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

  1. 1
  2. 2
    Architecting web apps to “just work” offline
    4 people · 11 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
  3. 3
    How to design delightful dark themes
    3 people · 7 points · first shared 2019 · discussion on HN
  4. 4
    Superhuman: Read Statuses
    2 people · 169 points · first shared 2019 · 119 comments on HN
  5. 5
    Building reliable apps on unreliable networks
    2 people · 7 points · first shared 2017 · discussion on HN
  6. 6
    How You Can Architect Delightful (Client-Side) Search
    2 people · 7 points · first shared 2017 · discussion on HN
  7. 7
    The most productive way to brainstorm
    2 people · 5 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
  8. 8
    How to build a remarkable command palette
    2 people · 4 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
  9. 9
  10. 10
    The "five whys" productivity technique
    1 people · 303 points · first shared 2021 · 162 comments on HN
  11. 11
    Performance metrics for web apps
    1 people · 200 points · first shared 2019 · 22 comments on HN
  12. 12
    Advanced Memory Debugging in Closed Source Libraries
    1 people · 11 points · first shared 2018 · 1 comments on HN
  13. 13
    Overthinking Kills Your Happiness
    1 people · 4 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
  14. 14
  15. 15
    How to stop missing important emails and get things done
    1 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…

Keyboard shortcuts

/Search
j kNext / previous blog
EnterOpen selected blog
vVisit the blog site
fFollow / unfollow
lSwitch grid / list view
dSwitch dark mode
g hHome
g pTop posts
g tTopics
g fFollowing
g lLiked
g yHistory
g qFAQ
EscBack / close