Home-cooked Software and Barefoot Programmers
Language models will enable a new class of 'barefoot developers'—technically savvy non-programmers who build small-scale, personal software for their communities, and local-first should become the default infrastructure for this movement.
Overview
Maggie Appleton argues that language models are about to create a "golden age" of home-cooked software—small, personal applications built by non-professional programmers for themselves, their families, and their communities. The local-first movement should position itself as the default infrastructure for this emerging ecosystem.
Key Arguments
Industrial Software Serves the Masses, Not the Individual
Current software development operates at industrial scale: large teams building one-size-fits-all applications for millions of users. This model ignores the "long tail" of user needs—specific problems that affect only dozens or hundreds of people. A homemaker in Tokyo, a street seller in Turkey, and a doctor in Tunisia all have distinct needs that Silicon Valley product managers struggle to understand.
Home-cooked Software Fills the Gap
Robin Sloan's concept of "home-cooked apps" describes software made for people you know and love, like cooking a meal for family. These apps are cheap to run, private by default, serve specific needs, and carry no financial pressure to monetize. Examples include apps tracking newborn feeding schedules, personal finance dashboards, and custom glucose monitors for diabetic partners.
Barefoot Developers Are the Missing Link
Inspired by China's barefoot doctors program of the 1960s, "barefoot developers" are technically savvy people embedded in their communities—teachers building elaborate Notion spreadsheets, students creating personal dashboards—who push tools to their limits but never cross "the command line wall" into terminal-based development. Given proper tools, they could solve local problems that industrial software companies would never address.
Language Models Provide the Missing Glue
Tools like Vercel's v0 and tldraw's "Make Real" feature demonstrate that natural language can generate working interfaces. However, generating Lego pieces isn't enough—barefoot developers need orchestration agents that guide them through specifications, databases, deployment, and multiplayer features. The default toolset for these agents will shape millions of decisions.
Notable Quotes
"People need not only to obtain things, they need above all the freedom to make things among which they can live, give shape to them according to their own tastes, and to put them to use in caring for and about others." — Ivan Illich, Tools for Conviviality
Practical Takeaways
- Local-first database providers should build interfaces accessible to barefoot developers and their AI agents
- The local-first movement and home-cooked software vision share foundational values: user agency and ownership over data and software
- If local-first doesn't become the default, home-cooked software will end up trapped in cloud subscriptions with changing terms and rising fees
References
Builds on local-first-software principles and connects to malleable-software concepts around user-modifiable applications.