Master Dash Space

One door for the studio

The studio's knowledge lives in many places. Files are in Dropbox. Code is on GitHub. Deep documentation is on docs.spacemusic.tv. Logins are in 1Password. Notes are in Notion. A lot of it lives only in someone's head.

Each of these places works well on its own. Together they make a maze. If you have been here for years, you know the way. If you started last week, you do not. Notion was supposed to fix this, but it has its own learning curve, and that is the main complaint we heard about it.

Master Dash Space is the one place you open first. It does not replace Dropbox, GitHub or the docs site. It tells you which of them to go to, and how to start once you are there. It is for the studio team only, about ten people, and they will use it as much on a phone in the Werkstatt as on a desk computer.

This document collects what we worked out so far: the idea, the technical setup we recommend, and a first round of designs. It ends with a closer look at one design direction and the reasons behind it.

A signpost, not a library

The most important decision is what Master Dash Space should not be. It is not a wiki and not a second copy of our documentation. It is a signpost. Every tool, service, machine, room, project and piece of knowledge gets one short Card. A Card answers four questions and nothing more:

1. What is it? One line.
2. Where does it live? A Dropbox folder, a GitHub repo, a website, a room.
3. How do I start? One to three short steps.
4. Who do I ask? The Owner, who links to their own Person Card.

After that, a Card links onward to the real place, and to related Cards. Deep documentation stays where it already is. Because Cards are short, they are cheap to write and easy to keep up to date.

Cards are grouped in two ways. A Column says what a Card is about: Werkstatt, Software, Clients and twelve more. A Lens says what kind of knowledge it is, across all Columns: Wissen (know-how), Erfahrung (lessons and finished work) and Sein (who we are). One Card can sit in several Columns. It is still one Card, shown in each place, never a copy.

Figure 1 shows the whole model on one Card. The Card appears in each Column it belongs to (left). It carries one or more Lenses (top). It points outward to the place where the thing really lives (right), and it names a person to ask (bottom). Everything a team member sees on screen comes from these fields. That rule matters later: the design can only show what a Card actually holds.

Two more ideas complete the model. A team member can mark a Card as a Favourite so it shows first for them, on every device. When a project ends, its Card becomes a Finished Card: it stays, gains the Erfahrung Lens, can hold a short Lesson, and leaves the active view.

What is settled

We worked through the concept in one long session and wrote the agreed words down in CONTEXT.md in the repo. These points are decided:

1. Only the studio lead and Claude write Cards. The team reads. So there are no editing screens to design or build. When Claude finishes something new, it offers to add a Card. From time to time it checks Cards for dead links.
2. A Card never holds a secret. It says where the login lives, for example "1Password, vault X".
3. Cards cover physical things too. Machines, PCs and rooms get Cards, just like services and repos.
4. Only big or active projects get a Card. Smaller ones are reached through the list a Card points to.
5. home.spacemusic.tv stays. It remains the live status board for SpaceMusic services. Master Dash Space links to it and does not copy it.
6. It runs on the studio's Hetzner server, behind the studio login. The same server already runs Traefik and Authentik.
7. Claude drafts the first Cards; the studio lead reviews them. Sources: Dropbox JHH SERVER, the home.spacemusic.tv bookmarks, the services list, docs.spacemusic.tv, the repos. First Columns: Werkstatt, Software, SpaceMusic, RAM, Administration.
8. The Start Path waits. A short day-one list for new people exists in the model, but it is hidden from the first page for now. It may return as a first-visit view.

The setup we recommend

Because Claude does almost all the writing, we do not need a content editor app. That leaves two real questions. Where does the content live: in plain files, or in a database? And how free is the design: can we make it look exactly how we want, or only change colours and fonts? Apart from that, we only need two small server parts: the studio login, and a place to save each person's Favourites.

We looked at six kinds of solution, from "use a finished app" to "build everything ourselves":

We recommend A. Each Card is one small text file in Markdown, with its fields (Columns, Lenses, Owner) at the top and [[links]] to other Cards. That is the same format that Tolaria, our own fork of a desktop notes editor, already uses. So the studio lead can open and edit the Cards in Tolaria, Claude can edit the same files from anywhere, and a website is built from them. Figure 2 shows the full path from writing a Card to reading it.

