Local-first content creation: where your files, prompts and keys actually go

What does local-first mean for content creation?

It means the master copy of your work sits on your own computer. The library, the designs and the finished slideshows are files you can open, move and back up, and the core work does not stop when a vendor's server does. That is a statement about storage and dependence. It is not a promise about privacy.

For local AI content creation, privacy splits into four questions: where the files are, where the prompts go, where the keys live, and what else touches the network. The answers differ per part of the workflow, so a single "private" label hides more than it shows.

Where does the slide-writing request go?

Fyslide runs on your computer and stores the library, designs and slideshows there. The AI that writes the slide text is your choice, and that choice decides where the request goes. As of 5 November 2026, the app's FAQ says AI requests go from your computer directly to the chosen provider, or stay on the computer with Ollama.

What a provider does with a request is governed by that provider's terms. Read them before you send anything you would not post publicly. The cost side of each option is in bring your own AI key.

Which other data leaves the computer?

The app works offline after activation. The things that need a connection are the ones the table marks: cloud AI, Openverse and Pinterest. Everything else in a slideshow, including your own pictures, can be made with the network off when the AI is Ollama.

How does "local" differ between tools?

The word covers different designs, so compare what each stores and where.

• carousel.bot (opens in a new tab) describes an editor that works "locally in your browser", with optional AI editing through an MCP companion. Local there means inside the browser, with export only.
• aiCarousels (opens in a new tab) Pro Lifetime keeps your OpenAI key in the browser. The AI itself still runs at OpenAI.
• ReelFarm (opens in a new tab) is a web app with Google sign-in, and its page mentions no desktop or mobile app.

Those are descriptions from vendor pages on 5 November 2026, not audits. A desktop app that keeps its files in a folder is a different arrangement from a browser tab that keeps them in browser storage, and a web app with an account is a third.

How can you test a local-first claim?

1. Switch the network off after setup. Try to make a slideshow with a local AI and your own pictures. If the tool refuses, it was not local for that step.
2. Find the files. You should be able to open the folder that holds the library and the exports.
3. Ask what it sends besides the work. For this app the answer is the license check and anonymous daily usage totals. You can switch the totals off in the app.
4. Check the key. Where is it stored, and can you revoke it at the provider?
5. Read the provider's terms for every cloud AI you connect.

What do you take on when you work locally?

• Backups. Files on one computer are only as safe as that computer. Back up the folder where the app keeps its data; the download page names the location.
• One computer at a time. A license covers one computer, Mac or Windows. You can move it by deactivating the old computer up to 3 times per 12 months.
• Speed. Local models depend on your hardware. The speed page has one Mac's timings, and Ollama on your own computer explains what changes them.
• Recovery. The app sends no copy of your library to Fyslide, so a lost machine without a backup means lost files.