Published text

Structured research records

1. automerge · ink-switch-quests · 2017– (approximate)

   Original location · source-454d7acb83554fe6e317 · source-9fc5f89a7ff2848d1f82 · source-594b4508f49b6ec685b1 · source-4494c45c78aad2afe009 · source-dc7ba91e628fe9eeabb4

   Original structured fields

   {
     "dates": "2017–",
     "detail": "the library the lab spun out of cambridge research: a json-shaped crdt for local-first apps. rust core under a js/wasm api; 2.0 in 2023-01 after the ground-up rewrite; orion henry's columnar 3.0 in 2025-07. funded by nlnet/ngi zero core plus enterprise sponsors fly.io, prisma, and bowtie — and through kleppmann's patreon supporters. the record's largest number: moby dick costing 700mb in v2, 1.3mb in v3.",
     "id": "qst-automerge",
     "owner": "lab",
     "sourceIds": [
       "src-ci-automerge-2",
       "src-ci-automerge-3",
       "src-hp-dispatch-011",
       "src-hp-github-automerge",
       "src-hp-dispatch-016"
     ],
     "status": "active",
     "title": "automerge",
     "url": "https://automerge.org/"
   }

2. patchwork · ink-switch-quests · 2024– (approximate)

   Original location · source-d1d40940582ec716b50c · source-fb26645b89502c0d0e86 · source-e8d60a6a81e473bbe5b5 · source-3a712d070171ca34b7eb · source-4d86b97a9ab0a2e01b48

   Original structured fields

   {
     "dates": "2024–",
     "detail": "'project 030': the universal version control track — collaboration-as-primitive software where every change is inspectable, every app a user-modifiable shape. the public notebook opened 2024-02; tenfold itself was built inside patchwork. the aria sgai programme requires open-sourcing it; its descendant gaios is the malleable platform for that work.",
     "id": "qst-patchwork",
     "owner": "lab",
     "sourceIds": [
       "src-hp-patchwork-project",
       "src-hp-patchwork-notebook",
       "src-hp-dispatch-013",
       "src-hp-dispatch-014",
       "src-hp-tenfold-story"
     ],
     "status": "active",
     "title": "patchwork",
     "url": "https://www.inkandswitch.com/project/patchwork/"
   }

3. keyhive · ink-switch-quests · 2024– (approximate)

   Original location · source-cd61ee668d44c74c685b · source-594b4508f49b6ec685b1 · source-c4d50e00ae19b1952f89

   Original structured fields

   {
     "dates": "2024–",
     "detail": "'project 035': access control for local-first apps — beekem keyhive, brooklyn zelenka leading, with john mumm and alex good. beekeb the c-based version; beelay the standalone sync service for the automerge ecosystem. the notebook opened 2024-08; keyhive was open-sourced in 2025.",
     "id": "qst-keyhive",
     "owner": "lab",
     "sourceIds": [
       "src-hp-keyhive-project",
       "src-hp-dispatch-011",
       "src-ci-dispatch-012"
     ],
     "status": "active",
     "title": "keyhive",
     "url": "https://www.inkandswitch.com/project/keyhive/"
   }

4. backstitch · ink-switch-quests · 2024– (approximate)

   Original location · source-3a712d070171ca34b7eb · source-dd42513ca38c3e30d695 · source-b9598cde9a27a6cc54cb

   Original structured fields

   {
     "dates": "2024–",
     "detail": "formerly 'beckett': version control and collaboration for students learning godot — a git-like workflow inside the engine, funded by the endless os foundation, built by sonnentag, zatkovich, and duncan. first lab note 2025-11; a godotcon talk in 2026-04 drew 'a euphoric response' per dispatch 018.",
     "id": "qst-backstitch",
     "owner": "lab",
     "sourceIds": [
       "src-hp-dispatch-014",
       "src-hp-dispatch-018",
       "src-hp-endless-backstitch"
     ],
     "status": "active",
     "title": "backstitch",
     "url": null
   }

5. gaios / coln · ink-switch-quests · 2025– (approximate)

   Original location · source-3a712d070171ca34b7eb · source-e8d60a6a81e473bbe5b5 · source-48a425782359f94cbf47 · source-dd42513ca38c3e30d695

