Ink and Switch

What Ink and Switch does

Ink & Switch is an independent research lab founded circa 2015 in Miami, Florida, with 1–10 employees, that explores the future of "tools for thought" across four research themes: local-first software, malleable software, programmable ink, and universal version control. Its core technology is the Automerge CRDT (conflict-free replicated data type) library, which underpins a portfolio of open-source tools including Muse (visual workspace), Patchwork (local-first malleable environment), PlayBook (paper-like notebook), Keyhive (capabilities-based access control with end-to-end encryption), Backstitch (version control plugin for the Godot game engine), Ambsheets (scenario-exploring spreadsheets), Subduction (alternative CRDT sync protocol), and GAIOS (collaborative modeling platform derived from Patchwork). All research outputs and software are released as open source under MIT/Apache-2.0 licenses; there is no commercial product, pricing model, or paid tier.

The lab has no disclosed revenue and operates on grants, sponsorships, and commissioned development. Its largest institutional relationship is the UK Government–funded ARIA Safeguarded AI Programme (joined September 2025, two-and-a-half-year flagship partnership), through which it is building GAIOS. Endless Foundation funding commissions Backstitch development for Endless Access in the education vertical. Its go-to-market is community-led and event-driven: research dissemination through essays, lab notebooks, academic venues, an open-source GitHub presence, a newsletter (The Ink & Switch Dispatch), and conference presence at Local-First Conf and GodotCon. Customer segments are horizontal — primarily researchers, academics, and creative practitioners, with emerging segments in game developers using Godot and AI-safety teams within the ARIA ecosystem. The company explicitly positions itself as existing "without boundaries, without the limitations of industry or academia," with no venture capital backing disclosed.

Name

Ink and Switch

Legal name

Ink & Switch

Website

https://inkandswitch.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ink & Switch is an independent 1–10-person research lab building open-source local-first software — notably the Automerge CRDT library, Patchwork malleable environment, and GAIOS AI-safety platform — funded by grants, sponsorships, and commissioned development.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local-first collaborative software and developer tools

NAICS

Drafting Services (541340), Drafting Services (54134)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Vocabulary, Flashcards, SRS & Memorization Platforms (EDAFAOAF)

Keywords

• Local-first software
• Collaborative applications
• CRDT libraries
• Malleable software
• Version control tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Miami

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Research Grants and Funding: The lab operates on grant funding and support from organizations. Currently participating in the ARIA Safeguarded AI Programme (UK Government funded). Also received funding from Endless Foundation for Backstitch development. Individual and corporate sponsors and grants from bodies around the world support ongoing research.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Ink & Switch is an independent research lab that designs and releases open-source software for creativity and productivity. Its core offerings are production-grade, local-first collaboration tools — most notably the Automerge CRDT library — alongside a malleable software environment (Patchwork), a visual workspace (Muse), and domain-specific tools such as Backstitch for the Godot game engine and Ambsheets for scenario exploration.

Product overview

Ink & Switch is an independent research lab that has developed a portfolio of research projects that have grown into production software tools. The core offerings include Automerge (a CRDT library for building collaborative applications), Muse (a visual brainstorming workspace), and Patchwork (a local-first malleable software environment). Supporting tools include PlayBook (a paper-like notebook app), Keyhive (capabilities-based access control), Backstitch (version control for Godot), and Ambsheets (scenario-exploring spreadsheets). The company also conducts research on programmable ink, collaborative programming kernels (Livelymerge), and universal version control. Several tools are used internally in Patchwork including Chitter Chatter (AI conversation tool), Breadboard/Space-frame (interface visualization tools), and Progressions (music composition tool). The lab contributes to the ARIA Safeguarded AI Programme through the GAIOS platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Automerge: A library for building collaborative applications that automatically sync changes across devices, even offline, using conflict-free replicated data types (CRDTs)
• Muse
• Patchwork
• PlayBook
• Ambsheets
• Keyhive
• Backstitch
• Inkbase

