CABINET
Intro
A design walkthrough

Let’s shape v2 together.

This is the current design thinking for your personal agent, laid out as a short guided tour — the name, the look, the ideas behind it. React to each stop with a tap, a rating, or a note. At the end you’ll get a block of feedback to paste back into our chat.

Nothing is installed and nothing leaves your browser until you copy it yourself.

About 11 stops · two minutes
01 · The name

First: what do we call it?

PALS reads like a friendly buddy-bot. But the system is really your chief of staff — you’re the principal; it keeps your records and runs your affairs. My recommendation is Cabinet: the cabinet where you keep things, and the cabinet of advisors that acts for you.

02 · The idea

It shouldn’t be a chatbot.

V1 looks like ChatGPT because it’s built the same way: a list of conversations and a message log. That hides everything that makes this thing special — the work it does on its own, your whole life’s data, the fact that it runs your server. v2 makes it a situation room: it opens on what needs you, shows your operation at a glance, and lets you watch it work. Chat becomes one way in, not the whole building.

Rate the reframe
Not convincedYes, exactly
03 · Colour

The palette: the campaign desk.

Warm walnut ground, brass for the system’s own voice and activity, aged paper only where you sign off on something, one alert red. A bespoke desk at night — not a sterile dashboard.

Walnut
#171009
Brass
#c99b53
Paper
#e7dcc3
Patina
#7fa093
Vermilion
#d5573b
04 · The voice

It speaks in a serif.

The agent’s voice — briefings, its read of your day — is set in a book serif, the way something considered is written. Data and labels are a precise mono. That pairing is the personality; it’s the opposite of the flat sans every chatbot uses.

The morning briefing
Good morning, Ben. A quiet day — protein three mornings straight, and weight still drifting down.
PROTEIN 142 / 185 g · WEIGHT 178.4 lb · −0.6 / 7d
Rate the voice
Too muchLove it
05 · Instruments

Your data as instruments.

The signature idea: your numbers are rendered as engraved dials and rules with a needle that settles into place — a coherent family of instruments, not generic bar charts. Here’s today’s protein.

142 / 185 g protein1,840 / 2,300 kcal · 3 meals
06 · The building

Five surfaces, not a thread list.

Instead of one chat screen, v2 has five places. Tap the ones that excite you most — it tells me where the value is for you.

Today
Opens on what needs you — the briefing, alerts, your vitals.
Domains
Nutrition, training, health, money… each a dashboard plus the agent’s read.
Ops
A live feed of everything it does on its own — with one-tap rollback.
Brain
What it knows about you — inspectable and editable.
Threads
Conversations, kept as a searchable archive with their results attached.
Select any that stand out
07 · Your morning

This is what opens.

Not a blank prompt — a briefing in the system’s voice, the two things that actually need you, and your vitals as instruments. Here’s a taste; the link opens the full screen.

Tue · 7 Jul · 06:12⌘K
Good morning, Ben. A quiet day — two things worth a minute.
Protein three mornings straight and weight drifting down. Only real items: a refill that runs out Saturday, and dining running hot.
Metformin runs out Saturday
8 tablets left. I can reorder from your July plan.
Open the full Today screen →
Rate this home screen
MissNailed it
08 · Autonomy you can watch

You told it to stop asking.

So the safety moves from asking-first to watching-after. Ops is a live ledger of everything the agent does on its own — what, why, and the result — with one-tap rollback backed by backups and git. It’s what lets full autonomy feel safe instead of opaque.

How important is this to you?
Don’t need itEssential
09 · How you drive it

One key, from anywhere.

A command bar (⌘K) is the universal way in — type or speak an intent from any screen and it routes: a quick log, a question, a build, a view. A quiet presence strip along the bottom shows what it’s doing right now. The front door is a command line, not a chat box.

Does this interaction model work for you?
10 · Where I start

What do I build first?

The full v2 is a big build. I’d rather ship one real surface you can use than half of everything. Where’s the most value for you first?

11 · Open floor

Anything else on your mind?

Reactions, half-formed ideas, things I missed, things you hate. Optional — but this is where the good stuff usually is.

Done · thank you

That’s your feedback.

Copy the block below and paste it back into our chat. It’s the whole tour — every answer, labelled — and it’s all I need to start building the right thing.

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