Winding Production System - Flat Architecture
The Actual Flow
┌─────────────────── CONTEXT WINDOW ─────────────────────┐
│ │
│ 📄 current.winding.md │
│ "The dragon guards the ancient gate..." │
│ │
│ 🖼️ previous_page.jpg (optional) │
│ Shows: dragon with golden eyes │
│ │
│ 📄 style.winding.md (optional) │
│ Generated by style_supervisor or hand-written │
│ │
│ 🖼️ character_ref.png (optional) │
│ Checkpointed from earlier good result │
│ │
└────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────── ILLUMINATION ───────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ The AI reads everything in context and generates: │
│ │
│ 🖼️ current_page.jpg │
│ │
└────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────── SUPERVISION (Optional) ─────────────────┐
│ │
│ 👁️ invoke spelling_supervisor │
│ 👁️ invoke consistency_supervisor │
│ 👁️ invoke style_supervisor │
│ │
│ Output: errors.md AND/OR generated.winding.md │
│ │
└────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────── USER DECISION ──────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ ✓ Checkpoint good results │
│ ✓ Checkpoint useful windings │
│ ✗ Discard and retry │
│ → Continue to next page │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Supervisor-Generated Windings
When supervisors analyze artifacts, they can output windings:
Consistency Supervisor → Character Winding
┌─── INPUT TO SUPERVISOR ────┐ ┌─── SUPERVISOR OUTPUT ────┐
│ • dragon_pages_1-5.jpg │ │ dragon_facts.winding.md: │
│ • original.winding.md │ → │ --- │
│ • "Extract dragon facts" │ │ dragon: character_sheet │
│ │ │ --- │
└────────────────────────────┘ │ @eyes: golden │
│ @scales: emerald │
│ @size: massive │
│ @personality: wise │
└──────────────────────────┘
Style Supervisor → Style Guide Winding
┌─── INPUT TO SUPERVISOR ────┐ ┌─── SUPERVISOR OUTPUT ────┐
│ • all_pages/*.jpg │ │ project_style.winding.md │
│ • "Extract visual style" │ → │ --- │
│ │ │ style: guide │
└────────────────────────────┘ │ --- │
│ @palette: earth_tones │
│ @technique: watercolor │
│ @lighting: soft_diffuse │
└──────────────────────────┘
Story Supervisor → Scene Index Winding
┌─── INPUT TO SUPERVISOR ────┐ ┌─── SUPERVISOR OUTPUT ────┐
│ • chapter1/*.winding.md │ │ chapter1_index.winding.md│
│ • chapter1/*.jpg │ → │ --- │
│ • "Create scene index" │ │ index: chapter_1 │
└────────────────────────────┘ │ --- │
│ @scene_1: intro │
│ Dragon first appears │
│ │
│ @scene_2: the_meeting │
│ Hero meets dragon │
└──────────────────────────┘
The Checkpoint System
working_directory/
├── current.winding.md
├── illuminated/
│ ├── page_1_v1.jpg
│ ├── page_1_v2.jpg
│ └── page_1_v3.jpg
└── checkpoints/
├── page_1_final.jpg ✓
├── dragon_ref.jpg ✓
├── style_guide.winding.md ✓
└── character_sheets.winding.md ✓
Flat Context Building
Each new illumination just picks what to include:
# Minimal context
illuminate page_2.winding.md
# With previous page
illuminate page_2.winding.md --context page_1_final.jpg
# With style guide
illuminate page_2.winding.md --context style_guide.winding.md
# Kitchen sink (for complex scenes)
illuminate climax.winding.md --context checkpoints/*
Why This Works
- No Hidden State: Everything is explicit in the context window
- User Control: You choose what context to include
- Supervisor as Tool: Generates helpful windings, not mandates
- Checkpoint Freedom: Save what works, discard what doesn’t
- Natural Workflow: Matches how AI copilots already work
Practical Copilot-Mode Example
User: "Check these 5 dragon images for consistency"
Agent:
- *Analyzing images...*
- *Comparing with original winding...*
- I've found some inconsistencies. *Generating report...*
- Here's the report:
---
goldscale.consistency.report.md
---
# Consistency Report for Goldscale Dragon
## Summary
- **Eyes**: Should be amber-gold on  and  images, as per [Goldscale](goldscale.md).
- **Size**: Inconsistent size on , conflicts with the established size the "comparable to a small house" in [Guarding the Gate](guarding_gate.md).
## Unique Features Discovered
- Scar above left eye, slightly visible on .
## Posture Observations
- The dragon is facing left on *all* images, which could be an artifact of the style guide.
No other inconsistencies found.
- *Would you like me to checkpoint Goldscale, correct the eyes on  and redo ?*
Practical Supervisor Agent Example
```markdown
The Beauty of Flatness
- What You See Is What You Get: No hidden production memory
- Mix and Match: Combine any artifacts/windings as context
- Supervisor Products: Generated windings are just helpful artifacts
- Version Control Friendly: Everything is files
- Agent-Mode Natural: Copilots already work this way
The system is just:
- Files (windings and artifacts)
- Context (what you choose to include)
- Tools (supervisors that can generate more files)
- Checkpoints (files you choose to keep)
That’s it. Flat, simple, powerful.