distributions3
distributions3 0.3.0 adds sample-based distributions and likelihood derivatives
Comparison · Analytics
Holistics vs TwoSampleMR
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Holistics and TwoSampleMR — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Holistics vs TwoSampleMR: at a glance
What is Holistics?
Holistics keeps fencing in the AI layer it spent the summer building.
Holistics ships small, frequent notes - often one or two sentences - across three strands: AI features in Explore and Chat, as-code control of presentation through AML, and workspace hygiene like file history and dark mode. The August entries are entirely about the AI layer's edges rather than its capabilities: an AI user attribute for restricting what the assistant can reach, and now redaction of the data it is allowed to see. Bodies are frequently a single line, so scope has to be read from the headline and the release-note URL.
What is TwoSampleMR?
The flagship Mendelian randomization package is auditing its own estimators, one bootstrap at a time.
TwoSampleMR is the MRC-IEU package for two-sample Mendelian randomization against OpenGWAS. Its 2026 releases are a sustained correctness review rather than feature work: 0.7.9 fixed bootstrap standard errors in mr_mode() and mr_rucker_bootstrap() that had been inflated since v0.6.30, and repaired two Rucker functions that were returning malformed objects. Point estimates were not affected by the bootstrap bug.
Holistics vs TwoSampleMR: editorial side-by-side
Holistics
5.0ANALYTICS
Holistics keeps fencing in the AI layer it spent the summer building.
◆ Current state
Holistics ships small, frequent notes - often one or two sentences - across three strands: AI features in Explore and Chat, as-code control of presentation through AML, and workspace hygiene like file history and dark mode. The August entries are entirely about the AI layer's edges rather than its capabilities: an AI user attribute for restricting what the assistant can reach, and now redaction of the data it is allowed to see. Bodies are frequently a single line, so scope has to be read from the headline and the release-note URL.
◆ Where it's heading
The AI work has moved through a recognizable sequence: capability first with chart suggestions, then observability with AI Chat Insights for admins, then access control with an AI-specific user attribute, and now field-level redaction. Access control decides which rows the assistant can reach; redaction decides what it may see inside them - the same governance thread at finer grain. Alongside it, Holistics keeps pulling presentation into AML - custom charts, theme palettes, currency formats - so what analysts used to click is versioned as code.
◆ Prediction
With reach and visibility both now constrained, the remaining gap is accountability - logging what the assistant answered against which data - though the one-line release notes rarely signal scope far enough ahead to read the next step confidently.
TwoSampleMR
0.0ANALYTICS
The flagship Mendelian randomization package is auditing its own estimators, one bootstrap at a time.
◆ Current state
TwoSampleMR is the MRC-IEU package for two-sample Mendelian randomization against OpenGWAS. Its 2026 releases are a sustained correctness review rather than feature work: 0.7.9 fixed bootstrap standard errors in mr_mode() and mr_rucker_bootstrap() that had been inflated since v0.6.30, and repaired two Rucker functions that were returning malformed objects. Point estimates were not affected by the bootstrap bug.
◆ Where it's heading
The pattern across these releases is a package being read line by line — a copy-paste weight vector in ldsc_rg(), chunking that produced zero splits for short SNP lists, penalisation recycled across the wrong SNPs, dead code paths removed, and regression tests added behind each fix. Alongside it runs a mechanical modernization pass: seq_len() for loop indices, tidyr in place of reshape2, current ggplot2 idioms, and the OpenGWAS URL migration. Feature work is limited to forest plot presentation.
◆ Prediction
Expect the audit to continue through the remaining bootstrap and jackknife routines, with releases staying in the 0.7.x patch range and each fix arriving with its own regression test.
Alternatives to Holistics and TwoSampleMR
Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Holistics or TwoSampleMR.
Basedash
Basedash keeps pushing its data out of the workspace — now to people without accounts
RStudio
RStudio ships through release branches, and the notes are commit messages
dbt Core
dbt Fusion's second beta is adapter work: ClickHouse gets materializations, indexes, and catalogs
Fulcrum
Fulcrum is betting its whole map stack on Esri, with a hard Google Maps cutoff on September 1.
Dovetail
Dovetail spent July opening doors to other tools and August making its own rooms easier to enter.
See all Holistics alternatives → · See all TwoSampleMR alternatives →
Recent activity from Holistics and TwoSampleMR
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3d agoHolisticsAI user attribute restricts AI access to sensitive data
- 3d agoHolisticsRedact data exposed to the AI assistant
- 17d agoHolisticsCustom currency and unit formats, per field
- 20d agoHolisticsFile history: per-file version timeline and restore
- 23d agoHolisticsCustom charts become AML code with GUI authoring
- 24d agoHolisticsColor palettes can be assigned at the theme level
- 1mo agoTwoSampleMRBootstrap standard errors corrected in mode and Rucker estimators
- 2mo agoTwoSampleMRWrong weight vector and chunking fixes across the estimator set
- 2mo agoTwoSampleMRDeprecated ggplot2 idioms and dead code removed
- 3mo agoTwoSampleMROpenGWAS URLs migrated and Wald ratio warnings quieted
- 4mo agoTwoSampleMRCategorized forest plots aligned with the published figures
- 4mo agoTwoSampleMRFurther internal code optimizations
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Holistics and TwoSampleMR?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Holistics is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Holistics better than TwoSampleMR?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Holistics is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Holistics?
Top Holistics alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Holistics alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/holistics for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to TwoSampleMR?
Top TwoSampleMR alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "TwoSampleMR alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/twosamplemr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.