Land is designed so that every core editor function works without a network connection and without an account. All persistent state is stored on the local device using platform-native mechanisms. Optional cloud services - update delivery, authentication for specific extensions - are provided by the Air daemon and the WebSite, but the editor starts, edits files, runs extensions, and saves state entirely offline. The local-first design is implemented as follows and has specific implications for extension developers.

Editor State Storage 💾

All editor state is persisted locally through Mountain’s storage:set and storage:get IPC handlers. The underlying store uses SQLite for structured data and the platform keychain (via Tauri’s secure storage API) for secrets. There is no cloud sync layer in the storage IPC path.

The storage is namespaced by extension ID. An extension writing to context.workspaceState or context.globalState calls Mountain’s storage:set handler, which writes to SQLite at:

~/.land/storage/<extension-id>.db         # macOS / Linux
%APPDATA%\Land\storage\<extension-id>.db  # Windows

No data leaves the device unless the extension itself initiates a network request.

Extension State via Memento 🧩

The vscode.Memento interface (context.workspaceState, context.globalState) is backed by Mountain’s Storage.Get and Storage.Set IPC calls. Extension developers can rely on Memento for persistent key-value storage with the same semantics as VS Code: writes are durable across restarts, workspace state is scoped to the current workspace root, and global state is shared across all workspaces.

The Memento implementation does not batch writes or require a flush call. Each state.update(key, value) call is an immediate round-trip to Mountain’s storage handler, which writes through to SQLite synchronously within the Tauri async runtime.

Extension Secrets 🔒

context.secrets is backed by Mountain’s encryption:encrypt and encryption:decrypt handlers, which use AES-256-GCM with a machine-stable key derived from a SHA-256 hash of the machine UUID. Encrypted values are stored in the same SQLite database as other state. Secrets never leave the device.

Important

Because the encryption key is derived from the machine UUID, secrets are not portable across machines. An extension that stores a token on one machine cannot read it on another. This matches VS Code’s behavior for context.secrets on desktop.

File System Operations 📁

File read, write, watch, and directory operations go directly through Mountain’s native filesystem handlers to the OS. There is no cloud sync layer, no conflict resolution layer, and no virtual filesystem in the IPC path for local files. The TierFileSystem variable selects between implementation layers (Layer2 through Layer4) but all layers are direct local filesystem access.

Remote filesystem support (SSH, container filesystems) is handled by extension-provided FileSystemProvider implementations registered via vscode.workspace.registerFileSystemProvider. The core filesystem IPC path remains local-only.

Air: Optional Services ☁️

The Air daemon provides optional services that the editor does not depend on for core function:

Update delivery - Air checks for new Land releases and downloads update packages. If Air is not running, the editor continues to work; no update prompt appears.
Authentication - Air can broker OAuth tokens for extensions that integrate with Editor.Land accounts. Extensions requiring GitHub OAuth or other third-party OAuth (Copilot, GitHub Pull Requests) still require their own auth flows, which are not currently implemented in the core editor.

The editor starts correctly with Air absent. No startup path has a hard dependency on Air being reachable.

Telemetry: Opt-In Only 📊

Telemetry is disabled in production builds by default (Capture=false, Report=false in .env.Land.Production). The PostHog integration and OTLP exporter are present in the codebase but inactive unless explicitly enabled by setting Capture=true and Report=true in the local .env.Land.PostHog file.

Session recording (Replay) and surveys (Ask) are also off by default and must be individually enabled. No telemetry data is collected from users who have not opted in.

CC0 License and Vendor Lock-In 📜

Land is released under the Creative Commons CC0 Universal public domain dedication. This means there is no license restriction on forking, modifying, or redistributing the editor or any of its components. Combined with the local-first storage design, there is no mechanism by which a vendor could lock users into a proprietary data format or a mandatory cloud service.

What Local-First Means for Extension Developers 📝

Extension state is always local. context.workspaceState, context.globalState, and context.secrets write to the local device. There is no cloud-sync API in the Cocoon shim.
Sync is the extension’s responsibility. If an extension needs to synchronize state across machines, it must implement that sync itself using whatever backend it chooses (its own API, GitHub Gist, etc.). Land provides no cross-device sync primitives.
Extensions work offline. An extension that relies only on the vscode.* API and local file access will work without a network connection. Extensions that make outbound HTTP requests are responsible for handling offline conditions.
No account required. Extensions must not assume the user has an Editor.Land account or has authenticated with any service. Account-gated features should be optional enhancements, not required for basic function.