile, install it straight from your browser.

It stays yours.

The apps can't change the terms on you, retire the feature you depend on, or price you out of your own work. It all runs locally, over plain text, and you keep the version you like for as long as you like. And when it syncs, it syncs encrypted: your files are encrypted on your device before they travel, and our servers store bytes we cannot read.

Need an app that doesn't exist yet?

Tell us what you or your team needs. We're happy to build apps for people and make them available to the whole community. Reach out and let's build the tool you wish you had.

Work with usBrowse the gallery