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Mr Punk da Silva
Mr Punk da Silva

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Show HN: Explore the history of any GitHub repository like a code archaeologist

Developer surprisetalk recently presented Diggit.dev on Show HN, an open-source platform for interactively and chronologically visualizing the evolution of a GitHub repository.

The idea is to turn commits and branches — which often remain hidden in the background — into a navigable, visual timeline.

💬 In the creator’s own words: "It was a great excuse to play with Elm and Claude Code."

They also published design notes and behind‑the‑scenes insights revealing details about architecture and technical decisions.


✨ What Diggit.dev offers

  • Visualization of folder and file structure over time
  • Filterable timeline by branch, author, period, or directory
  • Detection of the project’s most active vs. most stable areas
  • Intuitive interface to explore changes without cloning the repository

🛠️ Real-world use cases

  • Onboarding new developers

    New team members can quickly grasp the codebase’s evolution and identify critical modules.

  • Audit and security

    Investigate when and by whom sensitive changes were introduced, without manually combing through commit logs.

  • Academic study and learning

    Perfect for students and researchers wanting to observe development patterns in open‑source projects.

  • Project maturity analysis

    Determine whether a module is under constant change (higher risk) or stable (production‑ready).

  • Historical reviews in open-source communities

    Contributors can map architectural decisions and how they evolved over time.


📌 Read more and join the original Show HN discussion: https://cynews.vercel.app/show/45012776

💻 Source code and contributions: Diggit GitHub repository

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