# ink & switch: history

> the lab, sourced and dated — the reconvening, the manifesto years, the prototypes, the track era, and the tenth year.

## the reconvening (2015–2017)

the three heroku co-founders reconvene to study industrial research labs — parc, bell labs, menlo park — and the lab takes shape: an llc, a github org, a website, and the first version of automerge.

- 2015 — the heroku founders reconvene: adam wiggins, james lindenbaum, and orion henry — the three heroku co-founders — reconvene after years scattered across other work. wiggins: 'somewhere around — i think it was 2015 is when we — let's say we reconvened.' they take a deep dive on the industrial research labs that shaped the industry: xerox parc, bell labs, edison's menlo park. the founding-year discrepancy is documented — directories say 2015; the lab counts 'turns ten' in 2026. (reported; sources: [adam wiggins on the 2015 reconvening + industrial-lab inspirations](https://github.com/thechangelog/transcripts/blob/master/podcast/the-changelog-514.md), [transcript of idea machines #50](https://podtail.se/podcast/idea-machines/industrial-research-with-peter-van-hardenberg-idea/), [founded 2015](https://linkedin.com/company/ink-and-switch), [tenfold](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-016/))
- 2015-08-19 — the github org appears: the inkandswitch github organization is created — the earliest artifact of the lab's existence. directories (linkedin, cb insights) also list 'founded 2015'; cb insights adds a london hq and a blueyard capital 'unattributed vc' entry that no lab source confirms. (reported; sources: [lab github org (created 2015-08-19)](https://github.com/inkandswitch), [founded 2015](https://linkedin.com/company/ink-and-switch), [founded 2015](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/ink-switch))
- 2017-04 — the json crdt paper: martin kleppmann and alastair beresford publish 'a conflict-free replicated json datatype' in ieee transactions on parallel and distributed systems — the cambridge research automerge is built on. kleppmann is a collaborator and co-author, never an employee. (confirmed; sources: [kleppmann & beresford json crdt paper (ieee tpds)](https://martin.kleppmann.com/2017/04/24/json-crdt.html), [github](https://github.com/pboyer/automerge))
- 2017-05-27 — inkandswitch.com exists: the earliest wayback capture of inkandswitch.com — the lab is publicly addressable by mid-2017 even though the earliest surviving full homepage is march 2018. (confirmed; sources: [earliest full homepage capture](https://web.archive.org/web/20180330141150/https://inkandswitch.com/))
- 2017 — automerge created: automerge is created by kleppmann together with orion henry, peter van hardenberg, roshan choxi, and adam wiggins. the original repository carries the line 'copyright 2017, ink & switch llc, and university of cambridge' — direct evidence the lab operated as an llc by 2017. (confirmed; sources: [github](https://github.com/pboyer/automerge), [kleppmann & beresford json crdt paper (ieee tpds)](https://martin.kleppmann.com/2017/04/24/json-crdt.html), [original js repo](https://github.com/automerge/automerge-classic))

## the manifesto years (2018–2019)

the early lab publishes its program in public — pixelpusher, slow software, capstone, end-user programming — then the two essays that defined it: local-first software and muse.

