LAO macOS App

LAO is a macOS-native AI design workflow application built with SwiftUI. It transforms ideas into AI-execution-friendly design documents through CLI-based AI agents.

Screenshots

IdeaBoard	Approach Selection

AI expert panels explore an idea	Compare multiple approaches side-by-side

Planning — Work Graph	Planning — Details & Decisions

Visualize the design structure	Drill into specs and resolve questions

Features

Design Workflow (Primary Feature)

AI-powered design structuring: idea exploration, approach selection, deliverable elaboration
Multi-phase execution: Input → Analyzing → Approach Selection → Planning → Completed
Human-in-the-loop decisions at key checkpoints
Background execution with notification system
Design session persistence and resume capability

IdeaBoard (Main Hub)

Idea exploration with AI expert panels
Direction synthesis and Work Graph extraction
Seamless transition from idea to design workflow

Project Management

Multi-project workspace with launcher
Agent configuration (Director, Fallback, Step tiers)
Provider support: Claude, Codex, Gemini
Skill management per project

Handoff to Claude Code / Codex

On workflow completion, exports a fixed set of design artifacts (design.json, DESIGN_SPEC.md, BRD.md, PLAN.md, TEST.md, …) to {project_root}/.lao/{ideaId}/{requestId}/
Auto-writes .mcp.json to the project root, registering the bundled LAOMCPServer so MCP-aware AI tools auto-discover the design
One-click "Open in Claude Code / Codex" launches the chosen CLI in Terminal with an initial prompt that points at DESIGN_SPEC.md
See docs/handoff.md for the full file list, MCP resource/tool surface, and prerequisites

Architecture

Directory Structure

LAO/
├── project.yml                        # XcodeGen spec
├── Package.swift                      # SPM package definition
├── LAOApp/                            # SwiftUI application
│   ├── App/
│   │   ├── LAOApp.swift               # @main entry point (multi-window Scene API)
│   │   ├── AppContainer.swift         # DI container
│   │   ├── LAOAppDelegate.swift       # App delegate
│   │   ├── DesignDocumentWindowCoordinator.swift  # Design doc window lifecycle
│   │   ├── ProjectWindowRoute.swift   # Window routing
│   │   ├── LAOWindowLayoutMode.swift  # Window sizing
│   │   └── DemoSeedMode.swift         # Demo/seed data
│   ├── Features/
│   │   ├── Design/                    # Design workflow (main feature)
│   │   │   ├── DesignModels.swift             # Data models, enums
│   │   │   ├── DesignPromptBuilder.swift      # LLM prompt templates
│   │   │   ├── DesignWorkflowViewModel.swift  # State management, execution engine
│   │   │   ├── DesignWorkflowView.swift       # Main UI (phase-based screens)
│   │   │   ├── ActiveWorkflowCoordinator.swift # Background lifecycle, project queue
│   │   │   └── ...                            # Overlays, converters, validators
│   │   ├── IdeaBoard/                 # Idea management hub
│   │   │   ├── IdeaBoardView.swift
│   │   │   ├── IdeaDetailView.swift
│   │   │   ├── IdeaPromptBuilder.swift
│   │   │   └── IdeaBoardModels.swift
│   │   ├── Launcher/                  # Project launcher & workspace
│   │   ├── ProjectDashboard/          # Project settings (General, Agents, Skills)
│   │   └── SharedUI/                  # Theme, components, button styles
│   └── ViewModels/                    # Shared ViewModels
├── Packages/
│   ├── LAODomain/       # Domain models, enums, protocols
│   ├── LAOServices/     # Service protocol definitions
│   ├── LAOPersistence/  # SQLite CRUD, schema bootstrap
│   ├── LAORuntime/      # CLI agent execution, git, model catalog
│   ├── LAOProviders/    # Provider registry and support
│   └── LAOMCPServer/    # MCP server executable

Key Patterns

Multi-window architecture: Scene API-based windows (Launcher, ProjectWorkspace, Settings, DesignDocument)
ActiveWorkflowCoordinator: Singleton managing background design execution, project-level queuing, and ViewModel lifecycle
DesignPromptBuilder: Centralized prompt construction for all LLM interactions
AppContainer: Dependency injection container holding all services

Build & Run

Prerequisites

macOS 15.0+ (Sequoia)
Xcode 16.0+
XcodeGen (brew install xcodegen)

Setup

Generate the Xcode project:
```
xcodegen generate
```
Open LAO.xcodeproj in Xcode
Select the LAO scheme and run

CLI Build

xcodebuild -project LAO.xcodeproj -scheme LAO -destination 'platform=macOS' build

AI Provider Setup

Configure at least one CLI agent provider in Settings → Agents:

Claude: claude CLI must be available in PATH
Codex: codex CLI must be available in PATH
Gemini: gemini CLI must be available in PATH

Data Storage

SQLite database at ~/Library/Application Support/LAO/
Design documents saved per-request at {project_root}/.lao/{ideaId}/{requestId}/

Documentation

Why LAO — the problem LAO is designed to solve
Operating Principles — workflow phases, roles, and deliverable structure
Design Principles — quality standards for design output
Handoff Mechanism — how completed designs are delivered to Claude Code / Codex (export artifacts, .mcp.json, MCP server surface)

Contributing

Bug reports and feature requests are welcome via GitHub Issues.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for details. Pull requests are not currently accepted.

Security

For security vulnerabilities, please follow the process described in SECURITY.md — do not open a public issue.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.