Productivity · Open Source
AppFlowy
Open-source Notion alternative, an AI workspace for projects, wikis, and tasks that runs local-first so teams keep full control of their data.
Role
Core Contributor
Year
2024
Timeline
12 months · community-led
Stack
Flutter · Rust · Tauri
Desktop · Mobile · Web
Platforms
Local-first · Offline
Architecture
Tech stack
FlutterRustTauriLocal LLMs
The problem
Knowledge teams wanted Notion's flexibility but hit real walls: data leaving their infra, no offline mode, and no way to plug in their own AI models. They needed a workspace that was truly theirs.
Approach
- Built the client in Flutter with a Rust core so the same codebase ships to macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and web.
- Designed a local-first sync engine, everything works offline, then reconciles when the network returns.
- Integrated pluggable AI: users pick GPT, Gemini, Claude, or a local Ollama model and route requests accordingly.
- Shipped a database + document + template system with community-authored template marketplace.
Results
- Single Flutter + Rust codebase shipping to six platforms without per-OS forks.
- Local-first architecture unlocked adoption at teams that could not send docs to a third-party cloud.
- Pluggable AI layer let teams route sensitive prompts to on-device models.
See it in production
Explore the live product to see how it comes together.
