Your Git History Is a Story. I Wrote the Algorithm That Finds It.

Description and use

Commit Canvas generates a single, self‑contained HTML file (~160 KB) that tells the story of a repository’s commit history with chapters and a scrubbable timeline, all produced locally without external processing.

Problem

Git history is presented as a raw commit graph without narrative, making it difficult for users to understand the story of their repository.

Outcome

Commit Canvas produces a portable, offline HTML file (~160 KB) that summarizes a repository’s commit history as a narrative with defined chapters, enabling users to share or archive the story without external dependencies.

Workflow

• Clone the Commit Canvas repository
• Run ./run.sh with the path to the target repository and optional theme and open parameters
• The script executes git log and git for-each-ref, processes the data in Python, and outputs a single HTML file containing the story
• Optionally, use the web version by pasting a public GitHub URL to generate the story in the browser

Evidence

Commit Canvas reads a git repository and generates one thing: a single, self-contained HTML file.

Source

The entire analysis runs on two subprocesses. One git log call with a custom delimiter-separated format and one git for-each-ref for release dates; everything after that is pure Python.

Source

The output is one file — roughly 160 KB. Email it. Commit it to the repo. Put it on a USB stick. Open it offline in ten years. There is nothing left to fetch.

Source

There is also a web version — paste a public GitHub URL and the same engine runs entirely in your browser tab.

Source

The honesty constraint is the design law the whole engine sits under: never claim more than the data shows.

Source