I keep two folders of “tools I actually use.” One is a terminal aliases file. The other is a browser bookmarks bar labeled local . Both claim to be local-first. They solve different jobs, and mixing them up costs me more time than picking the slower option on purpose.

This isn’t “CLI good, browser bad.” It’s a decision rule for frontend DX: when should this live in the tab, and when should it stay in the shell?

The false dichotomy

People talk like local tooling is one pile. It isn’t.

A CLI is scriptable, pipeable, and great at files that already live on disk. Agents love it. CI loves it. Diffs love it.

A browser-local tool is visual, drop-zone friendly, and great at blobs you don’t want to save as tmp-whatever-3.png forever. No install. No chmod +x . Close the tab and it’s gone.

Both can keep data off a third-party server. That’s the local-first part.…