Read Figure 2 from left to right. The studio lead (in Tolaria) or Claude writes a Card file. The file is saved in the GitHub repo. Astro 7, a website builder, turns all Card files into pages with one shared template, so every Card looks the same and every field is checked. A small search tool called Pagefind builds the search index at the same time. The finished site runs on the Hetzner server. The only live parts are a tiny store for Favourites (one SQLite file) and the studio login in front of everything. A team member always comes in through the login, on a desk or on a phone.

Why this shape? Files in Git give us history and undo for free, and Git is where Claude works best. Nothing new has to run apart from the site itself. And the file format will outlive the tool: if Astro turns out to be the wrong choice, another builder can read the same files. The studio lead also sees a bigger use for this pattern. "Tolaria as the editor, a custom website as the reader" could work for other documentation too, and might slowly replace Notion.

To be clear about the status: this is the working plan, and the studio lead liked it. But PRODUCT.md still lists the stack as open, on purpose, until the test in the next section shows that it works with real Cards.

What still needs a test

A few things are not proven yet. None of them changes the idea, but each one needs a short piece of work before we build for real.

1. A render test with ten real Cards. Write ten Cards in a Tolaria vault and turn them into pages with Astro. Blocker: the Tolaria connection for Claude points at a Dropbox path on drive C:. Dropbox is on drive D:. A one-line fix.
2. "Mentioned by" links. Astro does not list which Cards link to a Card. We add a small build step for it.
3. Where Favourites are saved. One SQLite file inside the site is the simplest choice. PocketBase is the fallback if we need more.
4. The address. A jhh.ch address or a spacemusic.tv address. A non-spacemusic.tv address works, but must be added to the login's list of allowed hosts.
5. A Notion inventory. A plain list of what is in Notion, so we know what needs a Card.
6. The logo file. The JHH Studio logo is not in the repo yet.

Seven ways it could look

While the technical side waits for its test, we explored the look. The studio lead set a few fixed points first. The page must be flat, with no round corners. The type should be Swiss and calm, in the spirit of creativeapplications.net. Each Column gets its own line icon and its own muted colour, so people learn to recognise Columns over time. And it must not feel techy (no server-dashboard look) or busy (new people must not get lost).

Inside those fixed points, we designed seven directions. Each one has three pages: the first page (the Door), one Column (Werkstatt) and one Card (Bambu 3D printers), each for desktop and phone. That makes 42 clickable pages. They are in docs/designs/2601006_Claude Design Explorations/ and on prototypes.origin-infinite.com, so the team can try them on their own phones.

1. A · Index. A white editorial grid. Colour only on the Column tiles.
2. B · Signal. Large fields of Column colour with wide capitals.
3. C · Ledger. A typographic list. Almost no pictures.
4. D · Sample Library. Columns as colour swatches in a fixed rack.
5. E · Line Map. Columns as transit lines, Cards as stops.
6. F · Plate Annual. Each Column as a plate in a design annual, with crop marks.
7. G · Plain App. A standard app with a sidebar. The safe option.

After the first review, we did one round of simplification. The early designs had many small labels and numbers: "Column 12 of 15", Card totals, taglines, helper captions. They looked busy and did not help anyone find anything. We removed all of them. The rule now is simple: only show what helps you find something and act on it. The small counts inside filter buttons stayed, because they tell you whether a filter is worth a click.

No direction is chosen yet.

Direction A, page by page

Direction A, Index, is the plainest of the seven, which makes it a good example to explain the thinking. It is used here as a worked example, not as the final choice. The page is white, the type is black, and thin black lines divide the page into areas. Colour appears only where it means something: a Column. All reading text is set in one clean sans-serif (Instrument Sans). A small typewriter-style face is used only for labels and for addresses such as Dropbox paths, so you can tell at a glance "this is a place, not a sentence".

The Door

Door · desktop

The order is the agreed priority: search first, then Favourites, then the Columns. Search is the largest thing on the page, because it is the fastest way in for anyone who already knows what they want. Its placeholder shows real examples ("Laser cutter, Hetzner, 1Password") so people see what search covers.

The Lens switch sits directly under search, as one row of four flat buttons. Favourites are small on purpose: a colour chip, a name and the Column. They are for people who already know their way around, so they do not need to shout.

The fifteen Columns are equal tiles. Each has its colour, one large line icon, a name and one line of text. Colour and shape are recognised before words are read, so after a few visits you find Werkstatt by its brown and its hammer without reading. The colours are muted, so fifteen of them can sit side by side and still feel calm. The icon is drawn large and cut off by the tile edge. This is a move borrowed from design magazines; it makes the grid feel designed, not generated. At the bottom, one link leads to the live status board at home.spacemusic.tv, instead of copying it.

