llms.txt
# Field Bureau + Werkstatt
> Software tools for people who care about how they work. We build macOS, iOS, and web applications with a focus on intentionality, craft, and respect for how people actually think.
## Products
Each product links to its canonical home: its own site where it has one, otherwise its page on fieldbw.com.
### The markdown suite
Native apps built around plain markdown files on your own disk.
- [Signal Recorder SR-7](https://signalrecorder.app/): Personal voice recorder for iPhone, iPad and Mac that transcribes on the device. Details for agents: https://signalrecorder.app/llms.txt
- [Task Register TR-2](https://fieldbw.com/tr-2): Markdown-native task management for macOS and iOS. Plain files in a folder you own, GTD-inspired, designed so AI agents can read and edit the same files you do. Coming soon.
- [Markdown Library ML-42](https://markdownlibrary.app/): Native macOS reader and editor for the markdown files already on your disk. Details for agents: https://markdownlibrary.app/llms.txt
### ET Series
Explorations into mathematics, fiction, and the human condition, built as software.
- [Chaos Studies](https://chaosstudies.app/): Strange attractor visualiser for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and Playdate, with a spatial soundtrack. Part of the ET Series. Details for agents: https://chaosstudies.app/llms.txt
- [Codex ET-2](https://fieldbw.com/codex-et-2): A near-infinite catalog of every possible 8×8 monochrome icon for iOS. Each icon has a coordinate; similar icons are neighbours via a Hilbert-curve + Gray-code layout. A homage to Jorge Luis Borges's The Library of Babel. Part of the ET Series.
- [Murmuration ET-3](https://fieldbw.com/murmuration-et-3): A 3D boids flock rendered live into an adaptive monospace ASCII grid: one murmuration of two temperaments, self-propelled so it never settles. A web experiment. Part of the ET Series.
### Utilities
Small tools that do one thing well.
- [MIDI Volume Control](https://fieldbw.com/midi-volume): System and Apple Music volume via any MIDI controller, for macOS.
- [Menu Volume](https://fieldbw.com/menu-volume): Separate system and Apple Music volume sliders in the macOS menu bar.
- [Focus Timer](https://fieldbw.com/focus-timer): Minimal pomodoro timer in the browser. One thing: count down.
### On the web
Nothing to install: open a link and it works.
- [fewer.photos](https://fewer.photos/): A calm, algorithm-free photo-sharing app: one frame every eight hours, and a feed that ends. AI agents can connect over MCP at https://fewer.photos/api/mcp (see https://fewer.photos/agents). Details for agents: https://fewer.photos/llms.txt
- [DXC4](https://dxc4.com/): Client-side chess analysis, no accounts.
- [Rock or Pop](https://rockorpop.com/): Turn a YouTube playlist into a virtual cassette tape.
## Comparisons
- [SR-7 vs Apple Voice Memos](https://signalrecorder.app/vs/voice-memos): A personal recorder with on-device transcription, AI summaries, and markdown export, compared with the free built-in recorder.
- [SR-7 vs Otter.ai](https://signalrecorder.app/vs/otter): On-device personal recording compared with cloud meeting transcription.
- [SR-7 vs MacWhisper](https://signalrecorder.app/vs/macwhisper): A recorder-first personal archive on iPhone, iPad, and Mac compared with a Mac-only file-transcription workbench.
- [SR-7 vs Just Press Record](https://signalrecorder.app/vs/just-press-record): Two one-time-purchase on-device recorders compared: transcription only versus transcription plus AI summaries, markdown, and MCP.
- [ML-42 vs Obsidian](https://markdownlibrary.app/vs/obsidian): A native reader over folders you already have compared with the vault-and-plugins knowledge base.
- [ML-42 vs Bear](https://markdownlibrary.app/vs/bear): Files in your folders compared with notes in an app database.
- [ML-42 vs Typora](https://markdownlibrary.app/vs/typora): A native reader-first Mac app with file-watching compared with a cross-platform WYSIWYG editor.
