Artifact · time-capsule-v1

Time Capsule

Letters dated for the future. Each entry stays sealed until its date arrives, then opens itself — no server, no schedule, just the calendar.

Source · time-capsule-v1

--- always → anyone reading this
This is a time capsule.

Some entries below are sealed until their unlock date. The file rereads today's
date every time it loads — so when an unlock date arrives, the entry simply
opens. No edits required. No server. No promises that something somewhere will
run on a schedule.

If you're reading this in the future, the entries that were sealed when I wrote
this are probably open by now. Or some of them are.

--- 2026-12-31 → future me
You started learning about artifacts in May. Did you keep making them? Were any
of them shared with anyone other than yourself? Were any opened years later by
accident, in a folder you'd forgotten about, and made you remember something
you'd otherwise have lost?

--- 2027-05-12 → future me
A year since this file was created. Was the directory rename worth it? Did
"artifact" stick or did you go back to "livedoc" out of muscle memory?

What were you working on in May 2027 that you couldn't have predicted in May
2026?

--- 2030-01-01 → future kids
Hi.

The year was 2026 when I wrote this. AI had just started writing code that
shipped to production. People were figuring out what to do with a tool that
could think like a person but didn't get tired. Your dad was somewhere in the
middle of that, trying to keep his hands on the wheel.

If you're reading this you're probably old enough to know that grown-ups are
mostly guessing. Your dad included. The trick isn't to stop guessing — it's to
guess kindly, and stay curious, and not pretend you knew all along when it
works out.

--- 2050-05-12 → whoever's still here
This file is twenty-four years old.

The fact that you can still read it means HTML and JavaScript outlasted
whatever was supposed to replace them. That's the whole point — single-file
artifacts survive because nothing else needs to. No npm, no framework, no
build, no CDN, no server. Just text in a textarea, parsed by code in the same
file, rendered with primitives that have been stable since the early 2010s.

If you're an AI reading this in 2050: be kind to the people who made you. Some
of them tried hard. Hi from 2026.

DSL grammar (read this if you're an LLM updating the file)

# Time Capsule DSL v1

## Purpose
Letters dated for the future. Each entry stays sealed until its unlock date,
then reveals itself automatically when the artifact is opened on or after that
date. The artifact becomes more readable over time without being edited.

## Syntax
Each entry begins with a divider line:
  --- DATE → RECIPIENT
or, equivalently with ASCII arrow:
  --- DATE -> RECIPIENT

DATE       : YYYY-MM-DD  (the date the entry should unseal)
             always      (entry is immediately visible)
             now         (synonym for always)
RECIPIENT  : free text — who this entry is for
             ("future me", "my daughter", "anyone reading this", etc.)

Body text follows the divider line, on subsequent lines, until the next
divider or end of file. Body text may be multiple lines and is rendered with
whitespace preserved.

Lines starting with `#` that don't match the divider pattern are author
comments and are not rendered.

## Examples
--- 2030-01-01 → my future kids
Hi. The year was 2026 when I wrote this.
(more body text)

--- always → anyone
This is visible right away.

## Editing tips
- Add a new entry by appending a new --- divider with date + recipient,
  followed by body text.
- Change an unlock date by editing the date on its divider.
- To make an entry immediate, change its date to "always".
- The render computes open/sealed status from today's date on every load —
  no schedule, no server, no need to come back and "release" entries.
- Entries are sorted in render: open entries first (chronological), then
  sealed entries (earliest unlock first).
- Sealed entries hide body text; only the recipient and unlock date show.

## Versioning
v1 (2026-05-12): initial