The Werkstatt Column

Werkstatt · desktop

The page opens with the same brown and the same hammer you clicked on the Door, now very large, next to the Column name. It confirms where you are with the signal you just used. Below it are the only numbers in the design: the Lens and Active/Finished filters, each with a small count.

Each Card tile is tinted in the Werkstatt colour and shows its own icon, its Lens, its name and one line. It also answers the two questions people ask most: Where and Ask. Many visits can end right here, without opening the Card at all. A small star in the corner makes a Card a Favourite.

The Card: Bambu 3D printers

Card · desktop

The top of the Card says where you came from (Door / Werkstatt), which Column and Lens it belongs to, its name in large type, and one line on what it is. "Add to Favourites" is one button on the right. Below that is room for photos. Machines and rooms are much easier to recognise in a picture than in words. The grey striped boxes are placeholders until we take real photos.

The main column follows the four questions in order. What it is in a few sentences. How to start in three numbered steps with large numerals, so you can follow them while standing at the printer. Links onward, where each link shows its destination (bambulab.com, Dropbox, 1Password) so no click is a surprise. The side column holds the short facts: where it lives, where the login is (the vault, never the password), who to ask, and which other Cards mention this one.

At the bottom, Related Cards reuse the tile style from the Werkstatt page. Each tile is tinted in the colour of its own Column; Bambu Studio, for example, is in the Software teal. Every block on this page comes from a Card field. Nothing needs data we do not have. Text in [square brackets] marks facts we still have to fill in.

On the phone

Door, Werkstatt and Card · phone (top of each page)

Door

Werkstatt

Card

The phone shows the same content in the same order. It is not a separate app, just the same pages with a narrower layout. Columns go two across, and Favourites scroll sideways. On the Card, one thing moves: Ask comes up right after the steps. Someone standing in the Werkstatt with a phone most often needs a person next.

Why this matters

The best door is the one you stop noticing: you open it, find the thing, and go.

We started with a maze: knowledge spread across Dropbox, GitHub, Notion, the docs site and people's heads. Every part of this plan is shaped to get someone out of that maze in seconds. The concept keeps each Card short and pointing outward, so it stays true and cheap to keep up to date. The setup keeps Cards as plain files in Git, so they outlive any one tool and Claude can look after them. The design keeps the page quiet, so colour and shape do the finding before anyone has to read.

If we get this right, a new team member finds the laser cutter settings on their first day without asking anyone. If we get it wrong, Master Dash Space becomes one more place to look. The next two steps decide which: a render test with ten real Cards, and a choice of design direction.

Glossary

Terms used in this document, in plain language.

1Password

The studio's password manager. Cards say which vault holds a login; they never hold the login itself.

Astro

A website builder. It reads our Card files and turns them into finished web pages with one shared template.

Authentik

The studio login system at auth.spacemusic.tv. Only team members get past it.

Card

One short entry about one thing: what it is, where it lives, how to start, who to ask, and links onward.

Column

One of fifteen subject areas, such as Werkstatt or Software. Says what a Card is about.

Door

The first page of Master Dash Space: search, Favourites and the Columns.

Erfahrung

Experience. The Lens for lessons learned and finished work.

Favourite

A Card a team member has marked for themselves so it shows first, on every device.

Finished Card

A Card for something that has ended. It stays, gains the Erfahrung Lens and leaves the active view.

Git, GitHub

Git keeps the full history of every change to a set of files. GitHub is where our Git repos are stored online.

Hetzner EX44

The studio's rented server. It already runs the login and other SpaceMusic services.

Lens

One of three ways to look across all Columns: Wissen, Erfahrung or Sein.

Markdown

A simple way to write formatted text in a plain text file. Cards are Markdown files.

Owner

The team member to ask about the thing a Card describes. Links to their Person Card.

Pagefind

A small search tool that builds a search index when the website is built. Search covers Cards only.

Person Card

The Card for one team member: role, what to ask them, how to reach them.

Sein

Being. The Lens for who we are: people, values, the first day.

SQLite

A small database that is just one file. Enough to save each person's Favourites.

Start Path

A short, ordered list of Cards for a new team member's first day. Hidden for now.

Tolaria

A desktop notes editor that works on a folder of Markdown files. The studio runs its own fork.

Traefik

The traffic router on the server. It sends each web address to the right service and puts the login in front.

Wissen

Knowledge. The Lens for know-how: how things work and how to use them.