The original pitch for the game was created by Juliette Seive, and puzzles are edited by Tracy Bennett.

The New York Times Games research director Juliette Seive developed the pitch for what would later become Strands.

[5] She proposed the idea at The New York Times's annual game jam,[6] and prototype of Strands was approved by a concept committee several weeks later.

[5][6] Strands released into beta on March 4, 2024, playable on web browsers through the New York Times Games website.

Bogost also praised Strands for making "the player feel smarter than they really are," which he described as "the purpose of newspaper games.