Files
lanework/DESIGN/README.md
T
rzen adfe87fdec Batch of eleven Minor design-review fixes across the corpus
- 02: welcome counts are live items only; failed first opens still record;
  duplicate-identity registry records merge silently (newest wins);
  BoardStore's FolderWatcher pointer reads "below"
- 11: lane-header new-card button inventoried (click names its target lane,
  overriding 04's ⌘N rule — cross-referenced there); attachments quiet-add
  affordance listed as a twin; Undo/Redo and Pull/Push rows gain the
  abnormal-state pause, read-only lock, and unresolvable-remote conditions;
  welcome scope added to Reveal in Finder
- 03/11: one lane context menu (header or empty space) with the full
  inventory, replacing the split rows
- 09: instantiated boards are never in git mode — actual mode follows
  detection at the destination (repo-nested possible)
- 08: the app never writes an existing CLAUDE.user.md; one-time rescue
  creation stated as the exception
- README: pathfinder path corrected to ../../Kanban

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01HJ7PhFNmQ19bvy9RMD6GSb
2026-07-26 21:09:23 -04:00

2.6 KiB

Lanework — Design Documents

A ground-up rewrite of the Kanban app, to ship as Lanework on the Mac App Store. The old repo (../../Kanban, one level above this repository — not the rewrite's own Kanban/ source folder, which shares the codename) was a pathfinder — it never shipped, but it is the reference implementation and the source of hard-won decisions. This design starts from a clean slate and keeps only what earned its place. The rewrite keeps the internal codename Kanban (bundle id dev.rzen.indie.Kanban).

Each document covers one aspect of the design. Within each:

  • Decisions — settled, either carried over from the old app or newly made.
  • Changes from Kanban — where this rewrite deliberately diverges.
  • Open questions — flagged for iteration; nothing here is implicitly settled.

Index

Doc Aspect
00-vision.md What Lanework is, who it's for, goals and non-goals
01-storage-format.md On-disk contract: folders, frontmatter, ordering, tombstones
02-architecture.md App structure: source of truth, stores, watchers, concurrency
03-board-ui.md Board window: layout, lanes, cards, styling, templates
04-interactions.md Selection, drag & drop, keyboard, clipboard, search
05-card-window.md The card window: Markdown preview/edit, attachments
06-history-undo.md Git-backed undo/redo and history
07-sync-collab.md Board modes: local-only, git; iCloud Drive warned against
08-agent-integration.md AI agents as first-class users of the board
09-templates.md Board templates: inventory and definition format
10-accessibility.md VoiceOver, text scaling, visual accommodations
11-command-nexus.md The command Nexus — every command and action: bindings, contexts, customizability

Deferred design iterations

None remaining — the card window (05-card-window.md), toolbar (03-board-ui.md ▸ Toolbar), and styling controls (03-board-ui.md ▸ Styling ▸ Controls) each had their focused pass and are settled.

Wishlist

Ideas worth keeping but outside the committed design live in ../WISHLIST.md.

Terminology

The rewrite adopts lane as the canonical term for what the old app called a column (it's in the name: Lane-work). "Column" survives only when referring to the old app or to interior card-grid columns inside a wide lane.