Things I’ve built.

Things · Publishing

Weekly Thing

My weekend newsletter of links with commentary, sent since May 2017 and published as a website, email, and podcast.

Curiosity, collected and shared.

Status
Active Being built or operated.
Dates
Started May 13, 2017 (Published since 2017)
Where
weekly.thingelstad.com/
Topics
The open web Archives
Page views
38,293 in the twelve months to Sep 30, 2026 2025-10: 02025-11: 02025-12: 02026-01: 8822026-02: 58452026-03: 63212026-04: 61622026-05: 103832026-06: 20182026-07: 10502026-08: 6702026-09: 4962
Latest evidence
Latest commit, Oct 23, 2026
The front page of weekly.thingelstad.com on Oct 20, 2026
weekly.thingelstad.com on Oct 20, 2026. The collector captures the front page once a month.

The Weekly Thing is my newsletter of links I found interesting, each with my commentary, plus my own blog posts from the week. I sent the first issue on May 13, 2017, and have sent it most weekends since, taking breaks in summer and over the winter holidays. It began on TinyLetter, moved to MailChimp with issue 23 in October 2017, and moved to Buttondown with issue 131 in January 2020. I numbered those moves myself: “1.0: Launch on TinyLetter, 2.0: Move to MailChimp, 2.1: Custom HTML Template, 3.0: Buttondown.” I reached issue 100 in April 2019, 200 in October 2021, and 300 in November 2024, which took “7 years 5 months 3 weeks and 6 days” (Thoughts after writing 300 newsletters).

In May 2026, at 345 issues, I rebuilt the website as a full archive with search, a table of contents for each issue, and Thingy for asking questions of the archive. The ten newest issues also got an audio edition, published as a podcast. I built it with Claude Code, Claude Design, and Codex. Issue 349, two weeks later, was the first made in the Weekly Thing Workshop, a team of Discord agents. Starting with issue 350 in September 2026, every issue has been written and sent from WT Builder. In October 2026 I restructured the whole archive so old issues render like new ones, and rendered every issue in audio, so the podcast feed “goes all the way back to the very first issue.”

Readers have had places to talk about issues. I created r/WeeklyThing in October 2022, and in September 2023 I opened the Weekly Thing Forum on Ponder, which closed when Ponder shut down in November 2025 (Farewell Ponder and Weekly Thing Forum). Discussion moved back to the subreddit (Weekly Thing 334).

Since November 2024, readers can become Supporting Members. All of that money goes to one digital non-profit each year: Creative Commons first, then the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which received $1,164.92 in May 2026, and now Signal.

The build

  • WT Builder keeps an issue structured until it is sent, then renders different editions for the website, email, and audio.
  • The public archive is an Eleventy site. Thingy's private Librarian API builds the searchable archive that Thingy answers from.
  • Authoring, public publishing, and archive retrieval have explicit ownership boundaries.

Eleventy Publishing Email Audio

Read the archive

Activity

755 commits (482 with Claude, 43 with another agent, 230 by me), the first on Apr 7, 2026.

354 publications collected from its feeds, the oldest from May 13, 2017.

The latest weeks with activity

All activity, week by week. Who made each commit is from its author and co-author lines.

Sources and evidence

Observed daily from GitHub, sitemaps, feeds, the Internet Archive, and Tinylytics. Evidence never sets a status.

2025-11: 42025-12: 22026-01: 22026-02: 32026-03: 22026-04: 1002026-05: 4132026-06: 582026-07: 102026-08: 152026-09: 592026-10: 110 Commits and publications per month, last twelve months.

Connections

Connections of Weekly Thingposts are syndicated inrepublished the links fromlists the links ofwas announced inanswers fromanswered fromassembledpublishescollects a year ofWeekly ThingJamie Thingelstad blogLink BlogLinking ThingsReading ThingsThingyWeekly Thing GPTWeekly Thing WorkshopWT BuilderYearly Thing 2025

  • Jamie Thingelstad blog posts are syndicated in Weekly Thing

    Weekly Thing republishes my blog posts, connecting the newsletter to my ongoing personal writing. Source

  • Link Blog republished the links from Weekly Thing

    Link Thing carried the same links that appeared each week in the Weekly Thing, as a website with its own navigation. Source

  • Linking Things lists the links of Weekly Thing

    Every Weekly Thing issue has a page on Linking Things listing the links it carried, 6,867 links across 354 issues when the site went live. Source

  • Reading Things was announced in Weekly Thing

    I teased Reading Things in Weekly Thing 177 and announced it in Weekly Thing 186, a week after the first issue went out. Source

  • Thingy answers from Weekly Thing

    Thingy launched with the new Weekly Thing website in May 2026 and answers from every issue of the newsletter. Source

  • Weekly Thing GPT answered from Weekly Thing

    The GPT was loaded with all 310 issues of the Weekly Thing published by February 2025. Source

  • Weekly Thing Workshop assembled Weekly Thing

    Weekly Thing 349 was “the first Weekly Thing created start-to-finish in the new Workshop.” Source

  • WT Builder publishes Weekly Thing

    WT Builder authors issues and sends the website, email, and audio editions of Weekly Thing. Source

  • Yearly Thing 2025 collects a year of Weekly Thing

    All 324 links I commented on across 31 issues of the Weekly Thing in 2025, reorganized into ten topic chapters, in print and eBook form. Proceeds support the Weekly Thing Supporting Membership program. Source

Related

WT Builder Yearly Thing 2025 Thingy Another Thing

History

  1. milestone Every issue in audio

    I restructure the Weekly Thing archive and renders every issue in audio, so the podcast feed reaches back to the first issue. Source

  2. launch WT350 sent from WT Builder

    First issue fully published from WT Builder. Source

  3. milestone WT349 made in the Workshop

    The first Weekly Thing made start to finish in the Weekly Thing Workshop. Source

  4. launch New Weekly Thing site and Thingy

    I build a new Weekly Thing website that puts all nine years and 345 issues of the archive on show, with Thingy as its librarian. Source

  5. development Weekly Thing: recorded development begins

    The earliest commit in this repository is a development record; the project or idea may predate it. Source

  6. launch Yearly Thing 2025 is published

    A year of the Weekly Thing becomes a book, in print from Lulu and as an eBook, organized into ten topic chapters. Source

  7. milestone Weekly Thing Forum closes

    Ponder shuts down, and with it the Weekly Thing Forum. Source

  8. milestone Weekly Thing 300

    The 300th issue, seven and a half years after the first. Source

  9. milestone Weekly Thing automation rebuilt

    I rebuild the Weekly Thing workflow as native Shortcuts with Data Jar caching and an automated photo section. Source

  10. milestone Weekly Thing Forum opens

    I open a forum for readers on Ponder. Source

  11. milestone r/WeeklyThing

    I create a subreddit for discussing issues. Source

  12. milestone Weekly Thing 200

    The 200th issue. Source

  13. milestone Weekly Thing moves to Buttondown

    Issue 131 is the first sent from Buttondown. Source

  14. milestone Weekly Thing 100

    The 100th issue. Source

  15. milestone Weekly Thing moves to MailChimp

    Issue 23 is the first sent from MailChimp, after 22 on TinyLetter. Source

  16. launch The first Weekly Thing

    A newsletter experiment begins with issue one. Source