The MDStack Manifesto:
Ownership by Design.
The modern cloud is a lease, not a home. Your photos, your media, your files — they sit on someone else's servers, governed by someone else's terms. MDStack exists to change that equation.
01 — The Problem
Your Data Deserves a Home, Not a Landlord.
Every mainstream cloud service operates on the same premise: your data lives on their infrastructure, under their rules. They can change pricing overnight, scan your files for advertising signals, or shut down entirely — and you have no recourse. You don't own the servers, you don't control the encryption keys, and you can't leave without friction. That isn't ownership. That's tenancy with an eviction clause.
02 — The Choice
Two Paths. One Promise.
Local-First
Self-Hosting Sanctuary.
Run MDStack on your own hardware — a NAS, a Raspberry Pi, a home server. Full local control, zero cloud dependency. Your files never leave your network unless you decide otherwise. Updates ship as packages you apply on your schedule.
Managed Cloud
Managed Private Cloud.
Not ready to self-host? We offer a managed deployment where your data is a guest, not a product. No lock-ins, ever. Export everything at any time, in standard formats. If you leave, your data leaves with you — completely and immediately.
03 — Bypassing Gatekeepers
We Don't Pay the Privacy Tax.
Big Corp App Stores demand a toll for distribution: mandatory telemetry hooks, advertising identifiers, tracking SDKs baked into every binary. The price of their shelf space is your users' privacy. We refuse that trade. MDStack apps are distributed directly — sideloaded on Android TV, installed via APK on mobile, deployed as progressive web apps. No middleman collecting analytics on your behalf. No forced consent dialogs designed to extract data. Just software that does what it says.
04 — The Pillars
What We Build On.
Zero Telemetry
No analytics, no tracking, no phone-home. Your usage patterns are yours alone.
Local-First Architecture
Data lives where you put it. Cloud is optional, never mandatory.
Professional Design
Privacy-first doesn't mean design-last. Every interface is built to a commercial standard.
Ownership by design. Privacy by default.