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STEP TRAIL

Your exploration, as a graph.

Step Trail records how you got to each page and where you branched. It's a visual map of your thinking, not a flat history list.

Browser history is a flat chronological list of URLs. It tells you what you visited but nothing about how you got there or why those pages belonged together. Trail records the structure of your exploration: which page led to which, where you opened a link in a new tab, where you branched, where you came back. The shape of your reasoning becomes navigable.

Every page visit creates a node. Every navigation creates an edge. Opening a link in a new tab creates a branch. Going back and clicking elsewhere creates a fork. The graph is rendered with dagre (a directed acyclic graph layout library) inside Step. Drop a checkpoint to give a node a name ("before legal review"). Jump back to any node and reopen it with the surrounding tabs intact.

Trail shines for any work that involves following a question across many pages: research, debugging, comparison shopping, learning a new topic. After a long session, the graph shows you the actual path you took, including dead ends. Days later, you can pick up exactly where your thinking diverged.

Where it shows up

Frequently asked

Is Trail per-Space or global?
Per-Space. Each Space has its own Trail. Switching Spaces switches the graph.
How far back does Trail remember?
Indefinitely, until you delete a Space or trim the Trail manually. Storage is local, so the limit is your disk space.
Can I export the Trail?
Yes. Export to JSON or DOT format for use in Graphviz, Obsidian, or any other tool. Local-first means your data is yours.
Does Trail include private windows?
No. Private windows don't write to the Trail or any persistent storage.

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