It’s quite rare for software to offer both a real local file format and also substantial cloud/SaaS behavior (ie other than syncing). Usually it’s one or the other—if the cloud has active behavior, apps are thin clients which don’t expose an accessible on-disk format (eg Notion).
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I think this is exacerbated by the insistence on focusing on collaborative editing, which *to me* adds very little, but seems to be a (perceived?) deal breaker to a lot of people. Real time conflict resolution seems to push simple local file format considerations out the window.
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Indeed, unless you go whole-hog Automerge-style. But I was surprised how complex it was to make this work for Orbit, which doesn't have this feature (and so is much simpler).