28:["$","title",null,{"children":"Fork, suggest, merge | Observable | Observable"}] 2d:T59c,md`# Fork, Share, Merge

* **Update:** Observable now supports suggestions, providing a full lifecycle for forking a notebook, adding some code changes and comments about what you’re changing, sending it to the author with an email notification, and discussing the changes in realtime on the notebook before the author decides to merge them. For more information, see [“Suggestions and Comments.”](https://beta.observablehq.com/@observablehq/suggestions-and-comments) *

The ability for anyone to suggest changes, and for authors to merge changes quickly and accurately, has been essential to the success of open source: if you remove the friction of collaboration, people will work together! Today we’re excited to announce our **Merge** button, bringing Git-style asynchronous collaboration to Observable’s interactive programming environment. Say I publish a notebook mapping life expectancy around the world.

My choropleth of global life expectancy.

Although I’m quite pleased with it, my colleague Mike notices that I’ve used the Mercator projection. Oops! 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2b:{"id":"82dbb114c23ac26d","slug":"fork-suggest-merge","title":"Fork, suggest, merge","thumbnail":"6ac3d790b3b62a670880234cfda2457fc8adecadbe8af3819f8097ac20e60ea0","access_level":"unlisted","create_time":"$D2018-11-12T18:28:00.918Z","update_time":"$D2023-01-30T23:41:51.847Z","view_time":null,"first_public_time":"$D2018-11-13T21:44:40.866Z","has_unpublished_edits":null,"fork":false,"stars":34,"starred":false,"owner":{"type":"team","id":"f35c755083683fe5","login":"observablehq","name":"Observable","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/424c6c1f7794371c9915a160519bdfb34cf34e50069fcd6def38a1a04d4e9702","tier":"enterprise_2024"},"version":668,"publish_version":null,"role":null,"authored":false,"authors":[],"members":[{"type":"group","id":"c4990be612f2da51","login":"8788045797a2fd14","name":"Product Education","avatar_url":null,"tier":"public","role":"editor"},{"type":"individual","id":"074c414ad1d825f5","login":"mbostock","name":"Mike Bostock","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/7dbba99ced40bd5ab8013c99b1a11da61231bce321ba1148a9d16ad0f121550a","tier":null,"role":"editor"},{"type":"team","id":"f35c755083683fe5","login":"observablehq","name":"Observable","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/424c6c1f7794371c9915a160519bdfb34cf34e50069fcd6def38a1a04d4e9702","tier":"enterprise_2024","role":"viewer"}],"comments":[],"custom_thumbnail":true,"trashed":false,"lapsed":null,"subscribed":null,"forks":106,"collection":{"id":"f32cb7b0d22ffb6a","slug":"editing-publishing-collaborating","title":"Sharing and Collaboration","owner":{"id":"f35c755083683fe5","login":"observablehq","name":"Observable"}},"type":"notebook","body":{"title":"Fork, Share, Merge","cells":[{"id":0,"value":"$2d","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":17,"value":"md`### 1. Fork to make changes.\n\nThis is Observable, so Mike doesn’t merely imagine what my choropleth would look like with a more appropriate equal-area projection—he edits my notebook and changes it! (He couldn’t resist making a few other tweaks, too.)\n\n

`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":265,"value":"md`## 2. Share the fork.\n\nMike likes his improvements. Rather than keep them to himself, he clicks “Share link” in the notebook menu and sends me a link to his fork.\n\n

Mike shares his fork, allowing me to read it.

`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":5,"value":"md`### 3. Review and merge the suggested changes.\n\nFrom Mike’s link, I click “Compare fork” to see what’s changed.\n\n

\n\nThis quickly reveals what Mike added (green) and removed (red).\n\n

\n\nI can toggle the Before and After in each cell to evaluate the changes. If I choose, I can even edit a cell to make further changes.\n\nThe changes look good, so I click the blue Merge button at the top. Mike’s changes, and any further changes I made while comparing, are now applied to my notebook!`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":52,"value":"md`### 4. Republish. 🎉\n\nI’m not quite done: Mike’s changes were applied, but they’re only visible to me.\n\n

My revised notebook, post-merge but pre-(re-)publish.

\n\nI republish to let everyone see the data in proper equal-area form.\n\n

The republished notebook in all its glory.

\n\nI think you’ll agree: [my notebook is better](https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/world-life-expectancy-1960-2016) thanks to collaboration. The next time you find yourself reading a notebook and thinking, “Huh, that could have been done better,” don’t keep that thought to yourself. **Fork, share, and merge!**`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":355,"value":"md`### 5. Epilogue: Updating a Fork.\n\nSometimes, while you’re working on a fork of a notebook, the parent notebook will have been updated with new changes. To view, select and merge in recent changes from the parent into the fork, click on “Compare reverse” in the notebook menu.\n\n\n

`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"}],"files":"$W2e","stdlib":"1","titling":"auto"}} 2c:"$2b:body" 27:E{"digest":"NEXT_REDIRECT;replace;/@observablehq/fork-suggest-merge@361;307;"}