Updated weekly · Last shipped May 2, 2026

What's new in Vela.

A running log of what we've shipped, what's in flight, and what's on the horizon. We update this every week, often more.

v1.8.0  CURRENT23  FEATURES SHIPPED5  IN FLIGHT9  PLANNED
01 · Latest release

Where we are now.

The freshest cut. v1.8.0, a quiet release focused on linking, search, and the keyboard.

Linking, but for thinking.

Cards can now reach across boards. Pair that with global search and a smarter command palette, and you can hop anywhere in your workspace without losing the thread.

Added

Card linking, across boards.

Drag from one card's edge onto another, anywhere in the workspace. Broken links are flagged automatically, so refactors don't quietly break your map.

Added

Global search.

Hit K from anywhere. Fuzzy match across cards, notes, and board names. Results show the path home.

Added

Spatial keyboard navigation.

Arrow keys now follow the canvas. Up goes to the visually nearest card above, not the next one in DOM order.

Improved

Command palette, rewritten.

Faster, denser, and now suggests connections it thinks you're about to make. Recent boards appear at the top.

Improved

Multi-select on the canvas.

Shift-click, lasso, or hold to add. Bulk colour, move, and delete. Group operations are undo-friendly.

Fixed

Pan jitter on trackpads.

The canvas no longer drifts a pixel after you let go. Subpixel stabilisation is now on by default.

02 · On the workbench

Now, next, later.

Three honest buckets. We move things forward only when they're ready, never to hit a date.

Now

5 in flight

Active development. You'll see these in the next release or two.

Real-time collaboration

Multi-cursor editing, presence, and conflict resolution. Currently in internal dogfooding.

May 2026
Auto-save & offline mode

Local-first persistence with a graceful re-sync on reconnect. Version history attached.

May 2026
Card colour palette

A small, considered set of paper-toned colours. Shortcuts for quick recolouring.

May 2026
Shareable read-only links

Password-protectable. Expires when you say so. Analytics on view counts.

June 2026

Next

9 planned

Scoped, queued, and on deck after the current batch ships.

Smooth animations

60fps zoom and pan transitions, with a respectful "reduce motion" mode.

Q3 2026
Templates & starter boards

A small library of opinionated templates for common shapes of thinking.

Q3 2026
Native iPad app

Apple Pencil first-class. Gestures designed for touch, not mouse cosplay.

Q4 2026
Version history & branches

Travel back in time on any board. Branch experiments without forking your sanity.

Q4 2026

Later

6 considering

Ideas we like but haven't committed to. Vote with your feedback.

AI co-pilot inside the canvas

Tightly scoped: refactor, summarise, and link, never auto-generate slop.

TBD
Notion / Linear / GitHub sync

Two-way sync for cards as issues. Read-only first, then careful writes.

TBD
Self-hosted edition

For teams that need it. Single binary, Postgres, your infrastructure.

TBD
Public board galleries

Publish boards to the web with their own URL and lightweight theming.

TBD
03 · The trail behind

Everything we've shipped.

The most recent first. Each release is a small, deliberate step.

May 2, 2026

Linking, search & the keyboard v1.1.0

Cards can now link across boards, with broken-link detection. Global search on K. Spatial arrow-key navigation.

Apr 18, 2026

Multi-select & copy/paste v1.0.4

Lasso-select, shift-click, and bulk operations. Cross-board paste preserves nested boards and connections.

  • Selection rectangle with live previews
  • Smart positioning to avoid overlaps
  • Group undo/redo across operations
Apr 4, 2026

Plain-text Board DSL v1.0.3

Describe a board in a few lines and paste. Built for humans first, AI agents next. Round-trips with the canvas.

Mar 21, 2026

MCP server, beta v1.0.2

Vela now speaks Model Context Protocol. Claude, Cursor, and any MCP-capable assistant can read and write your boards directly.

Mar 7, 2026

Markdown notes v1.0.1

Bold, italic, code, lists, links. Live preview on toggle. Syntax highlighting for code blocks.

Feb 14, 2026

Vela, public v1.0.0

The first stable release. Infinite canvas, nested boards, keyboard-first navigation, secure auth, and cloud sync.

  • Buttery pan/zoom with viewport culling
  • Cards as portals to sub-boards
  • Breadcrumb navigation across nested levels
Jan 24, 2026

Private beta opens v0.9

First 200 invites go out. Backend persistence, real-time sync foundations, and the keyboard shortcut layer.

What should we build next?

This roadmap moves fastest when our users push it. Tell us what you'd build, vote on what's there, or just say hi.

Vela

An infinite, nestable whiteboard for people who think in diagrams. A solo project, made in Aschaffenburg.

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© 2026 Velav1.8.0 · Aschaffenburg