yvyra 0.1.0 — beta

This is a beta version of yvyra. The core MCMC engine and diagnostic tools are functional, and MCMC results are cross-validated against upstream MrBayes 3.2.7a after each change to the source code (deterministic match under identical seeds and settings). Still, the software has not been validated extensively enough for use in published studies, and results should be treated as preliminary.

Several features from the roadmap are not yet integrated, including ancestral state constraints (root priors), continuous traits, estimated transition rates, and clock models. These are planned for upcoming releases.

If you are interested in using yvyra for your work, or would like to collaborate on its development, I would be glad to hear from you. Contact: Tiago Tresoldi (tiago.tresoldi@lingfil.uu.se).

G U I D E

yvyra

Bayesian inference of phylogeny for linguistics and culture

yvyra (Guarani: "tree") adapts the Mk model framework (Lewis 2001) and the MrBayes MCMC sampler (Ronquist et al. 2012) for historical linguistics, stemmatology, and cultural phylogenetics, with asymmetric evolution models, character weights, confidence-weighted tips, and per-character diagnostics.

Asymmetric modelsDirectional cost matrices: lenition is common, fortition is rare
Character weightsWeight characters by comparative importance
Confidence tipsEncode uncertainty in fragmentary attestations
Character diagnosticsWhich characters drive each clade
Sensitivity analysisTest robustness to individual character removal
Runs in your browserNo installation. Full engine compiled to WebAssembly

Run an analysis

Loading yvyra engine (1.3 MB)...
Generated NEXUS
Raw output
How to cite yvyra:
Tresoldi, T. 2026. yvyra: Bayesian phylogenetic inference for linguistic and cultural data. Software available at yvyra.tresoldi.org.

Please also cite the underlying methods:
Ronquist, F. et al. 2012. MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian phylogenetic inference and model selection across a large model space. Syst. Biol. 61:539-542.
Lewis, P. O. 2001. A likelihood approach to estimating phylogeny from discrete morphological character data. Syst. Biol. 50:913-925.

Source: github.com/tresoldi/yvyra

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