Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Johannes Schickling, original founder of Prisma, joins me to talk about LiveStore, his ambitious local-first data layer designed to rethink how we build apps from the data layer up. We dive deep into event sourcing, syncing with SQLite, and why this approach might power the next generation of reactive apps.
Want to learn more about SQLite? Check out my SQLite course: highperformancesqlite.com/?ref=yt
Get your free SQLite reference guide: highperformancesqlite.com/products/sqlite-reference-guide
Livestore website: https://livestore.dev
LiveStore repo: github.com/livestorejs
LiveStore Discord: discord.gg/RbMcjUAPd7
Follow Johannes:
Twitter: x.com/schickling
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/schickling
Website: https://www.schickling.dev
Localfirst.fm Podcast: https://www.localfirst.fm
Follow Aaron:
Twitter: twitter.com/aarondfrancis
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aarondfrancis
Website: aaronfrancis.com - find articles, podcasts, courses, and more.
Database school on YouTube: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI72dgeNJtzqElnNB6sQoAn2R-F3Vqm15
Database school audio only: databaseschool.com
Chapters
00:00 - Intro to Johannes
01:00 - From Prisma to LiveStore
03:00 - Discovering local-first through Riffle
05:00 - What is local-first and who is it for?
07:00 - Why local-first is gaining popularity
10:00 - The inspiration from apps like Linear
13:00 - Gaps in local-first tooling in 2020
16:00 - Social apps vs. user-centric apps
18:00 - Distributed systems and why they’re hard
21:00 - The value of embracing local-first
24:00 - What LiveStore is and what it's not
26:00 - Event sourcing as the core of LiveStore
30:00 - Benefits of event sourcing for apps
33:00 - Schema changes and time travel via events
37:00 - Materializers and how they work
43:00 - Syncing data across clients and devices
48:00 - Sync servers and cross-tab communication
54:00 - Architecture choices and dev tooling
59:00 - State of the project and future vision
1:06:00 - How to get involved
Johannes Schickling, original founder of Prisma, joins me to talk about LiveStore, his ambitious local-first data layer designed to rethink how we build apps from the data layer up. We dive deep into event sourcing, syncing with SQLite, and why this approach might power the next generation of reactive apps.
Want to learn more about SQLite? Check out my SQLite course: highperformancesqlite.com/?ref=yt
Get your free SQLite reference guide: highperformancesqlite.com/products/sqlite-reference-guide
Livestore website: https://livestore.dev
LiveStore repo: github.com/livestorejs
LiveStore Discord: discord.gg/RbMcjUAPd7
Follow Johannes:
Twitter: x.com/schickling
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/schickling
Website: https://www.schickling.dev
Localfirst.fm Podcast: https://www.localfirst.fm
Follow Aaron:
Twitter: twitter.com/aarondfrancis
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aarondfrancis
Website: aaronfrancis.com - find articles, podcasts, courses, and more.
Database school on YouTube: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI72dgeNJtzqElnNB6sQoAn2R-F3Vqm15
Database school audio only: databaseschool.com
Chapters
00:00 - Intro to Johannes
01:00 - From Prisma to LiveStore
03:00 - Discovering local-first through Riffle
05:00 - What is local-first and who is it for?
07:00 - Why local-first is gaining popularity
10:00 - The inspiration from apps like Linear
13:00 - Gaps in local-first tooling in 2020
16:00 - Social apps vs. user-centric apps
18:00 - Distributed systems and why they’re hard
21:00 - The value of embracing local-first
24:00 - What LiveStore is and what it's not
26:00 - Event sourcing as the core of LiveStore
30:00 - Benefits of event sourcing for apps
33:00 - Schema changes and time travel via events
37:00 - Materializers and how they work
43:00 - Syncing data across clients and devices
48:00 - Sync servers and cross-tab communication
54:00 - Architecture choices and dev tooling
59:00 - State of the project and future vision
1:06:00 - How to get involved
