Does Spanbox work offline, or do I need to be online for it to open my chats?

Spanbox runs the real web apps locally, so offline behaviour matches whatever each app does in a browser offline. Recently-loaded chats and cached content are usually readable, but you can't send or receive new messages without a connection, because the underlying services (WhatsApp Web, Gmail, etc.) need to sync. 'Local-first' here means your sessions and data live on your device, not that it's a full offline client. So: open it offline and you'll see the app shells and cached history, but live messaging picks back up when you're online. It's a messaging hub, not an offline archive.

Slight nuance: 'local-first' is about privacy (your data stays on your machine), not about being a fully offline app. You still need the internet for the chat services themselves to update.