Soma

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Soma — Local-First Workspace Platform ​

Soma is a desktop-first, offline-capable workspace platform centered on structured note-taking and collaboration.

It is designed for:

  • anyone who wants a structured, local-first note-taking app
  • teams and small groups collaborating privately
  • people working in offline-sensitive environments
  • employees in organizations with restricted connectivity

It combines:

  • a Notion-like note-taking experience
  • private workspaces with memberships and approvals
  • peer-to-peer data resolution and caching
  • capability-based permissions for humans and bots
  • optional local AI assistance
  • a focused companion app (Tapia)

Human roles inside a space stay intentionally simple:

  • owners manage access and settings
  • editors can create and edit content
  • viewers can read without editing
  • members are general participants when you do not need a more specific role yet
  • bots are non-human peers that must be granted access intentionally

Bot work should be framed in three categories:

  • cache and serve content already allowed for that space
  • organize and index content for search or structure
  • run approved automation or scripts

None of these categories are implied just by giving a peer the Bot role.

Soma is designed to work:

  • fully offline on a local network
  • partially online (mixed local + remote)
  • across the internet when available without requiring a browser or cloud accounts.

The network model is simple:

  • if a peer in the network already has the content, another peer should be able to resolve it from there
  • internet infrastructure helps, but it is not supposed to be the only path to useful work
  • private workspaces should be able to exist without sharing their content with the outside world

Key ideas ​

Spaces and workspaces ​

A Space is the main unit of sharing, permissions, and local collaboration.

A space contains:

  • pages and structured notes
  • documents
  • attachments (blobs)
  • optional AI-assisted workflows
  • members (humans and bots)

A device can be enrolled in multiple spaces at the same time.

Workspaces are intended to support small groups who want to collaborate privately, without exposing content to the public internet by default.

Local-first ​

  • No mandatory server
  • LAN-first discovery
  • Internet is optional
  • Data stays with the space

The peer-to-peer layer exists to improve reachability and availability, especially in places where the internet is expensive, unstable, filtered, or simply not always there.

Bots ​

A bot is a special space member:

  • can cache and serve resources
  • can organize or index workspace content
  • can perform approved automation
  • can accept or process membership flows when authorized
  • may run scripts or background jobs if granted that capability

Bots can run:

  • on a NAS or shared server
  • on an office or team machine
  • on Soma-operated infrastructure
  • on multiple locations for redundancy

Workspace owners or trusted admins can remove a bot at any time, which revokes its authority for that space.

Identity & security ​

  • No usernames or passwords
  • Each device has a cryptographic identity (PeerId)
  • Human names are UI-only
  • Access is controlled by signed capabilities

Capabilities are intended to cover permissions for both humans and bots, such as:

  • accepting new members
  • reading and editing pages
  • serving cached content
  • running scripts or automation

Architecture (high level) ​

  • Desktop UI (Electron/Chromium + React)
  • Local daemon (Rust, gRPC over Unix socket)
  • Agent service (local AI, optional)
  • Bot daemons (cache + onboarding)
  • Relay + Rendezvous (connectivity only)

Companion app: Tapia ​

Tapia is the focused companion app shipped alongside Soma.

  • launched via deep link or adjacent workflows from Soma
  • focused on typing practice with short passages, generated drills, and per-session feedback
  • shares runtime conventions and can integrate with the same local backend
  • intentionally narrower in scope than Soma

Design principles ​

  • Offline-first > Cloud-first
  • Capabilities > Accounts
  • Explicit trust > Implicit trust
  • Simple UX > Enterprise complexity
  • Structured workspaces > generic file dumping