The Sovereign Software Index
Tools that pass the seven gates, grouped by discipline.
These tools were assessed against the seven gates in the manifesto: open, inspectable data formats, full function offline, and the ability to leave without losing anything. The tiers are editorial judgments, not formal audits.
Use the search box and category filters to narrow the list. Every card shows where the tool keeps your data and the command that extracts it.
Git
The archetype of sovereign software. Full commit history lives on your local disk, verified via cryptographic hashes, with 100% offline branching, diffing, and merging.
$ git bundle create repo.bundle --allJujutsu (jj)
Next-generation version control where even conflicts and rebases are recorded as deterministic, first-class mathematical states in an undoable local operation log. Young project: the storage format is still evolving, so treat it as promising rather than canonical.
$ jj op log --limit 20SQLite
Library of Congress permanent archival standard. Delivers microsecond local queries with zero server daemons, zero configuration, and guaranteed backward compatibility through 2050.
$ sqlite3 data.db .dump > archive.sqlFossil SCM
Engineered by the creator of SQLite. Packages version control, tickets, bug tracking, and wiki documentation into one durable SQLite file that runs an instant local web UI that works offline.
$ fossil ui repository.fossilTaskwarrior
Command-line task manager with deterministic date and priority grammars and a complete JSON export, kept separate from long-form notes.
$ task export > commitments.jsonTodo.txt
The simplest possible task format: one line per task, with priority, project and context markers readable by any text tool.
$ grep '^(A)' todo.txtBeancount / hledger
Plain-Text Accounting (PTA). Enforces strict double-entry mathematical invariants locally without bank scraping breakages or recurring cloud subscriptions.
$ bean-query ledger.beancount 'SELECT account, sum(position)'Actual Budget
Local-first zero-based budgeting. Runs entirely offline against a local SQLite database and synchronizes across devices via verifiable Hybrid Logical Clock CRDT messages.
$ Export standard SQLite / CSV archiveObsidian
Notes stay as standard UTF-8 Markdown files in a local folder you can edit in Vim, VS Code or bash. The app is closed-source (free for personal use), so the open files, not the application, are what earn the entry.
$ cp -r ~/Vault /backup/plain-markdown/Logseq
Open-source outliner that stores notes as plain Markdown or Org files in a local folder, so the same 'File Over App' guarantee holds without a proprietary application.
$ cp -r ~/logseq-graph /backup/plain-markdown/Emacs Org-Mode
The grand-ancestor of sovereign personal computing. Unifies structured prose, deterministic agendas, tables, and literate programming inside immortal plain text.
$ emacs --batch file.org -f org-html-export-to-htmlTypst
Deterministic document typesetting from plain text that recompiles multi-page documents in milliseconds, offline.
$ typst compile manuscript.typ output.pdfHugo
Static site generator that compiles a whole site from plain files in milliseconds, offline. This site is built with it.
$ hugo --minifyPaperless-ngx
Enforces the Archive Invariant: never locks or mutates original documents inside a proprietary blob. Stores untouched PDFs on disk alongside archival PDF/A files. Running it normally needs Docker plus a database and other services, which is why it sits in Tier 2.
$ document_exporter ../export --no-progress-barLibreOffice (ODF)
Full desktop office suite running 100% offline. Native files are standard zip containers holding documented XML (`content.xml`) extractable with basic POSIX unzip. The suite is large and slow to start, so it does not clearly pass the 100ms test.
$ unzip -p document.odt content.xml | xmllint --format -OpenSCAD
Code-first 3D solid modeling. Eliminates the non-deterministic Topological Naming Problem of GUI CAD kernels; identical script inputs yield identical meshes.
$ openscad -o part.stl model.scadKiCad
Electronic schematic capture and PCB design suite where every net, footprint, and trace is stored in human-readable S-expressions with zero cloud licensing.
$ kicad-cli pcb export gerbers board.kicad_pcbNGSPICE
Deterministic analog and mixed-signal circuit simulator solving differential equations directly from human-readable netlists without network dependencies.
$ ngspice -b -r rawfile.raw circuit.cirREAPER
Professional Digital Audio Workstation with no cloud accounts and plain-text project files parseable with standard text tools. The application itself is closed-source and paid, which keeps it out of Tier 1.
$ grep -E 'TRACK|VOLPAN' session.RPPDarktable
Non-destructive raw photography workflow. Never alters original sensor data; all exposure curves and crops reside in sibling XML sidecar files.
$ darktable-cli image.RAW image.RAW.xmp export.jpgPass
Secrets live as individual GPG-encrypted files in a directory you control, with no third-party vault server.
$ gpg -d ~/.password-store/infra/root.gpgKeePassXC
Open-source password manager with a documented, encrypted vault file on your disk. The vault is binary, not plain text, so it ranks below Pass.
$ keepassxc-cli export --format csv vault.kdbxSyncthing
The canonical decoupled synchronization layer. Replicates folders across devices with cryptographic device IDs and explicit conflict file preservation.
$ syncthing cli show systemNixOS / GNU Guix
While mainstream OS platforms mutate global state imperatively, NixOS/Guix treat the entire operating system as a deterministic, rollback-capable function of plain text.
$ nixos-rebuild build --flake .#workstationOpenBSD
Small, auditable operating system whose configuration lives in plain-text files. It is imperative rather than declarative, but every setting is inspectable and diffable.
$ tar czf etc-backup.tgz /etc