Open Energy Constellations — UX Roadmap

Living document for the /open-energy/experiments constellation pathway. Phases are designed to ship independently and compose over time.

Vision

Turn 768 patents and 29 experiments into a participatory pathway. Each experiment is a star. Each pattern is a constellation. The sky lights up as the community participates. The endgame: 50+ independent replications per experiment, all open, all verifiable, all published.

Current State (shipped)

• 9 constellations, ~3 stars each, grouped by pattern
• Local progress: not started → in progress → completed (localStorage only)
• Star modal: full experiment content + status toggle
• Visual states: dim → pulsing colored → bright glowing
• Animated starfield + shimmering hero
• No login required — anyone can browse and track personally

Phase 1 — Server-Side Progress Sync

Goal: Logged-in users see their progress across devices.

UX

• Same constellation page, but progress hydrates from server when authenticated
• Falls back to localStorage when logged out
• "Sign in to sync progress" prompt at top when localStorage has progress but no session

Backend

• New table: open_energy_progress

  user_id UUID
  experiment_id UUID  -- references journal_entries.id
  status TEXT  -- 'available' | 'in_progress' | 'completed'
  notes TEXT  -- optional user notes about their attempt
  started_at TIMESTAMPTZ
  completed_at TIMESTAMPTZ
  

• Endpoints:
  • GET /api/open-energy/progress — current user's progress
  • PUT /api/open-energy/progress/:experimentId — update one
  • POST /api/open-energy/progress/migrate — bulk import from localStorage on first sign-in

Files to touch

• apps/backend/src/routes/open-energy.ts (new)
• supabase/migrations/0XX_open_energy_progress.sql (new)
• apps/frontend/src/app/open-energy/experiments/page.tsx (hydrate from API when authenticated)

Phase 2 — Achievements & Badges

Goal: Reward participation with visible, shareable badges.

UX

• Bottom strip on /open-energy/experiments showing earned badges
• Badge unlocks animate (a shooting star arcs across the sky to deliver it)
• Each badge has: icon, name, criteria, earned date
• "Share" button generates an OG image card

Badge tiers

Backend

• open_energy_badges table — earned badges per user
• Badge logic runs as a trigger on open_energy_progress updates
• Reuses existing badge display patterns from BadgeDisplay.tsx

Files to touch

• supabase/migrations/0XX_open_energy_badges.sql (new)
• apps/frontend/src/app/open-energy/experiments/components/BadgeStrip.tsx (new)
• Server-side trigger or backend function to award badges

Phase 3 — Build Logs (User Contributions)

Goal: People who actually build the experiments can publish their results.

UX

• "Publish my build" button in the experiment modal
• Form: photos, videos, materials sourced (BOM with prices), measurements taken, what worked, what didn't
• Each star has a "builds" counter that grows as people publish
• Click "X builds" → opens a feed of all published builds for that experiment
• Each build is a journal entry (notebook: "Open Energy Builds")

Why journal entries?

HiveJournal already has entries with images, tags, and visibility controls. Reuse the existing infrastructure:

• Build = journal entry tagged ["Build", experiment_id, pattern_slug]
• Public visibility for shared builds
• Existing photo upload + entry editor handles the content

Visual

• Each completed star gets a small numeric badge showing build count
• Hovering shows "47 people have built this"
• Build feed uses card layout matching the dashboard

Files to touch

• New notebook Open Energy Builds (created by import script)
• apps/frontend/src/app/open-energy/experiments/[id]/builds/page.tsx (new)
• apps/frontend/src/app/open-energy/experiments/[id]/builds/new/page.tsx (new)

Phase 4 — Replication Tracking

Goal: Move toward the 50-confirmation goal per experiment.

UX

• Each experiment shows a replication progress bar: 12 / 50 independent confirmations
• Other builders can mark "I confirm this works" or "I tried this and it did not work"
• Replication metadata: who, when, materials variance, measurement values
• A separate "Replication Quality" score (peer-rated, like StackOverflow)

Visual

• Stars get an additional "halo" ring whose brightness is the replication count / 50
• Constellations with high replication form brighter, more intricate light webs
• Replication count shown above the existing build count

Why this matters

The whole point of this project is to either confirm or refute the meta-pattern claims. A replication count is the rigor metric. 50 confirmations is the gold standard from your CLAUDE.md.

