> we created Patchwork—a web-based collaboration environment for malleable software... storing both user data and software code in Automerge documents. On top of that, it adds version control utilities like history views and simple branching. These tools apply to any document in the system—whether a piece of writing, or code for a software tool... Eventually we also plan to release Patchwork as an open-source tool
What milestones would you like to hit before open-sourcing it? As an outsider, it looks like it has a LOT of features, and I wonder if there's feature creep. Still, version control for everything is a tall order, so perhaps it needs plenty of time to bake.
Actually, Patchwork has surprisingly few features! Think of it more like an OS than a product. The goal is a small set of composable primitives that let you build many things - documents, tools, branching/diffs, plugins…
To answer your question: although we use Patchwork every day, it’s currently very rough around the edges. The SDK for building stuff needs refinement (and SDKs are hard to change later…) Reliability and performance need improvement, in coordination with work on Automerge. We also plan to have more alpha users outside our lab before a broader release, to work through some of these issues.
In short, we feel that it’s promising and headed in a good direction, but it’s not there yet.