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Anchorline Documentation
Anchorline is a system for tracking things that change over time.
It is built for people who want to understand how a result came to be, not just what the result is right now. Money, collections, assets, projects, and similar systems all share this trait. They evolve through decisions, not edits.
Anchorline is designed around recording actions and deriving results from them. You do not fix outcomes by rewriting the past. You move the system forward by recording what happened next.
This makes Anchorline different from spreadsheets, lists, and traditional tracking tools. Those tools optimize for fast edits. Anchorline optimizes for clarity, traceability, and confidence.
How to use these docs
This documentation is organized to help you get productive quickly, then deepen your understanding as needed.
Prefer learning by doing? Take the interactive tutorial that walks you through all the basics hands-on. No account required.
If you prefer reading first:
- Start with What is Anchorline
- Then read How Anchorline works
- Then Create your first log
You do not need to read everything up front. Most concepts are only relevant once your system grows.
The core idea
Everything in Anchorline is built from a small set of ideas:
- Logs record related activity
- Actions move logs forward
- State is derived from what was recorded
Once these ideas click, the rest of the system becomes predictable.
Balanced logs and collection logs apply the same mechanics to different kinds of problems. Anchors, fields, units, and links add structure without changing the underlying model.
What Anchorline is good at
Anchorline works best when:
- History matters
- Changes should be explainable
- Corrections should be visible
- You want to trust the result without guessing
It is especially useful for systems that grow over time and need to stay understandable months or years later.
What Anchorline is not
Anchorline is not designed for:
- Quick, disposable edits
- Hiding mistakes
- Automatic forecasting or prediction
- Replacing every tool you already use
It favors correctness and clarity over convenience.
Where to go next
If this is your first time here, start with What is Anchorline.
If you already understand the basics, jump to the guides to see how Anchorline is applied to real problems.
The documentation follows the same philosophy as the product itself: start simple, record what matters, and let structure emerge when it is useful.