- 2018-02-01 — pixelpusher: the pixelpusher essay — real-time peer-to-peer collaboration with react, an early automerge-based prototype written by van hardenberg. the lab's research-in-public pattern starts here. (confirmed; sources: [earliest crdt-prototype essay (pvh)](https://www.inkandswitch.com/pixelpusher/), [rss feed](https://www.inkandswitch.com/index.xml))
- 2018-02 — mcgranaghan joins as pi: mark mcgranaghan joins as principal investigator (linkedin-reported tenure through 2019-06); van hardenberg is already active — the supporters page later counts '8 years of support' for him as of ~2026. (reported; sources: [pi 2018-02→2019-06](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmcgrana), [individual + organizational supporters](https://www.inkandswitch.com/supporters/))
- 2018-03-30 — 'privately-funded industrial research lab': the earliest full homepage capture reads: 'we are a privately-funded industrial research lab working on computing for creators' — linking livebook, trellis, and the pixelpusher essay. the private funding is the founders' own. (confirmed; sources: [earliest full homepage capture](https://web.archive.org/web/20180330141150/https://inkandswitch.com/), [individual + organizational supporters](https://www.inkandswitch.com/supporters/))
- 2018-11-01 — slow software: 'slow software' — mcgranaghan and wiggins on why software feels slow and what latency does to thought — plus the tablet platform showdown. the latency essay becomes the lab's first big hacker news artifact (438 points). (confirmed; sources: [latency opinion piece](https://www.inkandswitch.com/slow-software/), [tablet platform comparison](https://www.inkandswitch.com/tablet-platform-showdown/), [slow software: 438 pts, 260 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18506170))
- 2018-12-11 — capstone: a tablet for thinking: capstone — 'a tablet for thinking': mixed-media cards and freeform inking on an infinite canvas. the source later lands on github; the project is discontinued by design, a research artifact rather than a product. (confirmed; sources: [tablet-for-thinking project](https://www.inkandswitch.com/capstone/), [capstone credits list](https://github.com/inkandswitch/capstone))
- 2019-03-01 — the end-user programming essay: the end-user programming essay reaches 'back forty years' — the memex-to-dynabook canon — to ask why empowering users to shape their own tools has stayed so hard. the question never leaves the lab. (confirmed; sources: [end-user programming essay](https://www.inkandswitch.com/end-user-programming/), [end-user programming essay: 105 pts](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19469912))
- 2019-04-01 — the local-first essay: 'local-first software: you own your data, in spite of the cloud' — kleppmann, wiggins, van hardenberg, mcgranaghan. seven ideals (fast, multi-device, offline, collaborative, longevity, privacy, user control); crdts positioned as 'a foundation for a new generation of software.' presented at onward! '19 that october; 137 semantic scholar citations by 2026-09. (confirmed; sources: [landmark essay](https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/local-first/), [onward! 19 paper pdf](https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/static/local-first.pdf), [onward! talk slot, athens, templars room](https://2019.splashcon.org/details/splash-2019-Onward-Essays/1/Local-first-software-You-own-your-data-in-spite-of-the-cloud), [semantic scholar record](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1d0823ecb126bea91ade3631176c54fcefc5bb4b))
- 2019-04-04 — the muse essay: 'muse: designing a studio for ideas' — mcgranaghan, keskin, wiggins, roggatz. a physical-workspace-inspired ipad tool for thinking; the prototype that becomes the spinout. (confirmed; sources: [muse design essay + authors](https://www.inkandswitch.com/muse/), [muse essay: 137 pts](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19816189))
- 2019 — muse spins out: in the summer the muse team creates muse software, inc.; ink & switch contributes the existing ip in exchange for a stake. mcgranaghan's principal-investigator tenure ends the same season. it is the lab's only consumer spinout. (confirmed; sources: [muse history: $2m, seven-person team, fall-2023 departure](https://adamwiggins.com/muse-retrospective/), [pi 2018-02→2019-06](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmcgrana))

## the prototype years (2020–2023)

pushpin, cambria, backchannel, peritext, crosscut, potluck, inkbase, untangle, upwelling — a run of research prototypes, automerge's production rewrite, and the muse restructuring that was never the lab's.

