The books
Books are what you get when you run /dig against an open-source repo and edit the output for narrative. Each one is a chapter-by-chapter walkthrough of how the codebase actually got to its current shape — the team transitions, the rewrites, the incidents, the infamous decisions that turned out fine in the end.
Volume I · 8 chapters
vLLM
From Woosuk Kwon’s solo PagedAttention prototype (codename CacheFlow) to the dominant open-source LLM inference engine. Block managers, V1 rewrite, distributed serving, vLLM IR.
Volume II · 15 chapters
NautilusTrader
From a closed-source Cython FX prototype to a Rust-native, multi-asset, multi-venue trading engine. The two-step InstrumentId rewrite, the unified Cache + MessageBus, the multi-year Cython→Rust port, the high-precision break, and the path toward v2.0.
Want your repo dug up?
Section titled “Want your repo dug up?”Open an issue with the repo name and a one-liner on what makes its history interesting. Good candidates have:
- 1000+ commits and 3+ years of history
- Real PR discussions and meaningful commit messages
- A story — team transitions, rewrites, controversies, incidents
- An audience that would recognise the name on the cover
Or — better — point /dig at it yourself and send a PR with the chapters. Instructions in the README.