What this is
A local-first timeline. Events live in the browser. Google Sheets is an optional backup you can open and edit like a normal spreadsheet.
Dates
Everything is YYYY-MM-DD (ISO). Display uses the same order with slashes: 2008/09/15. There is no US MM/DD/YYYY picker — those native date widgets follow the OS locale and are the reason dates looked wrong. BCE years use a leading minus, e.g. -0753-04-21.
Built-in timelines
Use the dropdown (top left): Glubb’s empire lifecycle, financial crises, human-rights documents, and major inventions. Edits to built-in sets are saved in this browser. + New starts a blank timeline.
Google Sheets
- Sign in with Google.
- Click Connect Sheet — create a new spreadsheet (seeded with the built-in tabs) or paste an existing spreadsheet URL/ID.
- Open Sheet jumps straight to that file in Google Sheets (new tab).
- Sync pulls rows down; Push writes the current timeline up. Each timeline is a tab.
If Open Sheet does nothing, you do not have a spreadsheet ID yet — connect one first. The OAuth client must allow this site’s origin (GitHub Pages URL or http://localhost).
Events
+ (bottom right) adds an event. Click a marker for the detail panel; hover for a card. Edit/delete from the card or panel. Tags like #crisis #banking draw connection lines when you turn Connections on.
Import / export
CSV columns: id, version, event_name, date_start, date_end, description, sources, image_url, emoji, category, tags, importance. Drag a .csv onto the page to import.
Slideshow
Walks events in date order, filling the detail panel. Space pauses, arrows skip, Esc stops. If it ever sticks, hit ■ or Esc — timers are cleared on stop.