The EF-Map Journey: From First Commit to 1,116 Commits in 137 Days

On August 12, 2025, the first commit was pushed: "Initial commit." Just 137 days later, EF-Map has grown into a comprehensive EVE Frontier mapping ecosystem with 1,116 commits, 55,000 lines of frontend code, real-time blockchain indexing, a native Windows overlay, and features that push the boundaries of what a community-built game tool can achieve. This is the story of that journey—told through the commits themselves.

The raw numbers tell part of the story: an average of 8.1 commits per day, with peaks reaching 40+ commits during intense feature sprints. But the true narrative emerges when you trace the evolution month by month—from basic camera controls to AI-powered natural language commands, from simple starfield rendering to real-time blockchain event streaming.

The Development Methodology: Vibe Coding

Before diving into the timeline, it's important to understand how EF-Map was built. The project creator has zero traditional coding experience. Every line of TypeScript, Python, C++, and SQL was written through "vibe coding"—describing intent in natural language to LLM agents (primarily GitHub Copilot in agent mode) that translate those intentions into working code.

This methodology explains the commit patterns: rapid iteration, immediate fixes, and the ability to pivot quickly when features don't work as expected. A typical development session might generate 20+ commits as the human describes what they want, the AI implements it, testing reveals issues, and the cycle repeats until the feature works correctly.

August 2025: Foundation (323 Commits)

The first month was explosive—323 commits in just 20 days, establishing every core system that would later be refined.

Week 1: The Core Map (Aug 12-18)

Week 2-3: Advanced Routing & Scout Optimizer (Aug 19-28)

The Scout Optimizer—one of EF-Map's signature features—emerged during this period through intense iteration:

• Aug 19: Algorithm selection (A*/Dijkstra), spatial grid optimization, Web Worker implementation
• Aug 20: A marathon day with 40+ Scout Optimizer commits: gate-aware distances, ship jump range enforcement, 2-opt optimization, backtrack bridging, unreachable handling
• Aug 21: Continuous optimization mode, multi-worker parallel processing, compact UI mode

The commit messages from Aug 20 tell the story of real-time problem-solving: "fix: guard 2-opt to avoid introducing unreachable segments," "feat: add debug mode with detailed NN/2-opt logging for failing test cases," "fix: refine NN bridging to only use tail."

Cinematic Mode Emerges (Aug 24-25)

What started as a visual enhancement became one of EF-Map's most beloved features:

• "feat(cinematic): implement fresh cinematic mode (additive stars, bloom, dust, background, controls)"
• "feat(cinematic): ambient effects 1-5 & parallax (supernova, lens blink, shimmer, comet, ripple, parallax stars)"
• "feat(cinematic): autonomous cluster tour with camera travel, dwell, and orbit"

The iterative refinement is visible: "fix: remove background mesh on disable to restore interactions," "fix: aggressively restore star material & colors on disable"—each fix discovered through testing, implemented within minutes.

Month-End Feature Explosion (Aug 29-31)

The final days of August added major user-facing features:

• Route Sharing: Netlify Blobs integration for persistent short links
• Crypto Donations: QR code generation, L2 support warnings
• Panel System: Draggable/resizable panels, cascading layout, preference persistence
• Anonymous Analytics: Usage stats backend, privacy-first instrumentation

September 2025: Polish & Infrastructure (252 Commits)

September shifted focus from raw features to infrastructure, visual polish, and the foundations of what would become the desktop overlay.

Visual Refinement (Sep 1-3)

The first week was dedicated to making the map visually stunning:

• "feat(visual): rim-lit stars + gentle stargate pulse"
• "feat(route): replace tube meshes with screen-space ribbon + per-hop bright pulse"
• "feat: dashed inner core for ship (non-gate) jumps in route ribbon"
• "feat(stargate selection gradient shader)"

Station Integration & Region Stats (Sep 3-4)

Game data integration deepened:

• "feat(stations): add station overlay toggle, DB v2, rendering & interaction"
• "feat(region-stats): add region stats worker + overlay card, metrics instrumentation"
• "feat(overlay): user mark halos, color fixes, constant sizing"

The Transmission System (Sep 4)

One of the most whimsical features emerged—the ambient radio transmission system that gives EF-Map its personality:

