Timeline

Timeline is the product surface that turns a useful log into an investigation. It is not another device module and it is not a firehose of every event ever captured. It is a desktop lens over the data that Logs, Network and Storage already collected, always centered on one anchor.

Choose an anchor

You can open Timeline from:

• a Mark in Logs;
• any selected log, including a regular non-error log;
• a recent uncaught error or unhandled rejection;
• a failed Network request;
• the Timeline sidebar, which lists recent moments worth investigating.

The anchor determines the question. A Mark looks forward from the boundary. A log, error or failed request looks both backward and forward around its exact timestamp.

Read the sandwich

The main list is chronological and divided into three readable parts:

BEFORE THIS MOMENT
  nearby events
  [ highlighted anchor · You are here ]
AFTER THIS MOMENT
  nearby events

Context groups show a small number of nearby events first. When more exist, the group tells you exactly how many are hidden and exposes Show earlier or Show later. The context is compressed, not silently removed.

The anchor row has its own background, left rail, top and bottom edge and “You are here” label. That visual treatment is intentionally stronger than a text color: it is the reference point for the whole investigation.

Control the scope

Use the scope selector to choose either:

• a time window: ±5s, ±30s or ±2min;
• an event window: 5 before / 5 after, 10 before / 10 after or 25 before / 25 after.

The event mode is useful when a noisy app produces many entries in a small time span. The time mode is useful when the relationship is temporal — for example, a storage write immediately before a 401 request.

Toggle Logs, Network and Storage in the source control. The list reorders itself on one clock, and each source keeps a distinct icon and color so you can scan the tracks without reading every label.

Inspect and navigate

Rows with long messages or values show an expand affordance. Expand as many rows as you need; the other rows remain open. A selected log also has:

• Copy log for a readable evidence snippet;
• Open in Logs for the full detail panel and structured viewer;
• the same level, namespace and stack information as the source row.

That keeps Timeline focused on relationship while Logs remains the place for deep inspection.

A concrete investigation

Suppose the app reports a 401 from /me. Instead of opening the request and a storage provider in separate tabs, open Timeline around the failed request. The list can show the auth token write, the request, and the log that triggered a refresh in the order they happened. The causal clue is visible without comparing three timestamps by hand.

Timeline does not claim that proximity proves causality. It makes the evidence legible enough for you to decide what caused the failure.

Where the data lives

Timeline uses the current in-memory Studio session. It does not add persistence, a new config line, or a separate transport. Enable the source modules you need, then use Timeline as the shared lens.