Documentation

Learn how to explore Running Reality, use its features, and work with the historical evidence behind the world. Find practical tutorials, detailed reference material, and the thinking behind our approach to history.

New here? Start with the frequently asked questions or see how the web and desktop versions differ.

The Running Reality project

Running Reality is a research project to model the evolution of human civilization around the world. One shared historical world model, Reality, connects nations and cities with rivers, roads, ships, armies, buildings, and individual people. Maps, 3D views, and ground-level experiences offer different ways to explore that same history.

The free desktop app includes tools for exploring and editing history, analyzing and transforming sources, importing and exporting data, and tracing claims through citations. Contributors add research and detail to improve the model, and these guides explain how to use the tools and contribute.

Browse the documentation

Use reference pages to understand concepts and tools, tutorials to complete a task, and articles to explore the reasoning behind the model.

Reference

Understand how Reality represents history, connects evidence, and handles dates and data.

Tutorials

Follow practical steps for contributing research, teaching a lesson, or sharing a historical view.

Articles

Explore the choices and challenges involved in turning historical research into a living world.

Policies

Check how we handle personal information, historical data, contributions, and advertising.

History is people.

Running Reality is a digital time machine built around one shared historical world model, Reality. Overview maps, ground-level views, and conversations are different ways to experience that same history.

Our documentation explains how evidence becomes historical data, how citations make claims traceable, and how contributors improve the model. History was alive; our goal is to bring it to life.