   Original structured fields

   {
     "dates": "2025–",
     "detail": "the gaios project — 'guardian ai os' — announced in dispatch 014: a malleable, collaborative platform derived from patchwork, built for the uk aria safeguarded ai programme (~2.5 years, joined 2025-09). coln, leo stewen's local-first proof-checking database, joins it in 2026.",
     "id": "qst-gaios",
     "owner": "lab",
     "sourceIds": [
       "src-hp-dispatch-014",
       "src-hp-dispatch-013",
       "src-hp-aria-sgai",
       "src-hp-dispatch-018"
     ],
     "status": "active",
     "title": "gaios / coln",
     "url": "https://www.aria.org.uk/programme/safeguarded-ai/"
   }

6. the programmable ink line · ink-switch-quests · 2022– (approximate)

   Original location · source-53421ae3235c57c1adbd · source-b75ec6a21ea89445467b · source-5111e04b286c65ef95f2 · source-594b4508f49b6ec685b1 · source-1df0b9d7a46483c16b4b · source-236a4034118210e040f1

   Original structured fields

   {
     "dates": "2022–",
     "detail": "the programmable ink track's through-line: crosscut (2022-03, drawing dynamic models) → inkbase (2022-11, the 675-point manifesto) → untangle (2023-01, smt-solver sketch constraints) → sketchy calendar (2025-05) → playbook (2026, with lindenbaum, warth, reese; the live 2025 papers came out of it). the question — what if sketches were programmable like spreadsheets? — is still open.",
     "id": "qst-programmable-ink",
     "owner": "lab",
     "sourceIds": [
       "src-hp-crosscut-essay",
       "src-hp-inkbase-essay",
       "src-hp-untangle-essay",
       "src-hp-dispatch-011",
       "src-hp-playbook-project",
       "src-ci-hn-inkbase"
     ],
     "status": "continuing",
     "title": "the programmable ink line",
     "url": "https://www.inkandswitch.com/inkbase/"
   }

7. malleable software · ink-switch-quests · 2022– (approximate)

   Original location · source-4a9951575c2fb56ea9dd · source-ac11f8663b674001b872 · source-7e8877800a7e9de7bbd4 · source-c9f1d2b7bc8b0652b69e · source-fde9053a920177dd1ef9

   Original structured fields

   {
     "dates": "2022–",
     "detail": "the malleable software track: potluck (2022) and embark (2023) as prototypes, litt's age-of-llms bridge essay (2023-03), and the flagship 'malleable software' essay (2025-06) — 'restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps.' its lead researcher departed for notion four months after publication.",
     "id": "qst-malleable",
     "owner": "lab",
     "sourceIds": [
       "src-ci-malleable-essay",
       "src-ci-geoffrey-malleable-llm",
       "src-hp-potluck-essay",
       "src-hp-embark-essay",
       "src-ci-geoffrey-job"
     ],
     "status": "continuing",
     "title": "malleable software",
     "url": "https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/malleable-software"
   }

8. the sync stack · ink-switch-quests · 2025– (approximate)

   Original location · source-594b4508f49b6ec685b1 · source-556f459e91737d71b122 · source-cd61ee668d44c74c685b · source-dd42513ca38c3e30d695 · source-a9957ed93ef03f441c64

   Original structured fields

   {
     "dates": "2025–",
     "detail": "the infra layer the lab keeps open-sourcing: the automerge-repo networking wrapper (2.0 in 2025-05); subduction, the deterministic-chunking sync engine inside gaios; beelay; and livelymerge — dan ingalls and alex warth building 'a smalltalk / lively kernel-like system that rides on top of automerge.'",
     "id": "qst-infra",
     "owner": "lab",
     "sourceIds": [
       "src-hp-dispatch-011",
       "src-hp-github-subduction",
       "src-hp-keyhive-project",
       "src-hp-dispatch-018",
       "src-ci-automerge-blog-index"
     ],
     "status": "continuing",
     "title": "the sync stack",
     "url": null
   }

9. the early prototypes · ink-switch-quests · 2018–2020 (approximate)

   Original location · source-1c363901354f9efb9a42 · source-6619d3f3deeb1e96afb1 · source-e098d054ae18dcb58098 · source-60c4b80f452a7e95f76e · source-1f0e4a8b2c0b4bf51e16

   Original structured fields

   {
     "dates": "2018–2020",
     "detail": "the early prototypes that produced the papers and then stopped by design: pixelpusher (2018, the react/automerge collab demo), livebook and trellis (the 2018 homepage's first links), capstone (2018, the tablet for thinking — source open on github), and pushpin (2020, 'production-quality p2p,' internally used, then archived 'for posterity' as the dat/hypermerge ecosystem died under it — maintenance handed to community developers).",
     "id": "qst-early-prototypes",
     "owner": "lab",
     "sourceIds": [
       "src-hp-pixelpusher-essay",
       "src-hp-homepage-2018-archive",
       "src-ci-capstone-repo",
       "src-hp-pushpin-essay",
       "src-ci-pushpin-repo"
     ],
     "status": "ended",
     "title": "the early prototypes",
     "url": null
   }

