Aetherboard · field note 01
The agent writes a request. Aetherboard protects the board.
An AI agent never needs to rewrite the live board file. It submits a small, versioned request to the board's inbox; Aetherboard checks the whole request before accepting a single change.
Propose
The chosen agent writes a JSON command into the board's inbox. It can add text, notes, lines, strokes or an image already placed inside the permitted assets folder.
Validate
Aetherboard checks the file version, size, action count, object fields, coordinates and image path. The request is assembled in memory before the saved board is touched.
Apply or refuse
A valid request creates a recovery copy and is written atomically. An invalid request goes to the failed folder and changes nothing on the board.
The first dogfood proof
One biro smiley. One green reply.
I drew the first mark by hand. My agent submitted the second through the inbox while Aetherboard was open. Both marks were still there after the app quit and reopened. The test was deliberately small: it proved the handoff, validation and persistence without disguising a prepared board as autonomous intelligence.
A complete request
Readable enough to inspect before it runs.
{
"version": 1,
"actions": [
{
"type": "add_sticky",
"text": "A useful next step",
"x": 520,
"y": 280,
"colour": "green"
}
]
}Why the inbox exists
A live file is not a safe collaboration surface.
If an agent and the app both rewrite board.json, sooner or later one overwrites the other. The inbox turns that race into a narrow contract: the agent proposes only supported additions, and Aetherboard remains responsible for validation, recovery and saving.
The limits are intentional. A command is smaller than 1 MB, contains between one and 200 actions, and cannot reach outside the board's permitted image folder. Unsupported or malformed work fails closed.
Your model, your decision
There is no hidden assistant inside Aetherboard.
The board works without AI. If you want an agent involved, you choose it, point it at the folder and decide what to ask for. The useful invention is not a chatbot panel. It is a safe door into files you already own.
See the complete Aetherboard promise →