README: lead with the demo and the pitch, move reference into docs/ - #11
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ike is a TUI and the README had no picture of it. People decide from the screenshot, and there wasn't one. Recorded with VHS, from Charm — the same people as Bubble Tea, which the TUI is built on. The tape and its seed script are checked in, so the demo is regenerated with `vhs assets/demo.tape` when the UI changes rather than being a hand-recorded artifact nobody can reproduce. It drives the real binary, built from the working tree, against a matrix seeded into a fresh mktemp directory — recording a demo can never touch the matrix you actually use. Twenty-five seconds, one take: capture a task with `ike add` from the shell, open the matrix and find it already there, move around, open an attached plan, capture another task with `a`, reclassify it with `m 3`, and undo that. It ends on the matrix rather than at a bare prompt so the loop reads as a tool rather than a session that finished. The undo beat is deliberate. The status line says `undid move "Reply to the packaging thread" to Delegate It` and the hint bar grows `U redo`, so the frame explains itself without a caption. Two VHS traps, recorded because both cost a run: its parser rejects `Output`/`Screenshot` paths containing a dot or a segment starting with `-`, so paths have to stay simple and relative; and a `Screenshot` as the final command races teardown and silently writes nothing, which looks exactly like the program under test having crashed. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The README was 509 lines of good reference documentation arranged as
reference documentation. Someone arriving from a link met "An Eisenhower
matrix task manager, named for the president who popularized the method"
and had to read past the matrix, spaces, and cross-machine transfer to
reach `brew install` on line 98.
Rearranged around what a visitor needs in order: what this is and why it
is unusual, how to install it, how to start, then the two reference
tables people come back for. 233 lines.
The hook is now the agent story, because that is the part that is
actually unusual. "Another terminal to-do list" is a crowded claim; "a
matrix an agent can manage, that can also hand a task back to one" is
not, and both halves already exist and are documented. The Eisenhower
attribution is kept but demoted to a clause — it is context, not a
reason to install anything.
Two new pages carry what came out, whole rather than summarised:
docs/agents.md MCP and delegation together, since they are the same
subject from two directions — including the consent
gates, the permission-mode measurements, effort
levels, and where plans are stored.
docs/data.md spaces, export/import, the file's durability
guarantees and the flock caveat, undo/redo, and
renaming quadrants.
Each keeps a real summary in the README with a link, rather than a bare
pointer — the common cases still answer themselves without a second
page load.
The version-stamped `go build` moved to CONTRIBUTING.md, where a
from-source build belongs, alongside how to regenerate the demo. The
attestation example is updated to v0.2.0. Verified every local link and
image path resolves, and that the ldflags symbol still stamps.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Three things, all docs: a demo GIF, a rewritten README opening, and the
reference material split into
docs/.1. A demo GIF
ike is a TUI and the README had no picture of it. For a terminal app that is the
single biggest thing between a visitor and an install.
Twenty-five seconds, one take: capture a task with
ike addfrom the shell,open the matrix and find it already sitting there, move around, open an attached
plan, capture another task with
a, reclassify it withm3, and undo that.It ends on the matrix rather than at a bare prompt, so the loop reads as a tool
rather than a session that finished. The undo beat is deliberate — the status
line reads
undid move "Reply to the packaging thread" to Delegate Itand thehint bar grows
U redo, so the frame explains itself without a caption.Reproducible, not hand-recorded. Recorded with
VHS, from Charm — the same people as
Bubble Tea, which the TUI is built on. Both inputs are checked in:
assets/demo.tapeis the script, andassets/demo-seed.shbuilds ike from theworking tree and seeds a matrix into a fresh
mktemp -d, so a recording cannever touch the real one. When the UI changes the demo is regenerated, not
re-performed.
Two VHS traps, in case you re-run it: its parser rejects
Output/Screenshotpaths containing a dot or a segment starting with
-; and aScreenshotas thefinal command races teardown and silently writes nothing, which looks exactly
like the program under test having crashed.
2. Lead with the pitch
509 lines of good reference documentation, arranged as reference documentation.
Someone arriving from a link met "An Eisenhower matrix task manager, named for
the president who popularized the method" and had to read past the matrix,
spaces, and cross-machine transfer to reach
brew installon line 98.Now: what this is and why it is unusual → install → quickstart → the two
reference tables people come back for. 233 lines.
The hook is the agent story, because that is the part that is actually unusual.
"Another terminal to-do list" is a crowded claim; "a matrix an agent can manage,
that can also hand a task back to one" is not, and both halves already ship. The
Eisenhower attribution is kept but demoted to a clause — it is context, not a
reason to install anything.
3. Reference material into
docs/Moved whole rather than summarised away:
docs/agents.mddocs/data.mdflockcaveat, undo/redo, renaming quadrantsEach keeps a real summary in the README with a link, not a bare pointer, so the
common cases still answer themselves without a second page load.
The version-stamped
go buildmoved toCONTRIBUTING.mdwhere a from-sourcebuild belongs, alongside how to regenerate the demo. The
gh attestation verifyexample is updated to v0.2.0.
Checks
Every local link and image path resolves (checked programmatically), the
ldflagssymbol still stamps (ike version v0.2.0-1-gf8bb34c), and the demowas verified frame by frame. Docs only — no code changes.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code