Products and services

• Automerge A library for building collaborative applications that automatically syncs changes across devices, even offline, using conflict-free replicated data types (CRDTs). Version 3.0 dramatically reduced memory usage (over 10x). It is used by developers building local-first, offline-capable collaborative applications.
• Muse A digital workspace where users can brainstorm, organize, and connect ideas visually using a flexible canvas for notes, sketches, PDFs, and other media.
• Patchwork A collaborative, version-controlled, local-first, malleable software system used as the primary environment for lab documents and prototypes, weaving together research themes into dynamic environments for creative work.
• PlayBook A web app designed to feel like paper and pencil for sketching and writing, with dynamic behavior built from composable pieces that can be reshaped and augmented by users.
• Keyhive A local-first access control system with capabilities and end-to-end encryption for secure and trusted collaboration. Integrated into GAIOS for the ARIA Safeguarded AI Programme.
• Backstitch An open-source version control plugin for the Godot game engine that provides Google Docs-style real-time collaboration, visual diffs, automatic merging, and branch management without requiring terminal use. Targets game developers and indie studios facing Git merge conflicts with scene files.
• Ambsheets Spreadsheets for exploring scenarios where cells can hold multiple values simultaneously, enabling exploration of possibility spaces and better decision-making through scenario analysis.
• GAIOS A malleable, collaborative software platform derived from Patchwork for the ARIA Safeguarded AI Programme, enabling teams to unite modeling and simulation tools with interoperability and version control powered by Automerge.
• Livelymerge An experimental self-sustaining system where the entire object memory is shared simultaneously by multiple users, representing the entire state of a Lively Kernel-like system as an Automerge document.
• Inkbase Programmable ink research exploring what would be possible if hand-drawn sketches were programmable like spreadsheets.
• Subduction An alternative sync strategy for Automerge that deterministically chunks documents and streams only minimal state needed to reconcile peers, improving scalability and setting up for E2EE.
• bijou64 A fast variable-length integer encoding developed for the Subduction CRDT sync protocol, offering canonical encoding that runs 2-10x faster than LEB128.
• Chitter Chatter A Patchwork tool enabling collaborative conversations where users talk with each other and an LLM that generates code for tools in real-time, with speech-to-text transcription and AI code execution in iframes.

Quantifiable outcome

• Automerge 3.0 reduced memory usage by over 10x compared to previous versions
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability8 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Endless AccesscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 June 2026Endless Access commissioned Ink & Switch to develop Backstitch under their initiative, with funding provided by the Endless Foundation. Endless Access is testing Backstitch with students in game jams and learning programs. This is a commissioned development relationship for a specific open-source tool targeting game development education.
• ARIA Safeguarded AI ProgrammeflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2025Ink & Switch joined the ARIA Safeguarded AI Programme, a UK Government funded research programme dedicated to making AI usable in large-scale safety-critical applications. The lab is building GAIOS (derived from Patchwork) to help programme teams collaborate on modeling complex systems. Two-and-a-half year programme with significant funding.
• HASHminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFellow Creators in the ARIA Safeguarded AI Programme, known for the Block Protocol. Collaborating with Ink & Switch in the programme's sub-group focused on tools for thought.
• Future of Programming Lab (University of Michigan)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBuilding Hazel programming language under Cyrus Omar's direction at University of Michigan, fellow participants in ARIA programme subgroup.
• Topos InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorking on CatColab, fellow participants in ARIA Safeguarded AI Programme collaborating on tools for mathematical modeling and AI.
• Local-First ConfcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerInk & Switch hosts Lab Day at Local-First Conf 2026 in Berlin, featuring live demos, creative experiments, and community projects. The conference is a key venue for the local-first software community with substantial interest overlap.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Yjs: Open-source CRDT framework for building collaborative applications. Yjs is the most direct alternative to Automerge, sharing the same target developers, offline-first sync use cases, and open-source distribution model.
• Loro: A newer CRDT library focused on rich text and collaborative editing. Loro targets the same developer audience as Automerge and competes for adoption in local-first and collaborative-app stacks.
• AFFiNE: Open-source, local-first knowledge and project workspace combining docs, whiteboards, and databases. Closely comparable to Muse and Patchwork in product surface, audience (knowledge workers), and local-first philosophy.
• Anytype: P2P, local-first, encrypted workspace for notes, tasks, and wikis. Shares Ink & Switch's local-first and user-data-ownership principles and targets a similar creator/researcher audience.
• Logseq: Local-first, open-source knowledge graph and outliner. Comparable in target user (researchers, knowledge workers), local-first storage model, and emphasis on user-owned data.

Emerging players

• AppFlowy: Open-source Notion alternative with local-first capabilities. Targets the same horizontal productivity and 'tools for thought' segment that Ink & Switch's Muse and Patchwork aim at, with more productised positioning.
• Liveblocks: Developer infrastructure for collaborative apps (presence, comments, multiplayer). Competes indirectly with Automerge in the 'build collaborative software' stack, but offers a hosted commercial product instead of an open-source library.
• Replicache: Local-first sync framework for web apps. Shares the local-first developer-tooling mission and target audience with Automerge, but takes a different architectural approach.

Broad incumbents

• Figma: Mainstream visual collaboration workspace. Overlaps with Muse and Patchwork in user-facing positioning (visual canvas, real-time collaboration), but is cloud-centric and far broader in scope.
• Notion: Mainstream all-in-one workspace. Competes with Muse/Patchwork in the productivity and 'tools for thought' category, but with a fully cloud-hosted model that is philosophically opposite to Ink & Switch's local-first stance.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/inkandswitch
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ink-and-switch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ink and Switch