The human side of the stack.
Opening
Userspace is my working environment for project knowledge and execution: notes, repositories, commands, prompts, specifications, decisions, runbooks, review notes, and the interfaces I use to move between them.
The goal is clear source-of-truth ownership. I want to know which system owns which kind of artifact, keep important work portable, and make automation pass through reviewable boundaries instead of becoming hidden glue.
Durable authority
For accepted project artifacts, Git-backed repositories on self-hosted Forgejo are the durable source. That is where reviewed documentation, prompts, schemas, scripts, runbooks, infrastructure records, and closeout notes can have history, diffs, review steps, and exact commit references.
homelab-iac is the strongest implemented source for that operating pattern. It already uses repository-local validation, Git hygiene, added-file checks, line-ending normalization, human-reviewed command workflows, preview-before-mutation behavior, discovery and decision records, review and closeout steps, exact commit references, Forgejo workflow helpers, and recovery/operator documentation. Userspace is where I extract the reusable parts of that discipline without copying the whole infrastructure repository into every project.
Access planes
Obsidian and Notion serve different roles. I use Obsidian as a local-first Markdown and filesystem environment: fast capture, linked notes, project folders, working documentation, CLI/script integration, and offline access. It is useful because the files remain portable and the interface is replaceable.
I use Notion for structured databases, views, properties, planning records, review notes, decisions, relational navigation, publication-oriented content, and bounded API context retrieval. It is strong where records need properties, status, relations, and review state.
Obsidian can be the best place to draft and connect local Markdown. Notion can be the best place to coordinate structured review. When material becomes accepted project work, the relevant Git-backed repository and reviewed history become authoritative where appropriate.
Controlled movement
Synchronization has to be explicit, directional, and authority-aware. Selected Markdown, project documentation, prompts, schemas, runbooks, and accepted context can move into Git-backed repositories. Selected structured records, decisions, work queues, review states, and publication content can be retrieved through Notion helpers or APIs.
Raw capture, private local context, secrets, inventories, temporary AI context, caches, and unreviewed exports stay separate. Promotion is deliberate: notes, structured records, repository files, and public copy each move through the review path owned by the system responsible for that artifact. That boundary keeps automation explainable and keeps review tied to durable records.
Prompt and specification practice
Userspace also holds the repeatable human side of AI-assisted work: prompts, specifications, retrieval instructions, closeout checklists, and review language that make tool use auditable. The pattern is simple: retrieve only the context needed for the task, name the source record, preserve a human review step, and commit accepted work to a durable source when it becomes part of the project.
The current website work is an example of that practice. Notion holds structured planning and review state. The repository holds source files, validation scripts, generated-output checks, and commit references. The point is to keep planning, source, validation, and publication connected without making any one interface pretend to own all of them.
Project flywheel
The portable part of Userspace is the project flywheel I am extracting from homelab-iac: reusable validation, review, authority, handoff, and recovery patterns that can move into other repositories without dragging along infrastructure-specific assumptions.
The shape I want is a versioned reusable core, project-owned profiles and policy, optional adapters, thin scaffolding, and reviewed migration/update paths. homelab-iac is the extraction source rather than a universal template to copy wholesale. It contains private identities, project-specific infrastructure vocabulary, and domain-specific validation that should stay with that project.
That distinction keeps the flywheel honest. The repository-centered pattern is real and tested. The flywheel template repository and first successor repositories exist and have been exercised, while the neutral portable system is still being extracted, shaped, and bounded.
Publishing automation, cross-system synchronization, autonomous governance, and broader AI orchestration are future direction. The working system today is narrower and stronger: reviewed records, portable source, repeatable prompts and specifications, explicit authority boundaries, and human-governed promotion from private working context to public artifacts.
Why it matters
Userspace matters because the hard part of technical work is usually larger than a single command or tool. It is keeping context recoverable, decisions auditable, workflows repeatable, and frontends replaceable while still moving quickly.
I want a working environment where Git can hold durable project truth, Notion can coordinate structured review, Obsidian can stay fast and local, and bounded helpers can move context between systems without erasing authority. That gives me portability without pretending every system should mirror every other system, and automation without removing the human review that keeps the work supportable.
Related projects
- Aeon and the Immutable Desktop is the workstation side of this operating model.
- CUE-Verse is the broader context and documentation system behind the source-of-truth work.