I’ve been thinking a lot about where I want to take ArteraQ next.
One thing I’ve decided is that I want to keep the desktop version open source and free. Artists, collectors, galleries, art advisors, and collection managers should be able to download it, install it on their own computer, and use it without having to pay a monthly subscription.
I also think offline use is important for something like art collection management. There can be a lot of private information in there: purchase prices, invoices, ownership records, insurance documents, photos, provenance, and other personal information. Not everyone wants to put all of that into somebody else’s cloud.
With the desktop version, the idea is that your data stays on your computer and you stay in control of it.
Another big thing I want to work on is a plugin system.
I’m one developer, and there’s no way I can build every feature that every artist, gallery, collector, or advisor might need. Different people also work in very different ways.
So instead of trying to put everything into ArteraQ itself, I want to create a plugin system where other developers can add features.
Maybe someone builds a plugin for a special report. Someone else builds an import tool for another art inventory system. There could be plugins for shipping, insurance, image tools, accounting, or some very specific gallery workflow that I would never think of myself.
That’s one of the things that makes the open source direction interesting to me. ArteraQ doesn’t always have to depend on me to decide what gets built. If someone needs something badly enough, they can build it themselves and hopefully share it with everyone else.
I’m also thinking about optional cloud sync and online access.
The idea would be that you can keep using ArteraQ locally, but if you want to access your collection from another computer or through the web, you could choose to sync it to the cloud.
That part is still very much in the planning stage. There are a lot of things to think through, especially security, privacy, backups, and keeping local and cloud data in sync.
But I like the general direction: keep the main ArteraQ app free, open source, private, and usable offline. Then offer online features for people who actually want them.
There’s still a lot to build and figure out. But I’m hoping ArteraQ can eventually become more than just another art inventory app. I’d like it to become something people can build on and make their own.
And I’m curious what people would actually want. If ArteraQ had plugins, what would you want a plugin to do?