- 2020-04-14 — pushpin: pushpin — 'towards production-quality peer-to-peer collaboration,' the most developed early prototype, with real internal usage documented in the essay. the stack underneath (automerge + dat → hypermerge) later becomes a dead end; the repo is archived 'for posterity' and handed to community developers. (confirmed; sources: [production-grade p2p collaboration prototype](https://www.inkandswitch.com/pushpin/), [archived for posterity](https://github.com/inkandswitch/pushpin))
- 2020-10-06 — cambria: cambria — bidirectional lenses for schema change in distributed software. the essay argues data should translate between shapes so documents outlive their schemas; the lenses never reach production. (confirmed; sources: [bidirectional lenses for schema change](https://www.inkandswitch.com/cambria/), [cambria lenses: 101 pts](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24699615))
- 2020-10 — pvh becomes lab director: peter van hardenberg becomes lab director (linkedin dates the role from 2020-10; the supporters page and later interviews confirm the title). wiggins has shifted to the muse spinout; no public announcement of the handover itself exists. (reported; sources: [lab director/ceo from 2020-10 (self-reported)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/petervanhardenberg), [individual + organizational supporters](https://www.inkandswitch.com/supporters/), [transcript of idea machines #50](https://podtail.se/podcast/idea-machines/industrial-research-with-peter-van-hardenberg-idea/))
- 2021-09-01 — backchannel: backchannel — relationship-based digital identity, where trust comes through introductions rather than platform accounts. predecessor work to the later keyhive track. (confirmed; sources: [relationship-based digital identity](https://www.inkandswitch.com/backchannel/))
- 2021-10 — goethals joins: marcel goethals joins as a researcher on what becomes the programmable ink track — inkling, sketchy calendar, and playbook all carry his name. (reported; sources: [researcher 2021-10→present](https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-goethals-250a827b), [researcher at ink & switch… programmable ink](https://marcelgoethals.com/))
- 2021-11-23 — peritext and the notion partnership: peritext — a crdt for rich-text collaboration. the supporters page later identifies it as the output of the notion research partnership; ivan zhao's quote attests the collaboration. (confirmed; sources: [rich-text crdt](https://www.inkandswitch.com/peritext/), [individual + organizational supporters](https://www.inkandswitch.com/supporters/))
- 2022-03-29 — crosscut: crosscut — drawing dynamic models: pen-and-paper directness with software dynamism. the programmable ink track's first essay. (confirmed; sources: [drawing dynamic models](https://www.inkandswitch.com/crosscut/))
- 2022-06 — the berlin unconference: the lab gathers for the berlin unconference alongside ecoop22's programming local-first software workshop; a buchstabenmuseum visit seeds the letterforms that become tenfold four years later. (confirmed; sources: [unconference history 2022–2024](https://www.inkandswitch.com/events/), [10th-anniversary origin story by todd matthews](https://www.inkandswitch.com/project/tenfold/story/))
- 2022-10-31 — potluck: potluck — 'dynamic documents as personal software' (litt, schoening, shen, sonnentag): text notes enriched gradually into apps via live searches, computations, and dynamic annotations. presented at splash 2022. (confirmed; sources: [dynamic documents as personal software](https://www.inkandswitch.com/potluck/), [paul shen splash 2022 profile (potluck)](https://2022.splashcon.org/profile/paulshen), [potluck: 201 pts](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33423706))
- 2022-11-20 — inkbase: programmable ink: inkbase — 'what would be possible if hand-drawn sketches were programmable like spreadsheets?' the programmable ink manifesto becomes the lab's second-biggest artifact on hacker news (675 points). (confirmed; sources: [programmable ink essay](https://www.inkandswitch.com/inkbase/), [inkbase/programmable ink: 675 pts, 83 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33799512))
- 2023-01 — automerge 2.0: automerge 2.0 — 'our first supported release resulting from a ground-up rewrite': a rust core with wasm/js bindings, and alex good brought on full-time for support, docs, and release management. sponsors: fly.io, prisma, bowtie, plus patreon supporters of kleppmann. the library turns from research code into sponsored open-source infrastructure. (confirmed; sources: [first supported release… ground-up rewrite](https://automerge.org/blog/automerge-2/), [automerge 2](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34586433))
- 2023-01 — litt joins; untangle: geoffrey litt joins the staff as senior researcher after years as an outside collaborator (cambria, peritext, potluck) — he goes on to lead the malleable software track. the same month: untangle, pen-based fuzzy-constraint solving with an smt solver. (reported; sources: [senior researcher 2023-01→2025-09](https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreylitt), [fuzzy constraints + smt solver essay](https://www.inkandswitch.com/untangle/))
- 2023-03-08 — upwelling: upwelling — real-time collaboration plus version control for writers, with 'creative privacy' while every change is still accounted for. the precursor of the patchwork track. (confirmed; sources: [real-time collab + version control for writers](https://www.inkandswitch.com/upwelling/), [upwelling: 37 pts](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35085105))
- 2023-09 — muse's 'end of an era' — not the lab's: metamuse episode 83, 'end and beginning,' is billed as 'the end of an era for muse': wiggins and most of the team depart, and adam wulf continues muse as a solo entrepreneur. the phrase belongs to the product, not the lab — no ink & switch wind-down exists in the record. (confirmed; sources: [end of an era for muse](https://museapp.com/podcast/transcripts/83-end-and-beginning/), [mirror of an end, and a beginning muse letter](https://vuink.com/post/zhfrncc-d-dpbz/end-and-beginning), [press coverage of muse team departure](https://www.webpronews.com/muse-softwares-entire-team-save-one-is-departing-the-company/))

## the track era (2023–2025)

the lab formalizes: the dispatch, three named research tracks, patchwork and keyhive notebooks, the first local-first conf, a public supporters page, and the malleable software essay.

