the lexicon · 19 defined
theglossary
definitions of the product terms, family-planning concepts, and technology
you’ll see across beanies.family. each entry is linkable — use
the #anchor in the URL to share a specific definition.
AES-GCM
The symmetric encryption algorithm used to encrypt the contents of the
.beanpod file. Industry-standard authenticated encryption with a 256-bit key.AES-GCM provides both confidentiality (nobody can read the file without the key) and integrity (any tampering is detected on decryption). Implemented directly via the browser's native Web Crypto API. No third-party crypto libraries are used.
#AES-KW
AES Key Wrap — a smaller companion algorithm used by beanies.family to encrypt per-member copies of the family's master encryption key. Each family member has their own key (passphrase), which both identifies the family member and unlocks your family's
.beanpod file.When you invite a new family member, beanies.family wraps the family master key with a key derived from that family member's passphrase. They unwrap it on their device. The master key itself is never exposed in plaintext across the network.
#Automerge
The specific CRDT library beanies.family uses under the hood. An open-source project originally from the University of Cambridge and Ink & Switch that provides a JSON-like data structure with automatic conflict-free merging.
Automerge is loaded into the browser as a WebAssembly module (~2.6 MB). The family pod is stored as an Automerge document in memory, cached to IndexedDB, and persisted as the
#.beanpod file.bean / beanie
The affectionate term for a family member inside the beanies.family app. Each family member has a personalized bean avatar or a user uploaded photo avatar.
Every beanie on screen is a real person (or pet) in your family. The brand philosophy is that every family member counts, including the smallest ones, and yes — even the pets. Hence the motto: 'every bean counts'.
#beanies.family
A local-first, privacy-first web app for family planning — finances, activities, goals, and shared logistics, all in a single encrypted file that lives on your device.
Built as an alternative to cloud-native family apps that harvest data. Open source (MIT), works offline, optional Google Drive sync with client-side end-to-end encryption (E2EE).
#.beanpod file
The encrypted file format that holds an entire family pod. A single
.beanpod is a portable, self-contained backup — you can email it, save it to a USB stick, or sync it to Google Drive.Internally it is an Automerge CRDT document wrapped in an AES-GCM-encrypted envelope (V4 format). Without the pod password, the contents are unreadable — not even the beanies team can decrypt it. Unencrypted, a
#.beanpod file is just a simple text file containing data in JSON format (despite the extension).the beanstalk
The name for the beanies.family blog, where greg talks about the latest news, features, and anything else he wants to talk about. You can also subscribe to receive updates in your inbox on Substack.
#CRDT
Conflict-free Replicated Data Type. A class of data structures that can be edited on multiple devices at once and reliably merged back together without conflicts — even if the edits happened offline.
CRDTs make it possible for two parents on two devices to both edit the family calendar at the same time, even when offline, and have the changes merge cleanly when they reconnect. beanies.family uses the Automerge CRDT library for its entire data layer.
#end-to-end encryption (E2EE)
Encryption where only the endpoints (you and your family) can read the data. Intermediate servers, including the service provider, see only ciphertext and cannot decrypt it. More info about E2EE is in the end-to-end encryption section of the local-first guide.
beanies.family's optional Google Drive sync is E2EE: the
#.beanpod file is encrypted with your pod password before it leaves your browser. Google stores the ciphertext, cannot read the file. No beanies server ever touches your data.family nook
The home screen of the app — a personalized, informative dashboard showing what's happening in your family today, this week, and in the near future.
Designed to be the single source of truth a family member checks first thing in the morning. Replaces the need for separate calendar, to-do, and finance apps open simultaneously.
#Google Drive sync
Optional cross-device backup for your pod. beanies.family can save the encrypted
.beanpod file to your personal Google Drive so you can load it on another device and share data with your family members.Sync is opt-in, and uses the
#drive.file OAuth scope. beanies.family can only see files it created in your Drive, and never any other files. The synced file is encrypted client-side before upload — Google sees ciphertext only. More detail in the encryption section of the local-first guide.IndexedDB
The browser's built-in local database, used by beanies.family as a temporary cache for your family's decrypted pod data, and as PWA offline support.
The cache can be deleted on sign-out, so leaving a device clears all decrypted data from that device. The authoritative copy of your pod lives in the
#.beanpod file; IndexedDB is just a performance cache.kin-keeping
The sociological term for the unpaid work of maintaining family relationships, including things like remembering to call grandma, organizing the birthday dinner, keeping track of extended-family events and milestones.
Closely related to mental load, but specifically the relational/ceremonial labor across extended family. Historically gendered work. A family-planning app that accounts for kin-keeping (not just task scheduling) meets the actual reality of raising a family more accurately than a generic calendar does.
#local-first
A software architecture where data lives on the user's device first and the cloud is optional. Local-first apps work offline, do not require an account on a remote server, and survive the company going out of business. See our local-first guide for more info.
The term local-first was popularized by the Ink & Switch essay of the same name. Local-first is a core positioning choice for beanies.family — your family data should belong to you, and does not require a server or database owned by someone else.
#mental load
The invisible cognitive labor of running a household. Includes things like remembering birthdays, tracking appointments, planning meals, knowing your kid's allergies, and more. Often concentrated in one parent, and rarely discussed explicitly. More in the overwhelmed guide.
The concept of "mental load" was popularised by Eve Rodsky's "Fair Play" and is a driver of family-planning overwhelm — see the sharing-the-load scripts in the overwhelmed guide. beanies.family's shared-pod model is designed so mental load can be externalised and redistributed. Once it's in the pod, anyone in the family can see and own it.
#pod
A family's private data unit in beanies.family. One pod holds everything one family tracks: members, finances, activities, goals, travel.
Each pod is backed by a single
#.beanpod file that the family controls. Inviting family members grants them access to the same pod. Each family gets their own, totally independent pod file.pod password
The password that encrypts your family's
.beanpod file. Without it, the pod cannot be decrypted — not by you, not by beanies, not by anyone.Given the local-first nature of the app, password recovery for a
#.beanpod file is not possible. If you lose the pod password and don't have the file cached on any device, the pod is unrecoverable. beanies.family strongly recommends writing it down somewhere safe.PWA (Progressive Web App)
A web app that can be installed on a phone, tablet, or desktop, and behaves like a native app once installed. PWAs have a home-screen icon, full-screen launch, and offline support.
beanies.family is usable in your phone's browser or installable as a PWA. Both have the same functionality. You can install the PWA via your browser's "Install app" or "Add to Home Screen" option — see the install guide for step-by-step instructions per platform.
#Web Crypto API
The browser's built-in cryptography toolkit. All encryption, decryption, key derivation, and key wrapping in beanies.family uses the native Web Crypto API rather than a third-party library.
Using the browser-native API means the cryptographic primitives are audited by browser vendors (Chromium, Firefox, Safari security teams). There is no beanies.family specific crypto code to review — the code just calls
#crypto.subtle.encrypt() and trusts the browser.