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Plate 01—The trap
Your ask
›help me with my client
follow-up workflow
What you got back
EXPORT
SHARE
SETTINGS

Looks finished. Wasn't what you needed.

Plate 02—The trap
Wrong question

Can AI build this?

Right question

Where should this live?

Plate 03—Three homes
There are only three

Every AI workflow lives in one of three places.

★
01
Workspace
02
View
03
App
Plate 04—Workspace
Two shapes inside the workspace

Project or Skill?

A
Project
A focused workspace
for one activity.
B
Skill
A portable capability
across many activities.
Plate 05—Workspace · Project example
Example — a project

Topic + Task. Both matter.

PROJECT
Acme — client follow-ups
topic: Acme  ·  task: follow-up emails
SYSTEM PROMPT
Tone & voice rules
Custom instructions
KNOWLEDGE FILES
Meeting notes
Past emails
Client details
Plate 06—Workspace · Skill example
Example — a skill

The standard travels.

Brand SKILL Sales project deck Client project deck Strategy memo doc Investor update deck Random chat one-off deck Workshop prep slides
Plate 07—Workspace · Warning
Skill warning

Too similar. AI picks the wrong one.

01 client deck ?
02 sales deck ?
03 investor deck ?
04 strategy deck ?
Plate 08—View
Home 02

Where AI
shows you the work.

Plate 09—View · The rule
Live artifact, plain rule
PATH
AI
Data
Live data flows.
NO PATH
AI
Data
No live data.
Plate 10—View · Workaround
When the team needs to see it

Skip the app. Use a synced folder.

01
Build it
dashboard.html
02
Drop it
Google Drive · OneDrive
03
Team sees it
double-click, viewed
No hosting. No login. No deploy.
Plate 11—App
Home 03

Where others
use the work.

SIGN IN
Plate 12—App · The cost of ownership
What you now inherit

You're not just using AI.
You're running software.

01
Hosting
keep it online
02
Database
store the data
03
Login & roles
who can see what
04
API keys
protect the secrets
05
Security
user A ≠ user B
06
Maintenance
forever
Plate 13—App · Cost
The bill changes shape

Subscription to per-use API.

INSIDE YOUR AI APP
Bundled subscription
flat USERS → $
INSIDE YOUR OWN APP
Pay-per-use API
↑ USERS → $
Plate 14—Test · Flow
Four questions, in order

Stop at the first yes.

One focused activity? YES project NO Capability across many activities? YES skill NO See changing information? YES view NO Others log in outside of AI? YES app SMALLEST HOME THAT FITS WINS
Plate 15—Recap · The three homes
Smallest home that solves the job

Pick the right one.

★
HOME 01
Workspace
Where AI helps you do the work.
PROJECT · SKILL
★
HOME 02
View
Where AI shows you the work.
ARTIFACT · SHARED HTML
★
HOME 03
App
Where others use the work.
HOSTED · LOGINS · DB