10. the dispatch · ink-switch-quests · 2023– (approximate)

    Original location · source-b51976b96cc5fba1179f · source-025bd5006c4af8673f78 · source-dd42513ca38c3e30d695

    Original structured fields

    {
      "dates": "2023–",
      "detail": "the dispatch — the lab's own chronicle, issues 001–018 from 2023-11 to 2026-06, each carrying project news, staff changes, and event calendars. the primary source for roughly half the timeline events in this dossier.",
      "id": "qst-dispatch",
      "owner": "lab",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-ci-dispatch-archive",
        "src-hp-dispatch-001",
        "src-hp-dispatch-018"
      ],
      "status": "active",
      "title": "the dispatch",
      "url": "https://www.inkandswitch.com/newsletter/"
    }

11. muse / allume · ink-switch-quests · 2019– (approximate)

    Original location · source-7e868d9375ebdd73a0ca · source-20a4ac8a2eed7c629dd4 · source-6b5c29042ede0d8e5f28 · source-9ba2053a976f74c73d99 · source-684757551dfd6e49a6f6

    Original structured fields

    {
      "dates": "2019–",
      "detail": "the only consumer spinout: the muse team created muse software, inc. in summer 2019, taking the lab's ip for a stake. $2m raised (wiggins' self-report), tens of thousands of active users — and in 2023-08/09, 'the end of an era': wiggins and most of the team departed, adam wulf carried on solo, and muse continues today as allume. the phrase was muse's, never the lab's.",
      "id": "qst-muse",
      "owner": "wiggins",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-hp-adamwiggins-muse-retro",
        "src-hp-metamuse-83",
        "src-hp-vuink-muse-letter",
        "src-hp-webpronews-muse",
        "src-hp-muse-essay"
      ],
      "status": "handed-off",
      "title": "muse / allume",
      "url": "https://museapp.com/"
    }

12. the residency projects · ink-switch-quests · 2023– (approximate)

    Original location · source-e65d8e87fb0ddce73616 · source-025bd5006c4af8673f78 · source-537fb4cb12e9bdfad5d8 · source-dd42513ca38c3e30d695 · source-d59ade48cfdbb6c8cbcb

    Original structured fields

    {
      "dates": "2023–",
      "detail": "the researcher-in-residence artifacts: obenauer's ollos and workbench (itemized-os essays), mary rose cook's lude (chess-puzzle gpt, 2023-11), elliott evans and josh horowitz's droste's lair (recursive-card writing space, 2024-12), june gardner's nova, mimi reyburn's residency → staff, derek yen's beekem formalization, and wiggins' own firehose (a personal triage algorithm for the message stream, 2026).",
      "id": "qst-residencies",
      "owner": "residents",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-hp-obenauer-ollos",
        "src-hp-dispatch-001",
        "src-hp-dispatch-008",
        "src-hp-dispatch-018",
        "src-hp-dispatch-017"
      ],
      "status": "continuing",
      "title": "the residency projects",
      "url": null
    }

13. local-first conf and the unconferences · ink-switch-quests · 2024– (approximate)

    Original location · source-28e978145a4c8bf5ec1e · source-eb789c9f22c89ee227a7 · source-094acc52ae8004773095 · source-d59ade48cfdbb6c8cbcb · source-6053c16998dfbccebefa · source-21c7c763d68e2fb3ec38

    Original structured fields

    {
      "dates": "2024–",
      "detail": "the community's conference, not the lab's — local-first conf 2024 ('the world's first,' berlin, co-organized by lab-adjacent people including wiggins) and lfc 2026 (festsaal kreuzberg, 2026-07-12→14) with an ink & switch 'lab day' on patchwork, playbook, and automerge. the lab's own public gathering form is the unconference: st. louis 2023-09 beside the last strange loop, lisbon 2023-10 with fission and dxos (~100 friends), la 2024-10 at the preserve.",
      "id": "qst-convenings",
      "owner": "community",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-ci-lfc-2024",
        "src-ci-lfc-2026",
        "src-hp-dispatch-003",
        "src-hp-dispatch-017",
        "src-hp-events",
        "src-hp-dispatch-002"
      ],
      "status": "continuing",
      "title": "local-first conf and the unconferences",
      "url": "https://localfirstconf.com/"
    }