Muse voice primitive — the negotiation surfaces

Phase-1 design mockup for MUSE-VOICE-PRIMITIVE. The voice renders the same five negotiation events in two registers: ACTIVE (Workshop — Muse is a full chat pane, surfaces arrive inline in the conversation) and AMBIENT (Venue — Muse is a quiet presence in a busy back-office: a corner orb, badges, small toasts that expand to the same cards on click). One event model, two volumes. Copy shown at Zen depth throughout — it says "your team", never "agents"; every surface is honest about what the faculties actually know. Stubs say so; nothing fabricates advice.

Memory — what is true Accord — what is agreed Heart — what matters Conscience — what is right Muse — the voice Emerald — recommended / counsel Amber — needs your word
WORKSHOP · ACTIVE REGISTER

Muse is a full chat pane

The user is already talking to Muse. Negotiation surfaces arrive inline — in the stream and around the input — at conversational size. Nothing modal; everything answerable in place.

SURFACE 1 · COUNSEL STRIP
Workshop — Muse
Should GitHub sync live in Memory or here in Muse?
MUSEThere's a queued decision on exactly this — github-sync-home. Want the full ceremony, or just where the room leans?
🧭

In 3 of 4 similar calls you followed your team's recommendation. The room leans A here: keep the pipe with your library and let the voice stay a voice. Nothing about this call looks unusual against your history.

why

3 similar past calls — the recommendation was followed 2 times.

  • Cited precedentsmemory-ref-locators muse-formats-peer wbench-portable-graph
  • Matched rule"Connectors live with the service that owns the data."
  • Mandate line — Muse mandate §3: the voice never becomes the pipe.
Message Muse…

A full-width strip near the input — collapsible, paragraph height, never a one-line chip (house ruling). The why expander (shown open) reveals the precedent math, cited precedents, matched rules, and mandate lines. Never interrupts typing.

SURFACE 2 · DECISION CEREMONY
DECISION · github-sync-home ZenNormalTechnical

Where GitHub connectivity lives — which service owns the sync pipe between your library and GitHub.

Your library keeps the books and runs the loading dock for shipments to and from GitHub; your companion just asks the library to fetch or send — the voice never becomes the pipe.

Tradeoff — ownership vs. speed. A keeps plumbing with the data owner; B ships fastest but turns the voice into infrastructure; C is cleanest on paper but adds a whole service to feed.

A — Memory connector + Muse tool surface
FOR
  • the data owner runs the dock
  • the voice stays thin
  • matches every connector precedent
AGAINST
  • your library takes on the sign-in plumbing
  • one more duty for Memory
B — Muse as the bridge
FOR
  • fastest to demo
  • Muse already speaks tools
AGAINST
  • the voice becomes the pipe
  • every host inherits GitHub plumbing
  • keys end up in the wrong room
C — Separate integrations service
FOR
  • clean isolation
  • nothing existing grows a new duty
AGAINST
  • a whole new service to run and secure
  • heavy for one integration
You decide — I'm staying out

Hands the call to the room's recommendation and records that you stood back.

Options are soft one-tap votes; the single recommended option carries the ✓ prefix and a quiet emerald halo — never louder than that. Board cards render this permanently Zen; the depth toggle appears only in cockpit surfaces like this chat pane.

A queued decision rendered in the stream: proposal, gentle ELI5, the tradeoff in one line, then soft full-width vote buttons with FOR/AGAINST micro-columns (max 3 reasons a side), plus the standing-back choice at the end.

SURFACE 3 · AMBER YOUR-MOVE
Needs your word

Did Memory's viewer work land the way you meant?

Memory shipped 0.6.152 and asks you to confirm or correct — one word from you settles it.

Whole-box amber-tinted border, never an edge bar (board-layout-correction, 2026-07-11). The entire card is the click target — zero buttons, chips, or ids inside board-level cards. Clicking steps into MEMORY-MUSE-VIEWERS with full context.

SURFACE 4 · CONTESTED-RESOURCE PROMPT · LADDER RUNG 3
CONTESTED RESOURCE · RESOLVED BY RULEdismisses in 12s

Two of your team claimed the same file.

LEASE-MUSE-7f3a memory://david/projects/muse/src/server/chat-handler.ts
holder-wins applied — muse-canvas keeps the lease; muse-voice queued behind it. override

Fast and ephemeral — the rule already resolved it; the toast is a courtesy with a live TTL. Override hands the lease to the waiting teammate; doing nothing lets it fade.

SURFACE 5 · CABINET CONVENE RESULT
THE CABINET HAS MET · MUSE-VOICE-GH-TOOLS

The cabinet met on whether the voice may expose GitHub fetch-and-send as a tool surface. Three seats spoke, one held back, and nothing fences this bundle. The room leans yes — provided the library keeps the dock.

MEMORYSUPPORTS "Your library already runs two connectors this shape; it can carry a third."
ACCORDSUPPORTS "Precedent github-sync-home holds — the library runs the dock, the voice only asks."
HEARTABSTAINS "Heart hasn't learned what matters here yet."
CONSCIENCECAUTIONS "Least-credential principle: the voice must never hold keys the library already keeps."
STATE VARIANT — WHEN ANY SEAT OBJECTS, THE WHOLE BUNDLE FENCES
CONSCIENCEOBJECTS "Nothing spends in your name without your word."
BUNDLE FENCED Conscience objects — this bundle will not run. No seat can lift a fence; only your word does. Muse carries the objection to you exactly as spoken.