- 2023-10 — the unconference season: two unconferences in one season: st. louis alongside the final strange loop in september, then lisbon after splash 2023 with ~100 friends of the lab, co-hosted with fission and dxos. (confirmed; sources: [unconference history 2022–2024](https://www.inkandswitch.com/events/), [lisbon unconf w/ fission + dxos](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-002/))
- 2023-11-21 — dispatch launches; embark: the dispatch launches ('on embark and lude') and the embark essay publishes the same week — dynamic documents for travel planning. dispatch 001 describes the lab as 'about a dozen researchers around the world' on three tracks: local-first software, programmable ink, malleable software. (confirmed; sources: [about a dozen researchers](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-001/), [dynamic documents for travel planning](https://www.inkandswitch.com/embark/))
- 2024-02 — the patchwork notebook opens: patchwork — 'project 030,' the universal version control track — begins publishing public lab notes (litt, sonnentag, schoening, van hardenberg, and wiggins back on research). alexander obenauer is active as researcher-in-residence; lu wilson joins the program. (confirmed; sources: [patchwork lab-notebook series](https://www.inkandswitch.com/patchwork/notebook/), [patchwork launch](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-003/), [project 030, 2024–2026](https://www.inkandswitch.com/project/patchwork/))
- 2024-02-10 — the hollywood model, on record: idea machines #50 publishes the van hardenberg interview — the lab's self-account: the founding trio 'wanted to do a startup,' the 'hollywood model' of project-assembled contractors, 'between sort of like eight and 15 people,' and the goal 'to sustain for 10 years, for 50 years.' (confirmed; sources: [transcript of idea machines #50](https://podtail.se/podcast/idea-machines/industrial-research-with-peter-van-hardenberg-idea/))
- 2024-05-30 — the first local-first conf: local-first conf 2024 in berlin — 'the world's first local-first conference,' co-organized by lab-adjacent people including wiggins; lab members including kleppmann, good, and wiggins attend. traction was real-world: the hn announcement drew 3 points. (confirmed; sources: [patchwork launch](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-003/), [first lfc, berlin](https://www.localfirstconf.com/local-first-conf-2024), [lfc announcement: 3 pts — conference traction was offline, not hn](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39521841))
- 2024-08 — keyhive and jacquard: two new notebooks open: keyhive ('project 035' — access control for local-first apps; zelenka, mumm, good) and jacquard (versioning and provenance for empirical science papers). zelenka leads keyhive as her fission cto tenure winds down the following month. (confirmed; sources: [project 035](https://www.inkandswitch.com/project/keyhive/), [rss feed](https://www.inkandswitch.com/index.xml), [fission cofounder/cto 2019-05→2024-09](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooklynzelenka))
- 2024-10-26 — the la unconference: the los angeles unconference at 'the preserve' alongside splash; the lab visits john underkoffler and andy milburn's studio. inkling is presented at live 2024 the same season. (confirmed; sources: [unconference history 2022–2024](https://www.inkandswitch.com/events/), [directors year-end letter](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-008/), [project 029](https://www.inkandswitch.com/project/inkling/))
- 2024-12-23 — the year-end letter: dispatch 008, the year-end letter: 'a decade into our research…' — droste's lair (rir elliott evans with josh horowitz) and the first backstitch sneak preview. (confirmed; sources: [directors year-end letter](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-008/))
- 2025-02 — ambsheets: the ambsheets notebook opens — a spreadsheet for exploring scenarios and uncertainty (warth, litt, bryant; later a live 2025 paper). (confirmed; sources: [rss feed](https://www.inkandswitch.com/index.xml), [gaios intro](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-014/), [ambsheets: 178 pts](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42941143))
- 2025-05-23 — repo 2.0, the 3.0 beta, and the supporters page: dispatch 011 is a dense one: automerge repo 2.0 (may 13) and the automerge 3.0 beta — orion henry's in-memory columnar rewrite with 'memory savings of 100x in some cases'; sketchy calendar (goethals, sonnentag); an endless foundation godot-collaboration call for testers; and a rebuilt website answering 'one of our most frequently-asked questions — information about how our research is funded.' (confirmed; sources: [automerge 3](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-011/), [release timeline: 2](https://automerge.org/blog/), [individual + organizational supporters](https://www.inkandswitch.com/supporters/))
- 2025-06-05 — the malleable software essay: 'malleable software: restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps' — litt, horowitz, van hardenberg, matthews. the lab's second flagship essay: 'a software ecosystem where anyone can adapt their tools to their needs with minimal friction.' (confirmed; sources: [i&s 2025 essay](https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/malleable-software), [malleable software essay: 294 pts, 114 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44237881))
- 2025-07 — automerge 3.0: automerge 3.0 releases — the columnar rewrite in production: 'pasting moby dick into an automerge 2 document consumes 700mb of memory, in automerge 3 it only consumes 1.3mb' (vendor-reported benchmarks). 353 points on hn. (confirmed; sources: [automerge.org](https://automerge.org/blog/automerge-3/), [automerge 3](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44777086), [automerge 3](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-012/))

## the tenth year (2025–)

the tenth year — the aria safeguarded ai programme, gaios, a wave of new researchers, backstitch at godotcon, tenfold itself, and a lab day at local-first conf 2026.