• "feat(transmission): expanded intro burst copy + ambient fade-out"
• "feat(transmission): expand echo pool with lore, humor, recruitment, faction banter"
• "feat(transmission): add personality echo lines (MichaelSpaceJD, Okky, Marcus, DaemonXel, Rezvani, Byron, CCPlease)"

Cloudflare Migration Begins (Sep 19-28)

A critical infrastructure shift started mid-month—moving from Netlify to Cloudflare Pages + Workers:

• "docs(readme): add Smart Gates routing modes, SG chevrons, showinfo links"
• "feat(embed): add system deep links and open button"
• "feat: preserve smart gate metadata in shares"

Smart Assemblies Foundation (Sep 24)

The blockchain-indexed structure system that would become central to the platform was architected:

• "feat(seo): add FAQ, Features, About static pages + sitemap"
• "feat: add overlay folder modal and stats self-heal"
• "Finalize Smart Assemblies UI and docs updates"

October 2025: The Quiet Month (54 Commits)

October had the fewest commits—just 54—but they were transformative. This was the month of the desktop overlay.

Overlay Helper Bridge (Oct 1-30)

The commits tell the story of a parallel development effort in the ef-map-overlay repository:

• "feat: manual helper bridge status cluster"
• "Follow mode auto-selection and packaging roadmap"
• "overlay: guard follow sync and refresh docs"

The web app side integrated with the native helper:

• "Phase 5 Feature 1: Visited Systems Web App Integration"
• "RECOVERED: HelperBridgePanel with Mining/Combat/P-SCAN telemetry"
• "feat: Add EF Helper visibility features (smart tab, banner, glow)"

Tribe Bookmarks E2E Encryption (Oct 22)

A significant security feature was implemented:

• "feat: Implement tribe bookmarks E2E encryption (Phase 0-1)"
• "docs: Update Help and Policy for active E2E encryption"
• "feat: Add tribe encryption completion tracking"

Microsoft Store Publication

The overlay helper was published to the Microsoft Store:

• "Update Install Helper button to Microsoft Store link (Product ID: 9NP71MBTF6GF)"
• "docs: Mark Phase 6 complete with Microsoft Store distribution"

November 2025: The Expansion (340 Commits)

November was the busiest month—340 commits—with major architectural improvements and feature additions.

Solar System View (Nov 6-9)

A complete new view mode was implemented:

• "feat: Add solar system view with Phobos database integration"
• "feat: complete solar system icon pass"
• "feat(solar-system): Improve zoom, grouping, and orbit visibility"
• "feat(solar-system): Add ecliptic reference rings with curved connectors"
• "feat(solar-system): implement smooth camera transitions and starfield backdrop"

The database work that enabled this was substantial—migrating from Phobos to FrontierData extraction pipeline, building a 67MB solar system database with 28 columns, 236K celestials, and 417K Lagrange points.

Code Architecture Refactoring (Nov 19-21)

The 10,000-line App.tsx was modularized:

• "refactor: extract routing worker logic into useRoutingWorker hook"
• "refactor: extract camera animation logic into useCameraAnimation hook"
• "refactor: Extract cinematic mode tracking to useCinematicTimer hook"
• "refactor: extract helper bridge management into useHelperBridge hook"
• "refactor: extract solar system view logic into useSolarSystemView hook"

21 custom hooks were extracted, making the codebase maintainable despite its size.

AI Commands Integration (Nov 26)

Natural language control came to EF-Map:

• "feat: Add AI-powered natural language command input"
• "feat(ai): Add voice input with Whisper transcription"
• "Add AI command logging to KV for training data collection"
• "Switch to Granite micro model (16x cheaper) + multi-command support"

Live Universe Events (Nov 28-29)

Real-time blockchain streaming was implemented using Cloudflare Durable Objects:

• "feat: Add Durable Object infrastructure for live universe events"
• "Live universe events: SSE streaming, EventTicker, EventHalos, EventFlashes"
• "feat(events): colored flashes, clickable system links in history panel"

December 2025: Maturity (147 Commits to Date)

December represents the project reaching maturity—fewer core features, more refinement and user-facing polish.

