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Local-first, but not local-required

This is a wish

What I wanted from a specific thing, instead of a value which I want generally.

Wish. The canonical store works fully offline with nothing but a text editor, yet the same content stays editable through a hosted path that needs no local setup at all.

Why I want this. Local-first gives me speed, offline access and ownership - my data is a folder on my disk, not a row in someone's database. But local-required would be a tax: it means I (or any contributor) can't fix a typo from a borrowed machine, a phone, or without a toolchain install. I want the floor (works locally, offline, mine) without the ceiling (must be local to touch it).

What it implies. A git-backed store of plain files satisfies local-first (clone it, point an editor at it). Hosting it somewhere with a web editor (e.g. GitHub's browser editing) satisfies not-local-required - edits from the web become commits like any other. The convenience editor stays optional on top, never the gate.

Tensions. The hosted path usually can't run the full local quality pipeline (pre-commit hooks, local preview), so feedback there is slower and leans on CI to catch issues - an acceptable trade for always-editable. Note this is a wish, not a value or principle: it's a requirement I chose for this project, discovered via the why-test in Layer build-knowledge as a values-to-blueprints derivation pipeline.

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