Files to touch

• open_energy_replications table
• New components for the replication UI in the experiment modal
• Replication progress bars on each star

Phase 5 — Meta-Pattern Cross-Constellation Lines

Goal: Visualize how patterns combine into the meta-pattern (non-linearity + resonance + pulsed).

UX

• Toggle button: "Show Meta-Pattern Connections"
• When enabled, draws faint cross-constellation lines between experiments that share meta-pattern elements
• Three "spine" lines emerge for each meta-pattern element: non-linear, resonance, pulsed
• When a user has completed at least one experiment from each spine, the spine glows fully
• The meta-pattern revealed = the user has experienced the synthesis firsthand

Technical

• Tag each experiment with which meta-pattern elements it tests (non_linear, resonance, pulsed)
• Calculate cross-constellation positions in absolute viewport coords
• SVG overlay layer above the constellations grid

Files to touch

• Update import script to tag experiments with meta-pattern elements
• Add overlay SVG to constellation page
• New toggle UI

Phase 6 — Live Activity Feed

Goal: Make the page feel alive — show that real people are doing this right now.

UX

• Right rail (collapsible) showing recent activity
• "Sandon J. just completed Bifilar Coil Resonance"
• "Maria K. published a build of PAGD Replication"
• "Ben T. confirmed Pulsed Electrolysis #47/50"
• Live updates via Supabase realtime subscriptions
• Anonymized for users who opt out

Files to touch

• apps/frontend/src/app/open-energy/experiments/components/ActivityFeed.tsx (new)
• Subscribe to open_energy_progress and open_energy_replications tables via Supabase realtime

Phase 7 — Leaderboard / Top Contributors

Goal: Recognition for the most active replicators.

UX

• /open-energy/contributors page
• Ranked by: experiments completed, builds published, replications submitted
• Each contributor has a profile card showing their badge collection
• Top 10 displayed prominently; full list searchable

Files to touch

• apps/frontend/src/app/open-energy/contributors/page.tsx (new)
• Backend aggregation query

Phase 8 — Public Embeds & Sharing

Goal: Let people share their progress and the project itself outside HiveJournal.

UX

• Share button on each constellation: "Share my progress on the Coil Geometry constellation"
• Generates an OG image showing the constellation with their stars lit
• Share button on the whole /open-energy/experiments page → "I'm lighting the constellations on @hivejournal"
• Embed code for blog posts: <iframe src="...">

Files to touch

• apps/frontend/src/app/api/og/open-energy/[type]/route.tsx (new — OG image generation)
• Use @vercel/og or existing OG infrastructure

Phase 9 — Mobile-First Experiment Tracker

Goal: People in the lab need to update their progress from their phone.

UX

• Mobile-optimized version of the experiment modal
• Camera access for build photos
• Voice notes for measurement logging
• Haptic feedback when a star transitions to completed
• Could be a PWA addition or part of the React Native mobile app

Files to touch

• apps/mobile/src/screens/OpenEnergy/ (new — if doing native)
• Or PWA enhancements to the existing web page

Phase 10 — The Synthesis Reveal

Goal: A payoff moment when someone completes the meta-pattern.

UX

• When a user completes at least one experiment from each of the 3 meta-pattern elements...
• ...the entire sky animates: all constellations they've touched draw lines toward a central point
• A new "Synthesis" star appears at the center
• Modal explains: "You have just experienced what 768 inventors discovered independently. Non-linearity + resonance + pulsed excitation produces operating regimes that linear theory does not predict. You are now part of the open record."
• Generates a personal "synthesis certificate" PDF

Files to touch

• apps/frontend/src/app/open-energy/experiments/components/SynthesisReveal.tsx (new)
• Trigger: meta-pattern element completion check

Build Order Recommendation

Guiding Principles

• Honest about scale: never inflate numbers. If 3 people have replicated something, say "3 replications" not "growing community"
• Progress is permanent: once a user marks something completed, that record is theirs forever
• Negative results count: failed replications are just as valuable as successful ones; they get equal weight in the UI
• No paywall ever: this is the open record. If it's behind auth, it's only because of personal data sync
• Reuse what exists: every phase should lean on existing HiveJournal infrastructure (notebooks, entries, visibility, badges) before building new tables

Measurement

Track these to know if it's working:

• Unique visitors to /open-energy/experiments per week
• % of visitors who toggle at least one star to "in progress"
• Number of published builds
• Number of confirmed replications
• Time-to-50-confirmations on the easiest experiment (likely Bifilar Coil)