Superhuman Blog
blog.superhuman.com · Company blog · on HN since 2016
Superhuman's blog covers the email client's engineering and design, including offline web apps, search, command palettes and its acquisition by Grammarly.
What HN saysHN links its offline architecture and sync engine posts, and discusses its sub-100ms speed and keyboard focus as differentiators.
32HN people shared it
8linked it in comments
41stories submitted
780story points
1 year agolast shared
2016people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Superhuman is being acquired by Grammarly to build the future of work5 people · 6 points · first shared 2025 · 1 comments on HN
- 2Architecting web apps to “just work” offline4 people · 11 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 3How to design delightful dark themes3 people · 7 points · first shared 2019 · discussion on HN
- 4Superhuman: Read Statuses2 people · 169 points · first shared 2019 · 119 comments on HN
- 5Building reliable apps on unreliable networks2 people · 7 points · first shared 2017 · discussion on HN
- 6How You Can Architect Delightful (Client-Side) Search2 people · 7 points · first shared 2017 · discussion on HN
- 7The most productive way to brainstorm2 people · 5 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 8How to build a remarkable command palette2 people · 4 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 9The state of your inbox in 2021: email burnout and browsing in bed2 people · 3 points · first shared 2021 · 2 comments on HN
- 10The "five whys" productivity technique1 people · 303 points · first shared 2021 · 162 comments on HN
- 11Performance metrics for web apps1 people · 200 points · first shared 2019 · 22 comments on HN
- 12Advanced Memory Debugging in Closed Source Libraries1 people · 11 points · first shared 2018 · 1 comments on HN
- 13Overthinking Kills Your Happiness1 people · 4 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 14How to set goals that you can reach using the SMART framework1 people · 4 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 15How to stop missing important emails and get things done1 people · 4 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
rockwotj · 2025-08-18
Fun fact: this is how github adds syntax highlighting in its search bar. A while back I built the same syntax highlighting in Shortwave (an email client) using the same “view on top of a transparent input” trick. Pair it all with the following blog, for a top notch search UX
https://blog.superhuman.com/delightful-search-more-than-meets-the-eye/
maerF0x0 · 2023-06-20
> I enjoy being involved with my company...
And you're probably subconsciously aware that it's a dopamine trap[1]. Probably the greatest fallacy of our time is that just because you enjoy something equates with it's good for you (or "if it feels good do it").
I super enjoy a taco bell run at 11PM even after I've hit my TDEE. Notice how that sentence is almost identical in structure, underlying point, and absurdity, to the sentence "I enjoy checking my email at 11PM even after I've logged 8 hours that day".
[1]: https://blog.superhuman.com/how-to-stop-checking-your-email/#:~:text=Y…
cirwin · 2019-11-01
Superhuman | Fullstack Engineer | San Francisco & Vancouver | Full-time |
At Superhuman, we're rebuilding the inbox from the ground up to make it extremely fast, delightful, and intelligent — you'll feel like you have superpowers.
We're looking for Fullstack Engineers who are deeply invested in building quality software to focus on building out our flagship desktop product. You'll be working heavily on everything that makes an email client tick: Storing and searching gigabytes of data in the browser; building blazingly fast, visually gorgeous user experiences; and jumping in wherever you can make the biggest impact.
• Stack: React, Golang, Postgres, Electron, Google Cloud
• Core values: Create Delight, Be Intentional, Remarkable Quality
• Growth: 20% MoM Growth, 250k+ users on wait list
• Funding: $51M+ from Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, and the founders of Gmail, GitHub, Stripe, Reddit, Intercom, and AngelList
• Interview process:
- Phone call with one of our founding Engineers to learn more - about team and tech challenges plus technical discussion
- Onsite with Emuye Reynolds, Head of Mobile, and me (CTO)
You can apply here https://superhuman.com/roles?gh_jid=260350 or shoot me questions at [email protected]
– Conrad
PS: Check out our blog https://blog.superhuman.com/
bitpush · 2025-07-30
> Superhuman's sub-100ms rule—plus their focus on keyboard shortcuts—changed the email game in a way that no one's been able to replicate, let alone beat.
https://blog.superhuman.com/superhuman-is-being-acquired-by-grammarly/
Being fast helps, but is rarely a product.
mikek · 2024-09-23
Superhuman has a similar sync engine which is detailed here:
https://blog.superhuman.com/architecting-a-web-app-to-just-work-offlin…
milsebg · 2020-03-02
> I always assume these trackers use some hidden pixel image when sending emails - but how can they trace the exact person who opened the email?
Apparently they use a hidden pixel, i.e. a separate tracking code, for each recipient. There was a discussion about this feature in Super Human: https://blog.superhuman.com/read-statuses-bdf0cc34b6a5
kevsim · 2020-01-17
Having recently worked on adding dark mode to our service [0], we found that the technical implementation was pretty easy (generous use of CSS custom properties and prefers-color-scheme). The design work to make it look good, have proper contrast, etc. is much harder. The article the people at Superhuman wrote [1] is a really good resource for this.
[0] https://kitemaker.co
[1] https://blog.superhuman.com/how-to-design-delightful-dark-themes-7b3da…
ibash · 2016-12-23
This is similar to what I wrote about here: https://blog.superhuman.com/architecting-a-web-app-to-just-work-offlin…