Files

What's kept↑ Why · Jo's notes and code are on every device, and still files Jo chooses which folders follow her, sees at a glance which are on every device, and a laptop full of builds doesn't fill the phone.

Nothing is kept until you say so. A machine's files are reachable from your devices as they are, live, while it's online; a folder you keep follows you to every device that holds it.

Opening a file is live, kept or not

Everyone with a file open edits it together, through the machine it is on, and it is saved there; collaborating needs no step first.

Keeping a folder is one choice, made on the folder

A mark beside the folder in the files pane; from then on its files sync to the devices that hold it.

Every file shows whether it's kept, and where

Kept and held here, kept but held elsewhere, on this machine only, or left out; and how many devices hold it.

What you leave out never leaves the machine

A kept folder honours its .gitignore and leaves out .git; leaving out a subfolder or a file from the pane writes the rule to the folder's own ignore file, which travels with it.

Un-keeping deletes nothing

The folder stops syncing; every device that held it keeps its copy as an ordinary folder.

Your kept files, whichever device holds them

The files pane shows two places: one machine's files as they are on it, and your kept folders, openable while any device holding them is online.

Each device holds what it chooses: all, some, or nothing

A phone can hold only notes, a laptop everything, a borrowed browser nothing. A device holding nothing still opens kept files from a holder, and keeps no copy once they're closed.

A kept folder lives where each machine puts it

~/Documents/notes on one machine and ~/notes on another are one kept folder; choosing where is part of holding it.

A folder only one device holds says it isn't backed up

Until a second device holds it, losing that device loses the folder, and the pane says so beside it.

Finding your way↑ Why · Jo's notes and code are on every device, and still files Jo stars the folders she works in and gets back to them in one tap, from any of her browsers.

A starred file or folder is one tap away, on every browser of yours

A star on any file or folder puts it in a Starred list at the top of the files pane, its name above its machine and folder; a folder opens there, a file opens. Where you are reads as crumbs back to the machine, each one a way up, and the folder you're in carries its own star. A star on a machine that's away stays listed, greyed; one on something since deleted says so and offers to unstar.

A folder and its doc↑ Why · Jo's notes and code are on every device, and still files Jo's notes are plain files in folders, edited with any tool, the same on every device.

Syncing tools today either own your files or copy whole files and leave "conflicted copy" behind. Here a change becomes the few edits that make it.

Your tools save as always, and a change becomes the smallest edit

An editor never learns your.os is there.

An edit on another device lands on disk byte for byte

Edits made apart merge

A move keeps the file

Its history and anyone's edits to it follow it to the new name.

One name made on both sides keeps both files

Binary files are kept whole, the newest winning

Bytes that aren't text can't be merged, so they aren't.

Syncing settles

Nothing loops.

A restart picks up where it was

Git↑ Why · Jo's notes and code are on every device, and still files Jo's code syncs like any folder, and git still works exactly as it did.↑ Why · Priya adds what only code can do, and stops being asked for words Priya commits and reviews in git as always; nothing merges code behind git's back.

A repo is a folder like any other, and git stays exactly as it is.

A version commits to a branch without touching your files

What git did comes back as edits, and live edits stay

A pull, a checkout or a merge, while you keep typing.

A change from git that overlaps a live edit is held, never merged silently

Two edits to one line can merge into code that compiles and is wrong.

Someone else's edit to code arrives as a fork with its diff

Your own edits sync live between your devices; anyone else's, an agent's included, merges only when you've seen exactly what it changes.

A repo's history comes in with it

Its commits become changes, by their authors, with their dates and messages, and its merges stay merges.

Any old version opens in about a second

History↑ Why · Jo's notes and code are on every device, and still files Jo can go back to last Tuesday, and a phone left in a drawer for two months still syncs.

Every change for a while, then fewer checkpoints the older they get, so history doesn't grow for ever.

Every change is kept for a window, then cut exactly there

Checkpoints outside the doc, thinned

All of the last day, one a day for a month, one a week for a year.

#What's kept↑ Why · Jo's notes and code are on every device, and still files Jo chooses which folders follow her, sees at a glance which are on every device, and a laptop full of builds doesn't fill the phone.

#Opening a file is live, kept or notproof

#Keeping a folder is one choice, made on the folderproof

#Every file shows whether it's kept, and whereproof

#What you leave out never leaves the machineproof

#Un-keeping deletes nothingproof

#Your kept files, whichever device holds themproof

#Each device holds what it chooses: all, some, or nothingproof

#A kept folder lives where each machine puts itproof

#A folder only one device holds says it isn't backed upproof

#Finding your way↑ Why · Jo's notes and code are on every device, and still files Jo stars the folders she works in and gets back to them in one tap, from any of her browsers.

#A starred file or folder is one tap away, on every browser of yoursproof

#A folder and its doc↑ Why · Jo's notes and code are on every device, and still files Jo's notes are plain files in folders, edited with any tool, the same on every device.

#Your tools save as always, and a change becomes the smallest editproof

#An edit on another device lands on disk byte for byteproof

#Edits made apart mergeproof

#A move keeps the fileproof

#One name made on both sides keeps both filesproof

#Binary files are kept whole, the newest winningproof

#Syncing settlesproof

#A restart picks up where it wasproof

#A version commits to a branch without touching your filesproof

#What git did comes back as edits, and live edits stayproof

#A change from git that overlaps a live edit is held, never merged silentlyproof

#Someone else's edit to code arrives as a fork with its diffproof

#A repo's history comes in with itproof

#Any old version opens in about a secondproof

#History↑ Why · Jo's notes and code are on every device, and still files Jo can go back to last Tuesday, and a phone left in a drawer for two months still syncs.

#Every change is kept for a window, then cut exactly thereproof

#Checkpoints outside the doc, thinnedproof

#A device away longer than the window rejoins without losing editsproof