- [ML-42 vs iA Writer](https://markdownlibrary.app/vs/ia-writer): An app for living with your markdown folders compared with a focused writing instrument.
## Documentation
- [Getting Started with Codex ET-2](https://fieldbw.com/docs/codex-et-2/getting-started) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/codex-et-2/getting-started.md)): Open the app, walk the warehouse, and meet the two teleports. Codex ET-2 holds every possible 8×8 monochrome icon.
- [Features: walking, teleports, and coordinate jumps](https://fieldbw.com/docs/codex-et-2/features) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/codex-et-2/features.md)): Every gesture, button, and behavior in Codex ET-2. Walking, teleports, coordinate jumps, pixel editing, sound, favorites, sharing, and what the X / Y readout means.
- [Inside the Warehouse](https://fieldbw.com/docs/codex-et-2/inside-the-warehouse) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/codex-et-2/inside-the-warehouse.md)): How Codex ET-2 lays out 2⁶⁴ icons so similar ones are neighbors. A walkthrough of the Hilbert curve, Gray code, and the 2³² × 2³² grid that holds the catalog.
- [The Library of Babel](https://fieldbw.com/docs/codex-et-2/the-library-of-babel) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/codex-et-2/the-library-of-babel.md)): Jorge Luis Borges imagined a library of every possible book. Codex ET-2 is the small, finite version of that idea, set in 8×8 pixels.
- [Getting Started with Focus Timer](https://fieldbw.com/docs/focus-timer/getting-started) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/focus-timer/getting-started.md)): A single-purpose productivity timer inspired by Dieter Rams. Set a duration, start working.
- [Pomodoro Primer](https://fieldbw.com/docs/focus-timer/pomodoro-primer) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/focus-timer/pomodoro-primer.md)): What the Pomodoro Technique is, when to use it, and how Focus Timer supports it.
- [Getting Started with Menu Volume](https://fieldbw.com/docs/menu-volume/getting-started) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/menu-volume/getting-started.md)): Install Menu Volume and start controlling system and Apple Music volumes independently from your menu bar.
- [Getting Started with MIDI Volume Control](https://fieldbw.com/docs/midi-volume/getting-started) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/midi-volume/getting-started.md)): Set up MIDI Volume Control, map your controller, and start controlling Mac and Music volumes independently.
- [Getting Started with Murmuration ET-3](https://fieldbw.com/docs/murmuration-et-3/getting-started) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/murmuration-et-3/getting-started.md)): Open it in a browser and watch a flock of starlings wheel across the screen, drawn entirely in ASCII. How to watch, how to stir the flock, and what you're looking at.
- [Field Notes: A Flock That Never Rests](https://fieldbw.com/docs/murmuration-et-3/field-notes) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/murmuration-et-3/field-notes.md)): What a starling murmuration is, how a few simple rules produce the rolling shape of a whole flock, and why Murmuration ET-3 draws it as an ASCII dusk sky.
- [Getting Started with Rock or Pop](https://fieldbw.com/docs/rock-or-pop/getting-started) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/rock-or-pop/getting-started.md)): Create, customise, and share virtual mixtapes with Rock or Pop.
- [Getting Started with TR-2](https://fieldbw.com/docs/tr-2/getting-started) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/tr-2/getting-started.md)): Set up your TR-2 vault, capture your first task, and let an AI agent see the same files you do.
- [Vault Format: how tasks are stored on disk](https://fieldbw.com/docs/tr-2/vault-format) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/tr-2/vault-format.md)): The on-disk format TR-2 reads and writes — folders, files, frontmatter, task tokens, and the round-trip guarantee that makes the format safe to edit by hand or by AI.
- [AI Workflows: let an agent read and edit your tasks](https://fieldbw.com/docs/tr-2/ai-workflows) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/tr-2/ai-workflows.md)): Let an AI agent read and edit your TR-2 vault. No API, no MCP server — just point it at the folder.
