My take: If your app needs to update and preserve state (using SQLite or any other DB), it is probably not something you want to pass around as a bundled file.
Or at least, it's extremely limiting, compared with hosting it somewhere on the web, which is not that hard to do these days.
Think of the workflow: Any time the state changes, you need to email a new Capsule file to whoever else is using the app. And one would think the state would change at least occasionally, because otherwise there's little reason to use a DB.
Alternatively, you can just host it on the web, the DB state dynamically updates, and it's automatically available to anyone with app access. Isn't that a lot simpler?
You can get a cheap approximation of this with chromium browsers + Filesystem API and a PWA manifest for that native-ish feel. AI has reignited my interest in building based 100% on browser native features.
If you want to distribute apps to many users this would probably be a better solution. The main benefit of Capsule is the personal document like app. You create a capsule, move it to an USB stick, save it in your cloud storage and it's still the same document. Nothing has changed, not the UI, not the data. The document will stay the same.
This is great. Curious: this requires users to have a host app installed on their machine that can read .capsule file right? Won't that be a point of friction for distribution?
Isn't html/css a better distribution mechanism as most computers already have the tech to run them?
You'd think so, but web browsers are downright lobotomizing the ability for local HTML files to run any meaningful javascript code. Want to run a JS file from the same directory? CORS ERROR!!!!
Hence 200MB applications that are complete copies of the Chromium browser to run under 1MB of actual web code.
Isn't that the price of a relatively well sandboxed experience by browsers?
I've experienced the same limits building small tools for myself and friends that I wanted to contain in a single HTML file without external dependencies... but I understand why the same project without these restrictions could easily become malware, and ones that could be easily propagated.
The problem is that you can't save the user data in way that you can click a single file, similar to a Word or Excel file. I you think a about it, a Excel spreadsheet is also just UI + data in a single file.
This is a frustration of mine as well, but I vaguely remember someone showing something on HN where the file could essentially save itself, I think they were using some file APIs for that... sadly I can't find the details anymore. But I keep running into the "HTML file opened locally can't update itself" issue repeatedly now that I build tools for myself with LLM agents.
The File System Access API can do this, and it works in local ("file:///") HTML files, but it's only currently supported in desktop Chromium browsers: https://caniuse.com/native-filesystem-api
However, every browser will let you download a new version of the HTML file and save it over the old one - yes, even from a local HTML file:
If try to do data management in Excel or need to download an app just to save some recipes, this could be an alternative. For example you can track time and billing with a nice UI without requiring a SaaS subscription. You can try some examples in https://withcapsule.app/preview
Many big companies are starting now to test agentic coding to automate business processes. This could be a nice tool to distribute apps for workflows that aren't big enough to justify the operational overhed of maintaining a traditional web app backend. Nice!
For saving data in the capsule file it would create complexity regarding migration handling when updating the HTML file to add a field to a form for example. Keeping the data schemaless makes it also easier for merging data or importing data from a CSV.
The problem would be cross-platform support. In the end the capsule file is the standalone binary similar to a PDF or a Word document, you only need the viewer app to open any capsule file.
https://github.com/JoshTheDerf/uapp
Demo apps and games: https://thederf.com/uapp/demo/
You're gonna end up having to build a complex state sync system to a central DB anyways...
Or at least, it's extremely limiting, compared with hosting it somewhere on the web, which is not that hard to do these days.
Think of the workflow: Any time the state changes, you need to email a new Capsule file to whoever else is using the app. And one would think the state would change at least occasionally, because otherwise there's little reason to use a DB.
Alternatively, you can just host it on the web, the DB state dynamically updates, and it's automatically available to anyone with app access. Isn't that a lot simpler?
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/File_System...
Isn't html/css a better distribution mechanism as most computers already have the tech to run them?
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TiddlyWiki
Hence 200MB applications that are complete copies of the Chromium browser to run under 1MB of actual web code.
I've experienced the same limits building small tools for myself and friends that I wanted to contain in a single HTML file without external dependencies... but I understand why the same project without these restrictions could easily become malware, and ones that could be easily propagated.
However, every browser will let you download a new version of the HTML file and save it over the old one - yes, even from a local HTML file:
I'm having Lotus Notes flashbacks.
How would I know if I need this, vs something else?