About melcurial

The first version of mel started years ago at Chartio when my Head of Communications, Mel, needed to update our static site without learning a full developer workflow. At the time we were on Mercurial, so I (Dave Fowler) built a tool and set of shortcuts that reduced the process to a few friendly commands - and named it melcurial (code-name mel) after its primary user!

Today, Product Managers and other non‑engineers run into the same barriers. mel exists to make contributing to a codebase organized, safe, and easy—for everyone.

Here she is celebrating her new found version control powers:

What mel is

• Simple: a tiny set of commands
• Safe: confirmations and helpful prompts
• Organized: proper Git workflow under the hood
• Friendly: clear, non‑technical language

Who it’s for

Primarily mel is for non-engineers who want to contribute to a codebase. But in advanced mode it's also a great tool for engineers who want a smooth, quick workflow.

• Content editors and communicators
• Product Managers learning to contribute
• Designers making small UI/content tweaks
• Engineers who want a smooth, quick workflow

Goal: make contributing to codebases as easy as possible for everyone involved.