- 2025-09-22 — the aria programme: dispatch 013: ink & switch joins the uk aria safeguarded ai programme — a ~2.5-year funded programme involving substantial uk-based work, which will require open-sourcing patchwork. john mumm rejoins; chee rabbits had joined weeks earlier; monthly automerge community calls begin. geoffrey litt departs for notion the same month. (confirmed; sources: [aria sgai joined](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-013/), [aria safeguarded ai programme page](https://www.aria.org.uk/opportunity-spaces/mathematics-for-safe-ai/safeguarded-ai/), [litt: in september, i left my research position at ink & switch… now work at notion](https://buttondown.com/geoffreylitt/archive/i-changed-jobs-and-other-updates/), [manifund listing for the sgai collaboration infrastructure work](https://manifund.org/projects/collaboration-infrastructure-for-safeguarding-ai))
- 2025-11-27 — gaios and the staff wave: dispatch 014 introduces gaios — a malleable, collaborative platform derived from patchwork for the aria sgai programme — and a staff wave: grjte (ex-bain capital crypto), maciek sakrejda (postgres tooling), orion reed (folkjs, tentpole). subduction, a deterministic-chunking sync engine, joins keyhive and beelay in the infra stack. (confirmed; sources: [gaios intro](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-014/), [subduction sync engine](https://github.com/inkandswitch/subduction), [project 035](https://www.inkandswitch.com/project/keyhive/))
- 2025-11 — backstitch goes public: backstitch — formerly codenamed beckett, the endless os foundation-funded version control and collaboration tool for students learning godot — publishes its first lab note; lilith duncan (ex-unity) joins and the team demos at godotfest munich. (confirmed; sources: [gaios intro](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-014/), [new staff (reyburn/yen/stewen)](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-018/), [endless access on the backstitch partnership](https://access.endlessstudios.com/blog/nobody-is-here-to-do-version-control-how-real-time-collaboration-in-godot-is-changing-the-game-design-classroom))
- 2026-04-23 — tenfold — the lab turns ten: tenfold and dispatch 016: 'ink & switch turns ten this year.' a tenth-anniversary interactive piece built inside patchwork — letters-as-tools by staff, alums, and friends; story by todd matthews; playground engineered by ivy reese. lab day at local-first conf announced. (confirmed; sources: [10th-anniversary origin story by todd matthews](https://www.inkandswitch.com/project/tenfold/story/), [tenfold](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-016/))
- 2026-04 — backstitch at godotcon: lilith duncan presents backstitch at godotcon — 'beyond git: real-time version control for godot' — to what dispatch 018 calls a 'euphoric response'; the discord fills and a shipping game is already built with it. (confirmed; sources: [new staff (reyburn/yen/stewen)](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-018/), [ten this year](https://www.inkandswitch.com/), [endless access on the backstitch partnership](https://access.endlessstudios.com/blog/nobody-is-here-to-do-version-control-how-real-time-collaboration-in-godot-is-changing-the-game-design-classroom))
- 2026-05-28 — wiggins returns for a residency: dispatch 017: patchwork progress notes; adam wiggins returns to the lab for a research residency — firehose, a personal algorithm for triaging the stream of email and messages; local-first conf 2026 announced for july 12–14 in berlin. (confirmed; sources: [patchwork notes](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-017/))
- 2026-06-30 — the 2026 staff wave: dispatch 018: mimi reyburn's residency converts to staff; rir derek yen (nyu cryptography) formalizes beekem; leo stewen joins for coln, a local-first proof-checking database for the aria work; livelymerge — dan ingalls and alex warth building 'a smalltalk / lively kernel-like system that rides on top of automerge.' (confirmed; sources: [new staff (reyburn/yen/stewen)](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-018/))
- 2026-07-12 — lab day at local-first conf 2026: local-first conf 2026 runs july 12–14 at festsaal kreuzberg, berlin, with an ink & switch 'lab day' sharing patchwork, playbook, and automerge. monthly 'this month in automerge' posts continue through at least august. (confirmed; sources: [lfc 2026, festsaal kreuzberg](https://www.localfirstconf.com/), [patchwork notes](https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/dispatch-017/), [release timeline: 2](https://automerge.org/blog/))

AI-drafted at Ben Guo's direct request and credited to Hraness; every claim links to its cataloged source.

Canonical page: https://hraness.com/ink-and-switch/history


Published by @ben in profile revision 1.
Original document: https://hraness.com/ink-and-switch/history
Original credited author: Hraness
AI-drafted at Ben Guo's direct request and credited to Hraness; every claim links to its cataloged source.

## Structured source and record data

````json
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