are.na toolkit
Browser tools for working with are.na. Vanilla JS, no framework, no accounts, no backend. Open a page and go.
→ All tools · Built by Kim Plowright
The tools
Each tool has its own folder with a README: what it does, how to use it and how to build it.
| Tool | What it does | Try it |
|---|
| Hypernormalisation | Turns images and text from are.na channels into full-screen intertitle slides, for ambient displays or staring into the void. Optional soundtrack, export any frame as a PNG | Open |
| Palette | Extracts colour palettes from the images in your channels, names the colours, and exports them in the formats your tools need | Open |
| Picks | A random-block browser for finding things you forgot you'd saved. Source lives in its own repo | Open |
| Merge | Adds every block from one channel into another in one go, with a dry run first. Needs a write token | Open |
| Palimpsest | Paste a block and see everything are.na knows about it, including custom metadata, which you can edit on blocks you own | Open |
| Duplicate Finder | Finds blocks you've saved more than once, lets you pick the one to keep, and merges the rest onto it. Needs a write token | Open |
Uploader (arena-uploader/) | A Python prototype for moving Pinterest saves into are.na. Not finished, and not live | — |
What they share
- Vanilla JS only. Hypernormalisation and Picks are hand-written single files. Palette is assembled from
src/ by a small Python script. Merge, Palimpsest and Duplicate Finder are built from src/ by a small Node script. Either way, every tool ships as one HTML file you can open directly or serve with python3 -m http.server.
- are.na API v3 (
https://api.are.na/v3/) only.
- One look. The newer tools use the Arena Toolkit design system (four themes: Light, Dusk, Dark, Dawn, plus System). Its code lives in
shared/ui/.
- Polite to are.na. Requests are paced, and the tools back off when are.na asks them to slow down.
- Everything stays in your browser. Preferences, tokens and cached content go in
localStorage. There is no tracking, no ads and no account.
Access tokens
Needed only for private channels, keyword search (a v3 API restriction) and anything that changes your account. Get one at are.na → Settings → Developers. Read access is enough for most tools. Merge, Duplicate Finder and editing in Palimpsest need write access. A token is only ever sent to are.na.
Running and building
python3 -m http.server 8080 # serve the repo; canvas export needs http, not file://
# or serve only what the live site serves:
python3 -m http.server 8000 --directory docs
npm install # once
npm test # Vitest: pure logic and shared code
node arena-palimpsest/build.js # src/ → dist/ (also arena-merge, arena-duplicate-finder)
node arena-palimpsest/build.js --docs # …and copy to docs/ for GitHub Pages
node scripts/build-all.js --docs # every tool that has a build.js
python3 arena-palette/build.py # Palette only; copy dist/arena-palette.html to docs/
docs/ is the GitHub Pages root, so copy a tool's built file there after any change.
Repo structure
are.na-toolkit/
├── docs/ # GitHub Pages: the live tools, screenshots, index.html
├── arena-hypernormalisation/ # single-file tool (+ README, NOTES)
├── arena-palette/ # src/, dist/, build.py
├── arena-picks-ref/ # reference copy of Picks (source: the are.na-picks repo)
├── arena-merge/ # src/, dist/, build.js
├── arena-palimpsest/ # src/, dist/, build.js
├── arena-duplicate-finder/ # src/, dist/, build.js
├── arena-uploader/ # Python prototype
├── shared/
│ ├── ui/ # the design system (a copy of the claude.ai artifact; see its README)
│ ├── api/ # are.na client, request throttle, URL helpers
│ └── widgets/ # connect (token) step, channel picker and finder
├── scripts/ # @include resolver and build-all
├── AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md # state of play and rules, for people and AI agents picking this up
└── README.md
Working on it
Start with AGENTS.md (what exists, what's in progress, how to set up) and CLAUDE.md (the rules). Each tool's NOTES.md or CONTEXT.md holds its technical detail.
Open source under the MIT licence: do what you like with it. Found a bug? Open an issue.
