The Dark Side of Local-First Search: When Offline Dreams Clash with Developer Reality
Local-first architecture promises offline capabilities and cloud-like collaboration, but implementing complex features like full-text search reveals daunting tradeoffs. After two years building the Fika app, one developer's quest for seamless client-side search exposed crushing memory demands, indexing delays, and syncing nightmares—forcing a rethink of when 'local-first' is truly worth the cost. This deep dive uncovers the hard-won lessons behind balancing user experience with developer sanity.