Markdown To

SpecificationsnormativeSheet 11 of 18

timeline@0.1

A readable dated narrative that opens as a beautiful line of moments without silently sorting the author’s story.

File
*.timeline.md
Unit
dated moment
View
responsive line
Codes
MDTO1100–1199
Read agent skill · authoring and editorial guide

§ 01

Dates become a composed story line

On a wide screen, moments alternate above and below a single axis. On a phone, the same authored order becomes a clean vertical trail. Rich Markdown detail travels with every point.

Fig. 1A short history of the webresponsive · editorial
web.timeline.md
---
markdownto: [email protected]
title: A short history of the web
---

# A short history of the web

## 1989-03-12 — The proposal

Tim Berners-Lee submits *Information Management: A Proposal* at CERN.

## 1991-08-06 — The first public website

The web project becomes available outside CERN.

## 1993-04-30 — The web enters the public domain

CERN releases the software required to run a web server with an open licence.
rendered · dated linesource order

A short history of the web

3 momentsin authored orderdated story

  1. The proposal

    Tim Berners-Lee submits Information Management: A Proposal at CERN.

  2. The first public website

    The web project becomes available outside CERN.

  3. The web enters the public domain

    CERN releases the software required to run a web server with an open licence.

§ 02

The chronology is authored, not inferred

## YYYY-MM-DD — Title
Opens one dated moment.
Following blocks
Are the moment’s narrative details.
Document order
Wins, so reverse chronology and intentional flashbacks remain possible.
Empty details
Are legal when date and title say enough.

§ 03

List a whole story or one date window

Verb

Meaning

Source edit

list

Prints moments in authored order, optionally filtered by inclusive --from and --to dates.

None. It is a read-only view of the file.

§ 04

An impossible date is never plotted approximately

broken.timeline.md
---
markdownto: [email protected]
---

## someday — Not a date

## 2026-08-10 —

### Too deep

mdto validate

  • MDTO1101 error line 5

    ## someday — Not a date

    Timeline heading someday — Not a date must begin with a real YYYY-MM-DD date followed by an em dash.

  • MDTO1102 error line 7

    ## 2026-08-10 —

    Timeline entry title is empty.

  • MDTO1103 error line 9

    ### Too deep

    Heading level 3 is not valid in [email protected]: use one leading # title and ## YYYY-MM-DD — Event entries.

Read timeline.md or run mdto spec timeline for the complete contract.