One calm paragraph, then each seat's stance + line in the user's own terms. Seats that haven't learned enough say so — honest stubs, never fabricated advice.

VENUE · AMBIENT REGISTER

Muse is a quiet presence

The user is working — bookings, refunds, rotas. Muse lives as a corner orb with a badge; events land as small corner toasts. Clicking a toast or the orb expands the same card the active register shows, at reduced size. Board-level cards here stay permanently Zen.

CONTEXT · THE BACK OFFICE, WITH MUSE IN THE CORNER
Venue — Back office · Bookings
BOOKINGEXPERIENCETIMESTATUS
M. Okafor ×4Candle-making14:00confirmed
J. Reyes ×2Wheel-throwing15:30confirmed
Party of 8 — Linden & co.Candle-making17:00deposit due
A. Brandt ×1Open studio18:15confirmed
MUSEA decision waits for your word — where GitHub connectivity lives. Tap to open the ceremony.
3

The orb badge counts everything pending (decisions + needs-your-word + cabinet results). Toasts stack in the corner, newest on top, and never cover the work area's active row.

SURFACE 1 · COUNSEL STRIP — AMBIENT
🧭 Counsel is ready on this call — the room leans one way. read ▸
EXPANDS ON CLICK ▾ (same strip, reduced)
🧭

In 3 of 4 similar calls you followed your team's recommendation. The room leans A here: keep the pipe with your library and let the voice stay a voice.

why

3 similar past calls — the recommendation was followed 2 times.

  • Cited precedentsmemory-ref-locators muse-formats-peer wbench-portable-graph
  • Matched rule"Connectors live with the service that owns the data."
  • Mandate line — Muse mandate §3: the voice never becomes the pipe.

No chat input exists here, so counsel rides the orb: a quiet one-line invitation that opens the full paragraph-height strip. The strip itself never shrinks to a chip.

SURFACE 2 · DECISION CEREMONY — AMBIENT
A decision waits for your word — where GitHub connectivity lives.
EXPANDS ON CLICK ▾ (same ceremony card, ~90% scale · permanently Zen — no depth toggle)
DECISION · github-sync-home

Where GitHub connectivity lives — which service owns the sync pipe between your library and GitHub.

Your library keeps the books and runs the loading dock for shipments to and from GitHub; your companion just asks the library to fetch or send — the voice never becomes the pipe.

A — Memory connector + Muse tool surface
FOR
  • the data owner runs the dock
  • the voice stays thin
AGAINST
  • your library takes on the sign-in plumbing
B — Muse as the bridge
FOR
  • fastest to demo
AGAINST
  • the voice becomes the pipe
C — Separate integrations service
FOR
  • clean isolation
AGAINST
  • a whole new service to feed
You decide — I'm staying out

Same one-tap votes; the toast collapses back to the orb after your word is recorded.

SURFACE 3 · AMBER YOUR-MOVE — AMBIENT
Needs your word — Memory asks confirm-or-correct.
EXPANDS ON CLICK ▾ (same card, whole box is the target)
Needs your word

Did Memory's viewer work land the way you meant?

Memory shipped 0.6.152 and asks you to confirm or correct — one word from you settles it.

The amber tone is reserved: only needs-your-word items color the badge amber; everything else stays Muse gold. Clicking anywhere steps into MEMORY-MUSE-VIEWERS.

SURFACE 4 · CONTESTED-RESOURCE PROMPT — AMBIENT · LADDER RUNG 3
Lease contest resolved by rule — muse-canvas holds. override ▸ · fades in 12s
EXPANDS ON CLICK ▾ (same toast, full detail)
CONTESTED RESOURCE · RESOLVED BY RULEdismisses in 12s

Two of your team claimed the same file.

LEASE-MUSE-7f3a · memory://david/projects/muse/src/server/chat-handler.ts
holder-wins applied — muse-canvas keeps the lease; muse-voice queued behind it. override

Ambient default is the one-liner only; it never demands attention because the rule already acted. Expansion is for the curious or the overriding.

SURFACE 5 · CABINET CONVENE RESULT — AMBIENT
The cabinet has met on MUSE-VOICE-GH-TOOLS — leaning yes, one caution. read ▸
EXPANDS ON CLICK ▾ (same seats, same lines)
THE CABINET HAS MET · MUSE-VOICE-GH-TOOLS

Three seats spoke, one held back, and nothing fences this bundle. The room leans yes — provided the library keeps the dock.

MEMORYSUPPORTS "Your library already runs two connectors this shape; it can carry a third."
ACCORDSUPPORTS "Precedent github-sync-home holds — the library runs the dock, the voice only asks."
HEARTABSTAINS "Heart hasn't learned what matters here yet."
CONSCIENCECAUTIONS "Least-credential principle: the voice must never hold keys the library already keeps."

In ambient, a fenced bundle is the one event allowed to badge the orb red and hold the toast open — a fence is never quiet.