Field notes from @cdata and my journey building Dialog - not just an embeddable local-first database, but a personal knowledge substrate for cooperative computing
September 16, 2025
Database architecture assumes predictable access patterns to optimize for - yet LLMs enable the opposite: open-ended exploration without predetermined questions. This fundamental incompatibility signals a broader computing shift. Today's service-oriented paradigm aggregates users around platforms, but when software creation democratizes, the economics invert. Why accept extracted value and siloed data when personalized tools can cooperate on user-owned substrates? Dialog explores this architectural reorientation: aggregating tools around users instead of users around services.
September 12, 2025
Software infrastructure evolved around centralized data control, with rigid schemas and access patterns with businesses and incentives built around it. LLMs democratize software creation: when anyone can vibecode a tool, the bottleneck shifts from software scarcity to data access and cooperation. This shift renders existing infrastructure inadequate - built for silos, it can't support untrusted, on-demand code execution with flexible access across all your data. Dialog is an attempt to build infrastructure addressing these new challenges: personal local-first knowledge substrate for cooperative computing.
If this vision resonates - if you see seamless tool cooperation as inevitable and necessary - I want to hear from you. Whether you're a developer tired of silos, a funder who sees the shift coming, or someone who believes software should serve its users, let's talk.