Designer (alpha) / Reference Surface

Workflow Generation

Workflow Generation

Before drawing a single terminal UI box, the Monospace Designer forces you to map the task flow into a screen flow. This is the Workflow Generation phase.

A Workflow is a canonical yaml document defining the stages, transitions, and checkpoints of a user task.

The Workflow Specification

A complete WorkflowSpec dictates exactly why a user enters a process and how they leave it. The id is crucial for linking screens back to the workflow.

kind: workflow
id: wf-alert-triage
title: Alert Triage
purpose: Monitor active alerts and respond to anomalies
entry_conditions: [dashboard active]
exit_conditions: [alert acknowledged or remediated]

Stages

A workflow is divided into logical stages. A stage maps roughly to a major task phase and is almost always fulfilled by a single ScreenSpec.

stages:
  - id: dashboard
    label: Live Dashboard
  - id: detail
    label: Alert Detail
  - id: action
    label: Action Dialog

Transitions

Transitions define how a user navigates between the stages. The vocabulary is explicitly TUI-native:

  • push: Drill-down navigation. A new screen is stacked over the current context. Requires an Esc binding to pop the stack.
  • pop: Returning to the previous context.
  • modal: Transient overlay. Used for critical interruptions or confirmations (Level 4 Elevation).
  • jump: Context-switching navigation (e.g., from an editor to a search results pane).
transitions:
  - id: tr-01
    type: push
    trigger: inspect
    target: detail
  - id: tr-02
    type: modal
    trigger: act
    target: action

Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) Checkpoints

For complex agent-assisted workflows, explicit checkpoints are necessary. Checkpoints define moments where the system halts and waits for explicit user intervention.

checkpoints:
  - id: cp-01
    label: approve remediation
    stage_id: action

Valid checkpoint types include: approve, revise, continue, cancel, collect_more, and publish.

ASCII Projection

The Mono Designer tools will automatically project your WorkflowSpec into an ASCII outline for review. This prevents you from getting bogged down in pixels while evaluating the logic of the application.

Workflow: Alert Triage

- Live Dashboard
- Alert Detail
- Action Dialog

Checkpoints: approve remediation (Stage: action)

Next Steps

Once the workflow logic is approved, every stage_id must be mapped to a corresponding ScreenSpec. See the Wireframe Guide for details on generating screens.