Build a tech radar from text

tech-radar Pirate Operations Radar — Q2 1718

rings
  Full Sail
  Trial Run
  Spyglass
  Davy Jones

Tactics quadrant: top-right
  Ambush at Dawn ring: Full Sail, trend: stable
    Our most reliable boarding tactic. **90% success rate** when
    approaching from the east with the sun behind us.
    - Crew morale peaks at dawn — grog hasn't worn off yet
    - Reduced cannon fire needed: *3 volleys* vs 8 at midday
  Boarding Parties ring: Full Sail, trend: stable
  Decoy Flags ring: Trial Run, trend: up
    Flying false colours until within cannon range. Early results
    are promising — merchant ships drop anchor **40% more often**.
  Smoke Screens ring: Trial Run, trend: new
  Kraken Diplomacy ring: Spyglass, trend: new
    Exploring alliances with *sea monsters*. Negotiations ongoing.

Vessels quadrant: top-left
  Brigantine ring: Full Sail, trend: stable
    Our workhorse. Fast, manoeuvrable, carries **18 cannons**.
    - Crew capacity: 100 pirates
    - Top speed: *11 knots* in fair wind
  Sloop ring: Full Sail, trend: up
  War Galleon ring: Trial Run, trend: up
    Captured from the Spanish fleet. Massive firepower but
    **slow to turn** — best for convoy raids, not chases.
  Longboat ring: Davy Jones, trend: down

Plunder Targets quadrant: bottom-left
  Merchant Convoys ring: Full Sail, trend: stable
    Core revenue stream — **78% of total plunder**. East India
    Company ships running the spice route remain most lucrative.
  Port Raids ring: Trial Run, trend: up
  Rival Pirates ring: Trial Run, trend: new
  Royal Treasury Ships ring: Spyglass, trend: new
    High risk, astronomical reward. Requires:
    - Inside information from *corrupt harbourmasters*
    - At least **3 allied ships** for the blockade
    - A really good escape plan
  Whaling Ships ring: Spyglass, trend: stable
  Fishing Villages ring: Davy Jones, trend: down
    Terrible ROI and **bad for reputation**. The parrot union
    filed a formal complaint.

Crew Welfare quadrant: bottom-right
  Grog Rations ring: Full Sail, trend: stable
    Non-negotiable. Cutting grog rations caused the *Great Mutiny of 1716*.
  Sea Shanty Program ring: Trial Run, trend: new
    Hired a shanty master. Crew productivity up **25%** during
    long voyages. Signature tune: *"Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum"*.
  Dental Plan ring: Spyglass, trend: up
    Exploring options. Most crew down to **4 teeth** on average.
    Parley with a Port Royal dentist scheduled for Q3.

Overview

A tech radar sorts technologies, tools, or practices into “use it / try it / watch it / avoid it” — concentric rings of adoption stage, split into quadrant categories. Reach for it to decide and communicate which tools a team should adopt, which are still on trial, and which to retire, and to track that maturity picture as it shifts quarter to quarter. Inspired by the ThoughtWorks Technology Radar, each item is a “blip” placed in one ring and one quadrant, optionally carrying a trend indicator and a description.

Click any quadrant label to drill down into a detail view with expanded blip descriptions. Click the “Blip Legend” toggle to show or hide the numbered reference listing below the radar.

When to use

tech-radar — sorting technologies into adopt / trial / assess / hold rings, with a confidence or maturity judgement attached to each.
quadrant — you are placing items on two axes you name, and there are no adoption rings.
kanban — you are tracking work moving through stages, not rating the maturity of tools.
raci — you are assigning ownership of tasks to people, not confidence to technologies.

Syntax

tech-radar Title

rings
  Ring1
  Ring2

Quadrant Name quadrant: position
  Blip Name ring: RingName, trend: value
    Description text (markdown supported)

Directives

Written at the top level, one per line, after the tech-radar Title line.

Directive	Effect
`no-blip-legend`	Suppress the numbered blip reference listing below the radar. The listing is on by default — this is the opt-out.
`show-blip-legend`	Accepted for backward compatibility; the listing is already on, so this does nothing.
`fill-tint`	Soft tinted fills (default).
`fill-solid`	Saturated solid fills.
`fill-outline`	Outline only, no fill.
`no-title`	Hide the title line.

