ideas

Ideation & Ideas

Raw ideas, future possibilities, and “what if” thoughts captured during development.

Format

### [IDEA-XXX] Title
**Date**: YYYY-MM-DD
**Status**: Captured / Exploring / Implementing / Parked
**Description**: What's the idea?
**Potential**: What could this enable?
**Challenges**: What makes this hard?

Active Ideas

[IDEA-001] CRDT Solves Both Web and SMB Conflicts

Date: 2024-12-19 Status: Implementing

Description: The same CRDT approach that enables web collaboration also solves SMB share conflicts. These are fundamentally the same problem - concurrent edits need merging, not overwriting.

Potential:

Plugin-only mode for SMB users (no infrastructure needed)
Dropbox/OneDrive/iCloud users get conflict-free sync
Progressive adoption from individual to enterprise

Challenges:

Sync latency depends on file sync speed (not real-time)
Users need to install plugin on all clients

[IDEA-002] Presence Awareness with “Nudge”

Date: 2024-12-19 Status: Implementing

Description: Show users when others are editing the same file, and suggest editing in a different section to avoid collisions.

Potential:

Better UX when multiple users on same file
Reduces unnecessary CRDT merges
Educational - teaches users about collaboration

Challenges:

Need to track cursor positions
Nudge suggestions need to be helpful, not annoying
File-only mode has delayed presence updates

[IDEA-003] Progressive Adoption Path

Date: 2024-12-19 Status: Implementing

Description: Design the system so users can start simple and add complexity as needed:

File-only (just install plugin)
Hybrid (add server for real-time)
Full enterprise (VNC + SSO + audit)

Potential:

Lower barrier to entry
Users grow into enterprise features
Same codebase serves all use cases

Challenges:

Settings UI needs to be clear
Documentation for each level

[IDEA-004] AFFiNE as Alternative

Date: 2024-12-18 Status: Parked

Description: AFFiNE is CRDT-native from the ground up. Could be a better long-term solution than wrapping Obsidian.

Potential:

No VNC needed (native web)
Built-in collaboration
Modern architecture

Challenges:

Not Obsidian (different UX, different plugins)
Less mature than Obsidian
Users already invested in Obsidian

Decision: Park for now, evaluate after POC. Obsidian has massive plugin ecosystem.

[IDEA-005] Obsidian Mobile Plugin

Date: 2024-12-19 Status: Captured

Description: Extend the CRDT sync plugin to work on Obsidian Mobile.

Potential:

Full sync across desktop, mobile, and web
Unified experience

Challenges:

Mobile plugin API limitations
Background sync on mobile is tricky
Battery/performance concerns

[IDEA-006] Conflict Resolution UI

Date: 2024-12-18 Status: Captured

Description: When CRDT merges happen, provide a UI to show what was merged and allow manual adjustments.

Potential:

Transparency about what changed
Manual override when needed
Educational about CRDT

Challenges:

CRDT merges are usually invisible (that’s the point)
UI complexity
When to show vs auto-accept

[IDEA-007] Vault Templates for Enterprise

Date: 2024-12-19 Status: Captured

Description: Pre-configured vault templates with structure, plugins, and settings for enterprise use cases.

Potential:

Faster onboarding
Consistent setup across teams
Best practices built-in

Challenges:

One size doesn’t fit all
Plugin compatibility
Update management

[IDEA-008] CRDT Operation History for Audit

Date: 2024-12-19 Status: Captured

Description: Instead of just storing merged state, store the operation log to see who changed what when.

Potential:

Full audit trail
“Blame” functionality
Undo individual user’s changes

Challenges:

Storage grows unbounded
Needs compaction strategy
Privacy considerations

Parked Ideas

[IDEA-P01] Browser Extension for Quick Capture

Description: Browser extension that clips content directly to Obsidian vault via CRDT sync.

Why Parked: Focus on core sync first. Can add later.

[IDEA-P02] AI Integration

Description: AI-powered features like summarization, tagging, linking suggestions.

Why Parked: Out of scope for POC. Obsidian has AI plugins already.

Rejected Ideas

[IDEA-R01] File-Level RBAC

Description: Control access at the file level, not vault level.

Why Rejected: Fights Obsidian’s architecture. Would need to hide files in UI, check permissions on every operation. Vault-level is simpler and sufficient.

[IDEA-R02] Native Web Obsidian Port

Description: Port Obsidian to run natively in browser.

Why Rejected: Obsidian depends on Node.js filesystem APIs. Would need to rewrite core. VNC approach preserves full plugin compatibility.