wikiTaTa, one window system at a time: from a single page of cards in March 2026 to the newHorizon desk in October. Every exhibit is the real app at that commit, running in your browser on the same sample cards (Ember & Oak Coffee), so you can walk from one era to the next and see what changed. Root canon: card fe07541e.
1.1.0 · One page of cards
29 Mar 2026 · superseded by 1.4.0, kept as an exhibit
- What
- A single page: a list of cards, each with a drawer of tabs (Keys, Audit trail, Archived), behind a sign-in gate. No windows.
- Why
- The first wikiTaTa in the repo (wikitata 7536735): cards as Claude's shared memory, readable by a person.
- What happened next
- Within a day, cards could leave the page and open in their own windows (1.4.0).
Walk in1.4.0 · Cards pop out into windows
30 Mar 2026 · superseded by 3.0.2, kept as an exhibit
- What
- "Pop-out cards, multi-window workspace": any card opens in a real browser window; a strip of sibling windows followed in 1.6.
- Why
- One list was not enough to work on several cards at once (wikitata 2ebed63).
- What happened next
- Windows got addresses and learned to stay in sync with each other (3.0).
Walk in3.0.2 · An address for everything
23 Apr 2026 · superseded by 3.3.41, kept as an exhibit
- What
- A router gives every view its own address; pop-out windows keep favourites in sync over a broadcast channel. Its sign-in script gate.js lived untracked on the server then; the exhibit uses the first preserved copy (wikitata e24cffe, 29 Apr 2026).
- Why
- Links and back buttons have to mean something once work is spread over windows (wikitata 7446d55).
- What happened next
- The single-file app grew until 3.3.41, its last version.
Walk in3.3.41 · The last single-file app
31 May 2026 · superseded by 3.6.33, kept as an exhibit
- What
- The final pure-HTML app.html: addresses, pop-outs, live checklists and tallies on cards.
- Why
- The end of the first architecture; it was frozen read-only after this (wikitata 621bf7f).
- What happened next
- A rebuilt app on SvelteKit took over (3.6).
Walk in3.6.33 · Delightful: the rebuilt app, page by page
2 Jun 2026 · superseded by 3.7.4, kept as an exhibit
- What
- SvelteKit pages — Search, a card page, Favorites, Now, Settings, Studio — each its own route. No canvas yet.
- Why
- A real server and router under the app, so it could grow beyond one HTML file (spine fd8dcb29).
- What happened next
- The same evening, Browserland began: cards as windows on a canvas (3.7).
Walk in3.7.4 · Browserland: the infinite canvas
2 Jun 2026 · superseded by 3.8.5, kept as an exhibit
- What
- Pop-out on every item, a strip of sibling windows, and an infinite canvas with semantic zoom where cards sit as windows.
- Why
- Todd's browser metaphor: wikiTaTa as a desk of windows rather than a set of pages (spine a8b60c3d).
- What happened next
- The canvas became the whole app (3.8).
Walk in3.8.5 · The canvas is the app
3 Jun 2026 · superseded by 4.0.0, kept as an exhibit
- What
- The front page is the desk: cards open as windows with dot controls, the desk starts empty, and the Navigator maps every window.
- Why
- Stop switching between pages and the desk; there is only the desk (spine 830530a4).
- What happened next
- One desk became several workspaces (4.0).
Walk in4.0.0 · Workspaces
6 Jun 2026 · superseded by 4.1.0, kept as an exhibit
- What
- Multi-window workspaces: each window owns its own set of cards, and a card lives in one window at a time.
- Why
- The first major version Todd approved: separate desks for separate work (spine f35583a9).
- What happened next
- The canvas was rebuilt as modules and went to production (4.1).
Walk in4.1.0 · The modular canvas
1 Jul 2026 · superseded by 4.3.0907.003, kept as an exhibit
- What
- The 5,157-line canvas replaced by modules; card window preferences, right-click menus and the Object Catalog.
- Why
- The production cutover: one canvas that could be extended without breaking (spine 0925e270).
- What happened next
- Layout engines arrived to arrange cards by project (4.2, 4.3).
Walk in4.3.0907.003 · Project wells
7 Sep 2026 · superseded by 4.4.1004.016, kept as an exhibit
- What
- Cards gather in spiral wells per project (4.2), then one central well lays out the desk for every user.
- Why
- A desk with hundreds of cards needs an arrangement, not a pile (spine d7cd381b).
- What happened next
- Rows driven by rules replaced the wells (cardAlign, 4.4).
Walk in4.4.1004.016 · cardAlign
4 Oct 2026 · superseded by 4.4.1005.050, kept as an exhibit
- What
- Cards align in rows driven by a rule set, ported from the Laundry Line model.
- Why
- Predictable placement you can reason about, instead of a layout engine's choice (spine 52ece97f).
- What happened next
- The newHorizon top band, the Laundry Line and home arrived the next day.
Walk in4.4.1005.050 · newHorizon and home
5 Oct 2026 · current
- What
- The newHorizon top band (project pills with eyes, the Laundry Line of resting cards, the Navigator under the pills) and a home house with a padlock that saves your view. The exhibit opens with the band switched on.
- Why
- Everything you need sits on one horizon line, and home always brings you back (spine 3a935dd3).
- What happens next
- Still being iterated — the next major change becomes the next exhibit.
Walk in