Killboard & PvP Tracking (Dec 3)

• "feat(killboard): Add backend snapshot exporter"
• "feat(killboard): Add Worker API endpoint for killboard snapshot"
• "feat(killboard): Add frontend KillboardPanel component with tabs, search, and leaderboards"

Infrastructure Improvements (Dec 4-6)

The backend moved to the cloud:

• "docs: comprehensive VPS migration playbook update for CPX42"
• "security: bind Docker services to localhost only"
• "infra: add Grafana cloudflared tunnel configuration"

Performance Optimization (Dec 8-9)

• "Optimize routing performance: 14.6x speedup via O(1) stargate lookup"
• "feat(scout-optimizer): delta cost calculation - 5.2x iteration throughput"
• "feat(scout-optimizer): delta-cost + Or-opt optimization"

Seasonal Features (Dec 14)

• "feat: Add Session Stats panel and Winter/Christmas effects"
• "feat(seasonal): Winter snow effects on command bars"
• "feat: Expand session rank system to 20 ranks"

Blueprint Calculator (Dec 12-16)

• "feat: add Blueprint Calculator for production chain visualization"
• "Blueprint Calculator v2: Multi-path support, ore tracking, efficiency comparison"
• "feat(blueprints): Update for December 2025 economy patch"

Unified Smart Panel (Dec 26)

The latest major feature consolidated multiple panels:

• "feat: Consolidate Smart Assemblies, Smart Gates, and SSU Finder into unified tabbed panel"

The Architecture Today

After 1,116 commits, EF-Map's architecture reflects its iterative evolution:

Frontend (55,000 Lines)

• Core: React 18 + TypeScript + Vite
• 3D Rendering: Three.js with custom shaders (route ribbons, stargate pulses, reachability bubbles)
• State: React hooks with 21 custom hooks for feature isolation
• Database: sql.js (SQLite in-browser) + IndexedDB caching
• Workers: Web Workers for routing, scout optimization, region stats

Backend (Cloudflare)

• Pages: Static hosting with edge caching
• Workers: API endpoints, AI inference, share handling
• KV: Usage analytics, killboard snapshots, news cache
• Durable Objects: WebSocket connections for live events
• R2: Solar system database storage

Infrastructure (Hetzner VPS)

• 19 Docker containers: Postgres, pg-indexer, APIs, exporters, tunnels
• Blockchain Indexing: MUD indexer connected to Primordium RPC
• Cron Jobs: Hourly snapshots for killboard, assemblies, gates
• Monitoring: Grafana dashboards with alerting

Desktop (ef-map-overlay Repository)

• Windows Helper: C++ with DirectX 12 overlay injection
• Distribution: Microsoft Store (MSIX packaging)
• Features: Follow mode, visited systems, mining telemetry

Commit Patterns & Insights

The Intensity Curve

Common Commit Prefixes

The commit message conventions reveal development patterns:

• feat: 400+ commits—new features
• fix: 250+ commits—bug fixes and corrections
• docs: 100+ commits—documentation updates
• refactor: 50+ commits—code restructuring
• chore: 100+ commits—maintenance and cleanup

The Fix-After-Feat Pattern

A notable pattern in vibe coding: features are often followed immediately by fixes. This isn't a sign of poor quality—it's the natural result of rapid iteration where the AI implements, testing reveals edge cases, and fixes follow within minutes:

feat(solar-system): implement smooth camera transitions
fix(solar-system): suppress star interactions in solar system view
fix(solar-system): delay camera animation until scene fully loads
fix(solar-system): position solar system at star's universe coordinates

What's Next?

The commit history doesn't end here. As of December 27, 2025, EF-Map continues to evolve with active development on:

• SUI blockchain migration preparation as EVE Frontier transitions chains
• Enhanced combat telemetry for the desktop overlay
• Community features including shared bookmarks and tribe collaboration
• Performance optimization for larger route calculations

Related Posts

• Vibe Coding: Building a 124,000-Line Project Without Writing Code – The methodology behind EF-Map's development
• Database Architecture: From Blockchain to Browser – How the data pipeline works
• Solar System View: Browsing 500,000+ Celestial Objects – The November feature addition
• Live Universe Events: Real-Time Blockchain Streaming – Durable Objects and WebSockets