Browser Databases: The Future of Frontend Sync?
Niki explores the challenges of data synchronization in modern web applications. Traditional tools like XHR, fetch, REST, and GraphQL only solve the problem of getting data once, failing to address the complexities of continuous changes, request failures, and data conflicts. The article argues that building a browser-based database offers a more effective solution to data synchronization. This not only simplifies the development process and improves efficiency but also provides more reliable and efficient data management, ultimately allowing developers to focus on business logic rather than low-level data synchronization details. Using Roam Research as an example, the author demonstrates the feasibility of a serverless architecture and believes that sync engines have the potential to simplify the tech stack, consolidating databases and servers, and fundamentally changing frontend development.