Local-first by design
Across Ora and Zyler, the default is the same: your data lives on your device, the cloud is opt-in, and privacy isn't a setting you have to find.
Overview
"Local-first" is easy to say and hard to mean. For us it's a design constraint, not a marketing line: the default state of your data is on your device, and anything that leaves it is an explicit choice you make — not something we do on your behalf.
What it looks like in practice
- Ora transcribes speech entirely on your Mac. No audio is uploaded, no account is required, and there's no telemetry to opt out of.
- Zyler stores your notes as plain files in a folder you own. There's no cloud backend; whether the vault syncs — iCloud, Dropbox, Git — is your call.
- When Zyler talks to an AI, it's bring-your-own-key: your API keys live in the system keychain, never in a plaintext file, and can point at a fully local model.
Opt-in, not opt-out
The industry norm is to collect by default and let you turn it off if you can find the switch. We flip that. Cloud features exist and can be genuinely useful — faster processing, longer inputs, sync across machines — but they're always something you reach for on purpose, never the silent default.
The strongest privacy guarantee is structural: data that was never sent can't leak, be subpoenaed, or be repurposed.
Why it's also good product
Local-first isn't only an ethic — it's faster (no round trip), more reliable (works offline), and more durable (your files outlive any one app). Read more about the company, or see the principle at work in Ora and Zyler.