Build and reuse

What could you build from what you already own? Say what you want from a build, ask for proposals, and pick the ones you will do. Every proposal rests on items in your inventory; what is missing becomes a search you run on Marketplace.

Built so far

What I want from a build. A few answers kept once and read by every proposal: your interests, the effort you will put in, your skills, the tools you have, whether you open devices up, a budget with its currency, a radius, and whether you buy used, new or either. It is the same record as your profile; the skills are rated there, and the form here shows them in a line.

Proposals. Muse Spark reads your inventory and the project templates through tools (the items a build may count on, one item in full, the catalog of templates) and proposes up to five projects, each with the item it would use for every requirement and a line of why, what is missing, the effort, the extra spending it expects and the unknowns to check before starting. The rules keep a proposal only where the inventory backs it: an allocation must name an item you have, usable (not gone, not meant for sale or giving away) and of a kind the requirement takes; anything else is dropped and said. Nothing is invented: a template the data does not hold is not proposed, and a toaster called "old laptop" does not become a laptop.

Templates are data. A project is a YAML file under backend/app/projects/data/: what it is for, the practical result, the effort and skills, a typical cost, the requirements (each with the kinds of item that fill it, whether it blocks the build, and the profile a search for it runs under), the steps, the safety lines and the guidance by name. Ten ship: a homework workstation, a home server and backup, a home automation server, a smart mirror, a document camera for calls, a home music setup, a retro console on the TV, an arcade coffee table, a laptop with a broken screen used as a desktop, and a vacuum restored with a fitting tool. The model never changes them.

Projects. A proposal becomes a project in the proposed state with exploratory allocations. Shortlist it, or Select it: selection commits its items, and a committed item is reserved in the inventory, for as long as a selected, building or done project counts on it. One item is committed to one such build at a time: a second project that wants it is answered with the conflict, and moves the item only when you say so, which opens the requirement again on the project that lost it. Abandon releases what nobody else holds. A selected project moves to building once every blocking requirement is filled, then to done.

The budget. What the selected set (selected, being built or done) expects to spend, against the budget you set, is one line above the projects. Find it on Marketplace turns a missing requirement into a search request under the requirement's profile, with the budget left as its top price. Use it fills a requirement with an item of yours the proposal overlooked or you bought since, saved in the inventory first; it must be of a kind the requirement takes, and a search open for it is marked found.

The build pack. For a selected project, one Markdown document written by the rules from what stands on the day: the goal, the items with their accepted values (never a serial number, a location or a note), what is still needed with the search opened for it and its documented candidates, the costs with their dates, the tools you said you have, the steps with your progress, the safety lines, the unknowns to check, the guidance by name, the limits that always apply, and the outcome once recorded. Nothing is asked of a model. Each pack carries a version, the day it was written and a digest of its inputs; a change to an item on it, to the project or to the budget marks it out of date, and the next writing is the next version. Download keeps it as a file.

Progress and the outcome. While a project is selected or being built, its steps are a checklist. When it is being built, record the outcome in your words: what was set up, how it was tested, the day, whether it works, and its limits. A working result marks the project done and keeps its items reserved; a failed test keeps it being built, with the record kept. Proposed, being built and working stay distinct. The outcome is yours; Share the outcome turns it into a text for other people that names the kinds of items, the result, the set-up, the test and the limits, and nothing else: no item names, ids, values, places or prices. It is off until you switch it on.

Draw it. A project's panel has Draw it: Muse Image draws how the finished project could look, from its title, what it results in and the kinds of the items on it with up to three accepted values each (never one that identifies an item, a name, the location, the notes or a price). One image call per click; opening the panel or proposing draws nothing. The pictures are kept with the project and shown when the panel opens again, captioned as drawn, not a photo of a real build. While pictures are off on the server the panel says so instead of showing the button; the demo visitor sees it disabled with Sign in with the access code to draw. See Muse Image.

From the API

curl -s -X PUT localhost:8000/api/preferences -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"interests": "a quiet desk for homework", "effort": "low", "budget": 50}'
curl -s -X POST localhost:8000/api/projects/propose -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{"count": 3}'
curl -s -X POST localhost:8000/api/projects/1/select -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{}'
curl -s -X POST localhost:8000/api/projects/1/requirements/video_cable/search
curl -s -X POST localhost:8000/api/projects/1/pack | jq -r .markdown
curl -s -X POST localhost:8000/api/projects/1/picture   # one image call; needs PICTURE_ENABLED
curl -s -X POST localhost:8000/api/projects/1/outcome -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"configuration": "laptop on the monitor over HDMI", "test": "a full homework session", "tested_on": "2026-10-29", "working": true}'

Not yet

The pack as a PDF, and a pack that cites the candidate listings' pages, are under Next steps.