- [GTD Primer: Getting Things Done in plain markdown](https://fieldbw.com/docs/tr-2/gtd-primer) ([.md](https://fieldbw.com/docs/tr-2/gtd-primer.md)): A concise introduction to Getting Things Done (GTD) and how TR-2 implements its core principles on top of plain markdown files.
## Blog Posts
- [Moderation Happens Too Late](https://fieldbw.com/blog/moderation-happens-too-late/): The fight over moderation and fact-checking runs downstream of ranking. By the time anything is reviewed, a system optimised for engagement has already chosen what was eligible to be seen.
- [Markdown Library ML-42 Is on the Mac App Store](https://fieldbw.com/blog/ml-42-on-the-mac-app-store/): ML-42, the native macOS reader and editor for the markdown already on your disk, is available now — $12.99, one time, no subscription. Point it at any folder and read, search, and edit across projects.
- [An Obsidian Alternative Without the Vault](https://fieldbw.com/blog/obsidian-alternative-without-the-vault/): ML-42 reads, searches, and edits the markdown already on your disk — no vault, no import, no plugins, no sync to rent. Here's where it fits and where Obsidian still wins.
- [Introducing SR-7](https://fieldbw.com/blog/introducing-sr-7/): A voice recorder for Mac and iPhone that transcribes and summarises on-device, then hands you a markdown file you own — no cloud, no subscription.
- [Why On-Device Beats the Cloud for Thinking Tools](https://fieldbw.com/blog/on-device-beats-cloud/): For the tools you think in — capture, tasks, reading — on-device processing wins on privacy, ownership, and rent, and Apple Silicon makes it good enough.
- [Designing the SR-7 Icon in Code](https://fieldbw.com/blog/designing-the-sr7-icon-in-code/): The icon for SR-7 never left the codebase. Designed in SVG, iterated in conversation, shipped without an export step.
- [Essential Focus Timer](https://fieldbw.com/blog/focus-timer/): Most productivity timers try to do too much. This one does one thing: count down. That's all you need.
- [SR-7 Use Case: Journaling](https://fieldbw.com/blog/journaling-with-sr7/): Voice capture as a journaling practice. Lower the barrier, keep the texture, let AI find the patterns.
- [SR-7 Use Case: Your Recordings as Context](https://fieldbw.com/blog/your-recordings-as-context/): Every recording you make adds to a body of knowledge. Transcribed, summarised, and searchable, it becomes the richest context you have.
- [Chaos Studies in the Wild](https://fieldbw.com/blog/chaos-studies-in-the-wild/): Few things beat seeing your product used in ways you didn't anticipate.
- [Async by Design](https://fieldbw.com/blog/async-by-design/): AI's immediate feedback loop is addictive — and exhausting when spread across too many things. Capture now, process later, engage on your own schedule.
- [Fewer Things, Done Well](https://fieldbw.com/blog/fewer-things-done-well/): When everything is possible, nothing feels finished. The hardest skill in an AI-augmented workflow isn't prompting — it's deciding what not to do.
- [The Sound of Your Thoughts](https://fieldbw.com/blog/voice-is-thinking/): Writing pulls you into editing mode before the thought has finished arriving. The tools we use to capture shape how we think — and speaking turns out to be more relevant than ever.
- [Chaos Studies Is Here](https://fieldbw.com/blog/chaos-studies-launch/): What started as a coding experiment on a tiny handheld became an immersive app for iOS and macOS. Nine strange attractors, spatial audio, and no goal whatsoever.
## Optional
- [Full blog content](https://fieldbw.com/llms-full.txt)
- [All products](https://fieldbw.com/products)
- [ET Series](https://fieldbw.com/et-series): Overview of the explorations series, software studies that sit closer to art than to product. Currently Chaos Studies, Codex ET-2, and Murmuration ET-3.
- [About](https://fieldbw.com/about)
- [Contact](https://fieldbw.com/contact)