Rings

Rings represent adoption stages, ordered from innermost (highest commitment) to outermost (lowest). Declare them in a rings block:

rings
  Adopt
  Trial
  Assess
  Hold

You can use any ring names — the classic Adopt/Trial/Assess/Hold is common but not required.

Ring Aliases

Rings support aliases for shorter blip references:

rings
  Adopt as a
  Trial as t
  Assess as x
  Hold as h

Quadrant quadrant: top-right
  Item Name ring: a, trend: up

Quadrants

Exactly 4 quadrants are required. Each needs a unique position:

Techniques quadrant: top-right
Tools quadrant: top-left
Platforms quadrant: bottom-left
Languages quadrant: bottom-right

Positions: top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right

Custom Colors

Override the default quadrant color with color:

Tools quadrant: top-left, color: purple

Default colors: top-left=blue, top-right=green, bottom-left=red, bottom-right=orange.

Blips

Blips are items placed on the radar. Each is indented under its quadrant and requires a ring reference:

  Kubernetes ring: Adopt
  Micro Frontends ring: Trial, trend: up

Ring matching is case-insensitive — ring: adopt and ring: Adopt both work.

Trends

The optional trend metadata controls the visual indicator on each blip:

Trend	Indicator	Meaning
`new`	Double circle	Newly added to the radar
`up`	Inward crescent	Moving toward center (higher adoption)
`down`	Outward crescent	Moving away from center (declining)
`stable`	Plain circle	No change since last assessment

Omitting trend renders a plain circle (same as stable).

Descriptions

Further-indented lines below a blip become its description. Descriptions support inline markdown:

  Rust ring: Assess, trend: new
    Evaluating for **performance-critical** services.
    Key benefits: *zero-cost abstractions* and `no GC pauses`.
    - 12x throughput improvement in image pipeline
    - See [evaluation doc](https://wiki.example.com/rust)

Descriptions appear in the quadrant detail view and on hover/click in the main radar view.

Complete Example

tech-radar Fleet Readiness Radar

rings
  Battle Ready
  Sea Trials
  Scouting
  Scuttle

Navigation quadrant: top-right
  Star Charts ring: Battle Ready, trend: stable
  Compass Calibration ring: Sea Trials, trend: up
    New lodestone from Madagascar shows **30% better accuracy**.
  Sextant ring: Battle Ready, trend: stable
  Treasure Maps ring: Scouting, trend: new
  Celestial Tables ring: Scouting, trend: new

Armaments quadrant: top-left
  Cannon Broadside ring: Battle Ready, trend: stable
  Greek Fire ring: Sea Trials, trend: new
  Chain Shot ring: Sea Trials, trend: up
  Catapult ring: Scuttle, trend: down

Provisions quadrant: bottom-left
  Salted Pork ring: Battle Ready, trend: stable
  Citrus Rations ring: Sea Trials, trend: up
    Reduced scurvy cases by **80%** in trial crews.
  Rum Distillation ring: Scouting, trend: new
  Hardtack ring: Scuttle, trend: down
  Barnacle Soup ring: Scuttle, trend: down

Morale quadrant: bottom-right
  Shore Leave ring: Battle Ready, trend: stable
  Sea Shanties ring: Battle Ready, trend: up
  Parrot Companions ring: Scouting, trend: new
  Plank Walking ring: Scuttle, trend: down

Appearance

Every chart accepts the universal appearance directives:

Directive	Effect
`fill-tint`	Soft tinted fills (default).
`fill-solid`	Saturated solid fills.
`fill-outline`	Outline only, no fill.
`no-title`	Hide the title line.

The radar’s legend is the numbered blip listing, so use no-blip-legend rather than the universal no-legend to suppress it.

Quadrant colors default to blue, green, red, and orange going clockwise from top-left, and each blip inherits its quadrant’s color. Override a quadrant with color: <name> on its declaration. Colors come from the active palette — see Colors. Set the palette and light/dark theme at render time with --palette <name> and --theme light|dark|transparent.

Related: quadrant · kanban · raci
Then: Colors & palettes