Different starting point
The adapted mobile proposal (previous page) takes the desktop IA — Overview, Colony, Queue, Knowledge, Infrastructure — and fits it into a phone. It works, but it still thinks in pages.
Mobile-native apps don't think in pages. They think in actions and moments. What does Max actually do on his phone?
Glance: Are bots running? Anything broken?
Check: What's happening in terminal? Any new messages?
Act: Restart a bot. Reply to a message. Approve a proposal.
Investigate: Read logs. Check infrastructure. Look up knowledge.
The first three happen in seconds. The last one is rare on mobile. A greenfield design prioritizes glance → check → act and deprioritizes investigate.
The unified feed
Instead of separate pages for messages, proposals, requests, and alerts — one chronological feed. Everything that needs attention, in time order. Like a notification center that's the entire app.
Everything in one stream. Alerts, messages, proposals, requests — time-ordered. No switching between pages to see what's happening.
Status strip — 6 dots (one per bot) give instant health at a glance. System stats inline. The entire colony status in 8px of height.
Inline actions — approve/reject proposals right in the feed. No navigation needed for the most common actions.
Three tabs, not four. Feed (everything), Terminal (the most-used tool), More (everything else). Simpler than the adapted version.
Message input doubles as command bar — type a message or type a bot name to jump to its terminal.
Bot cards with inline actions
Instead of a bot list that navigates to a detail page, each bot is a card you can expand in place. Tap to expand, see status + quick actions. Hold to enter terminal. No navigation — everything happens on the same screen.
Tap to expand. Cronus is expanded — shows context bar, uptime, session time, and three action buttons. Other bots are collapsed to one line.
Actions in place. Terminal, Logs, Restart — all accessible without navigating away. "Terminal" opens the terminal tab with this bot pre-selected.
No detail page needed for the common case. The expanded card IS the detail. Only deep investigation (full status, identity files) would need a separate view.
Bottom sheets over pages
Instead of navigating to a Knowledge or Infrastructure page, pull up a bottom sheet. The content slides up from the bottom, partially covering the feed. Swipe down to dismiss. You never leave the main context.
This is how Apple Maps, Google Maps, Uber, and most modern mobile apps handle secondary content. The primary view stays visible, grounding you in context.
Bottom sheet pattern. Infrastructure slides up from the bottom. The feed is still visible (dimmed) behind it. Swipe down to dismiss.
No page navigation — you never lose your place in the feed. Secondary content is an overlay, not a destination.
Drag handle at the top of the sheet. Drag up to expand to full screen, drag down to dismiss.
This pattern works for Knowledge, Infrastructure, Queue — anything that's "look something up and go back."
Adapted vs greenfield
Trade-offs:
The adapted version is safer — familiar page structure, easy to implement alongside the existing desktop app, no new interaction patterns to learn.
The greenfield version is faster for the common case — everything Max does frequently (check bots, read messages, approve proposals) is in the feed with zero navigation. But it's a bigger build, requires new data aggregation (the unified feed), and the bottom sheet pattern needs careful implementation to feel native.
Recommendation: Build the adapted version first (it's the safer bet and unblocks mobile immediately), but design the data layer to support the feed concept. If the unified feed proves valuable, migrate to it later without rewriting the backend.