AETHER workspace

Systems Case Study

The Unified AI
Workspace

Redesigning the paradigm of human-AI collaboration through system-level abstraction.

01. Overview

Executive Summary

The Premise: The AI revolution promised to make us faster. Instead, it made us project managers for five different robots.

The Product: Aether is a Unified AI Operating System that aggregates disparate models (GPT-4, Claude, Midjourney, Cursor) into a single workspace. It abstracts API costs into a universal currency and maintains persistent context across the entire product lifecycle.

One Subscription. Any Tool. Zero Friction.
02. Context

The Problem: "The Alt-Tab Hell"

It is 11:30 PM on a Tuesday. Meet Alex, a Product Designer trying to launch a simple landing page for his side project. He is capable and motivated, but he is currently paralyzed by SaaS Fragmentation.

The Scenario

Tab 1 (ChatGPT): He is arguing with the bot to write better copy.
Tab 2 (Midjourney): He is checking his profile—he only has 0.4 "Fast Hours" left, so he is terrified to generate the wrong image.
Tab 3 (Replit): He is trying to deploy, but his free tier just expired.
Tab 4 (Figma): He is frantically copy-pasting text from Tab 1, losing all formatting in the process.

Subscription Fatigue

Users are overwhelmed by managing $20/mo + $30/mo + $10/mo subscriptions, all while watching five different credit meters drain.

Context Amnesia

Every time Alex switches tools, the AI "forgets" the project details. He acts as a human clipboard, shuttling context between tools that refuse to talk to each other.

The "Aggregator" Gap

Current tools like Poe or Perplexity focus on chatting, not doing. There is no "ClassPass for AI" that unifies functional tools (Design + Code + Deploy) under one roof.

03. The Architecture

The Solution: Aether Workspace

"Stop managing the robots. Just do the work."

PILLAR 1

The "Universal Fuel" System

Solving Cost Anxiety

The Model: Inspired by ClassPass and Arcade tokens. Instead of tracking "Tokens" in ChatGPT and "Fast Hours" in Midjourney, the user buys Aether Points.

The Abstraction: We hide the raw API costs behind a friendly currency. 100 Aether Points = $30/month.

  • Writing a blog post ≈ 1 Point
  • Generating an UI in Visily ≈ 2 Points
  • Vibe coding for an hour ≈ 10 Points

The UX Fix: A minimal "Fuel Gauge" ring. It replaces the countdown anxiety with a resource management visual.

Component Preview

Fuel 100/100
Project DNA

▼ 01_STRATEGY

L brief_core.md

L pitch_deck_structure.json

L user_personas.txt

▼ 02_DESIGN

L moodboard_generation_01.png

L moodboard_generation_02.png

L wireframe_layout.json

L style_guide.json

▼ 03_CODE

▼ /src

L Hero.tsx

L Navbar.tsx

L tailwind.config.js

▼ 04_DEPLOY

L build_logs.txt

L LIVE_URL

PILLAR 2

Project DNA

Solving Context Amnesia

The Architecture: A persistent file system (The "Right Panel") that travels with the user. It utilizes the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to standardize how different AIs read data.

The "Context Snowball": Data accumulates automatically as the user works.

01 Chat generates brief.md.
02 Design tool reads brief.md to auto-generate style_guide.json.
03 Code tool reads both to scaffold the GitHub Repo.
PILLAR 3

Adaptive Lenses

Solving Tool Fatigue

The Interface: Instead of opening 5 different apps, Aether is One Infinite Canvas. The interface morphs based on the "Lens" you are using.

Thinking Lens

Powered by Gemini/Claude. Document/Chat structure.

Visual Lens

Powered by Midjourney/Relume. Design canvas.

Builder Lens

Powered by Cursor/Aura. Terminal/IDE feel.

Component Preview

04. Motion

Interaction Design

A. Manual Control: The Omni-Bar

Allows the user to "Hot-Swap" the active intelligence engine at any time.

Example: Switch from Gemini to DeepSeek R1 for a riskier critique without losing context.

B. Auto-Suggestion: The "Intent Chip"

Real-time input analysis proposing shifts. If a user types "show me the hero section," the interface proactively offers a tool switch.

Component Preview

✨ Press Tab to switch to Visual Lens (15 Fuel) TAB
05. Implementation

Interface Gallery

06. Unit Economics

Business Strategy & Viability

1. Unit Economics

The "Smart Routing" UX. Simple queries go to cheaper models (Gemini Flash) invisibly. Business saves margin, user feels speed.

2. Retention

By storing the project's history and context inside Aether's Project DNA, leaving the platform becomes "expensive" for the user because they lose their project's "Brain."

3. Monetization

The "Fair Use" Cap. Hobbyist vs Pro tiers via Fuel system. Top-ups convert high liability users into revenue sources.

07. Market Analysis

Competitive Comparison

Feature Google AI Studio Poe / Perplexity Aether (Our Concept)
Primary Goal Build AI apps (Devs) Chat & Search Create Products (Creators)
Context Session-based Ephemeral Persistent (Project DNA)
Integrations API / Python None Deep Links (Figma/Cursor)
Feasibility

Technical Feasibility

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) allows Aether to act as a "Host" for the file system.

Walled Gardens. Tools like Midjourney do not have public APIs.

Aether uses browser automation agents for tools without APIs, while using direct enterprise APIs for OpenAI and Anthropic.

09. Closing

Aether changes the paradigm from "Using Tools" to "Collaborating with a System."

40%

Reduction in time-to-value

100%

Unified Fuel System

LIVE

Sustainable Aggregator

Next Steps

Develop the mobile companion app for "On-the-go Ideation" that syncs to the Project DNA.

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