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Show HN: Fireproof – local-first database with Git-like encrypted sync

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Show HN: Fireproof – local-first database with Git-like encrypted sync

#1

Post by jchanimal »

Hi, HN! As a cofounder of Couchbase, I pioneered mobile sync, and I’ve always wanted to bring the speed and reliability of local-first data to the web, incubating PouchDB among other efforts. I learned the constraints of real world financial applications at McKinsey & Company FinLab, and Merkle integrity research at Protocol Labs taught me smart contract data structures. As part of the JavaScript community (and early hosting provider for NPM) I’ve been waiting, and now with the availability of APIs like Passkeys and Origin Private Filesystem, I’m happy to say the browser is ready to support embedded databases.

Front-ends are a lot easier to write when your database handles live sync for you, but the existing solutions rely on heavyweight cloud APIs instead of putting the smarts at the edge, where it belongs. I started from a different set of constraints, and arrived at a lightweight embedded database that uses a git-like data model to offer cryptographic causal consistency across browsers, edge functions, and anywhere TypeScript runs.

It’s designed to make building full-featured apps as simple as calling `db.put({ hello: "world" })` and syncing them as easy as calling `connect(db, remote)`. People are using Fireproof for AI character chat[1], personal finance[2], and hedge funds[3], and we aim to be simple enough for novice coders to build enterprise-critical apps. Fireproof makes product owners dangerous, because just a little bit of code can define an application’s workflow and data model. See the code sample below.

The reactive APIs[4] are designed for live collaboration so your user interfaces update automatically, making it an easy way to add query collaboration to legacy dashboards, or write new interactive tools for your team. Merkle CRDTs[5] provide multi-writer safety while maintaining tamperproof data provenance, conflict tracking, and deterministic merges. The storage engine writes content-addressed encrypted files that can be synced via commodity backends like S3 or Cloudflare[], without sacrificing data integrity.

Our contributors include legends like Damien Katz, Meno Abels, Mikeal Rogers, and Alan Shaw. Fireproof is open source (Apache/MIT) and we know there are rough edges, so we hope this post stirs up collaborators![6] Please `npm install @fireproof/core` and give us feedback[7]. We are on the stable side of beta, so it’s a great time for the adventurous to join. I’m excited to see all the apps people write now that it’s easy!

[1] https://github.com/fireproof-storage/catbot/tree/main

[2] https://fireproof.storage/posts/quickcheck:-print-checks-at-...

[3] https://fireproof.storage/posts/contributor-spotlight:-danie...

[4] https://use-fireproof.com/docs/react-tutorial

[5] https://fireproof.storage/posts/remote-access-crdt-wrapped-m...

[6] https://github.com/fireproof-storage/fireproof/issues

[7] https://discord.gg/DbSXGqvxFc

Show HN: Fireproof – local-first database with Git-like encrypted sync
fireproof.storage

Re: Show HN: Fireproof – local-first database with Git-like encrypted sync

#2

Post by jchrisa »

Thanks for reading — Fireproof creator here, happy to answer any questions.

We are in-flight on our cloud launch, so consider it a preview of the experience we are building. We’ll soon be shipping more complete authorization with UCAN capability delegation, and we are working on mature key rotation. I can't wait to hear what people want to build with it.

Re: Show HN: Fireproof – local-first database with Git-like encrypted sync

#4

Post by jchrisa »

dscape wrote: post #3

Congrats on launching Fireproof! You mentioned syncing content-addressed encrypted files via S3 or Cloudflare. For developers already using existing cloud-first setups, how seamless is it to integrate Fireproof as a hybrid solution?

Fireproof embeds in the browser, so you can add it to frontend code just like any other JavaScript module. It's useful for app data even without a backend.

When you are ready to connect multiple users, that's when the backend comes in, which can be as simple as Fireproof Cloud or your existing AWS account.

Re: Show HN: Fireproof – local-first database with Git-like encrypted sync

#6

Post by jchanimal »

nadyanadya2024 wrote: post #5

Fireproof has come a long way and If you’re looking to cut down on backend complexity while having a reliable user experience, Fireproof is worth a serious look.

Thanks and thanks for the early feedback last year when I was still working on the alpha version.

Re: Show HN: Fireproof – local-first database with Git-like encrypted sync

#7

Post by damienkatz »

Creator of Apache CouchDB here. Fireproof is a very clever system for building secure, collaborative apps. Your apps can work offline and when connected automatically sync changes to local storage and display them immediately to the UI. It has much of that same CouchDB magic with almost no complexity or headache on the backend.

Very coo…errr…hot!

Re: Show HN: Fireproof – local-first database with Git-like encrypted sync

#8

Post by jchanimal »

damienkatz wrote: post #7

Creator of Apache CouchDB here. Fireproof is a very clever system for building secure, collaborative apps. Your apps can work offline and when connected automatically sync changes to local storage and display them immediately to the UI. It has much of that same CouchDB magic with almost no complexity or headache on the backend. Very coo…errr…hot!

Thanks for pointing out the key management potential!

Re: Show HN: Fireproof – local-first database with Git-like encrypted sync

#9

Post by johnson_brad »

Fireproof brings really solid DX with a passionate team supporting it. It's deceptively powerful as an embedded db, but delivers the kind of experience you'd typically expect from a good frontend stack. Since modern web development keeps pushing the limits of browsers, I love local-first projects like this.

Re: Show HN: Fireproof – local-first database with Git-like encrypted sync

#10

Post by jchrisa »

Here is the code sample I mentioned, example React usage (see our homepage for Vanilla JS)

    import { useFireproof, useDocument } from "use-fireproof";
    import { connect } from "@fireproof/cloud";

    export default function App() {
      const { database, useLiveQuery } = useFireproof("my_db");
      connect(database, "my-remote");
      const { docs } = useLiveQuery("_id");

      const [newDoc, setNewDoc, saveNewDoc] = useDocument({ input: "" });

      const handleSubmit = async (e) => {
        e.preventDefault();
        if (newDoc.input) {
          await saveNewDoc();
          setNewDoc({ input: "" }); // Reset for new entry
        }
      };

      return (
        
          
             setNewDoc({ input: e.target.value })}
            />
            Add
          
          
            {docs.map((doc) => (
              {JSON.stringify(doc)}
            ))}
          
        
      );
    }
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