---
title: "Why I Built Atlas"
subtitle: "Every AI session forgets when it closes. Atlas is the notebook they all write in and read from, so the next one, mine or my partner's, starts from what was decided, not from zero."
date: 2026-10-29
events: "27.8.–29.10.2026"
tags: ["atlas"]
summary: "A one-minute introduction to Atlas, the shared record my AI sessions write in and read from: what it holds, what gets written, how a partner with their own AI works on the same project through it, and what the record counts about itself. The first part of the explainer series."
video: "https://sf3d-media.pages.dev/atlas-explainer/atlas-explainer-en.mp4"
captions: "https://sf3d.fi/video/atlas-explainer-en.vtt"
canonical: https://sf3d.fi/blog/why-i-built-atlas
html: https://sf3d.fi/blog/why-i-built-atlas
author: Petri Korhonen, SF3D AI Lab (Sunrise Software Oy, Tampere, Finland)
site: https://sf3d.fi (index of all articles in Markdown: https://sf3d.fi/llms.txt)
numbers: measured on the lab's own hardware unless the text marks them as held for the AMD R9700 whitepaper; the Evidence block at the end of an experimental article names the run, the date, n and the pre-registration each claim rests on
---
<p class="standfirst">The video above is the short version, for someone who has not met the subject. This page is its evidence: what each scene is drawn from, what the words on screen mean in the system's own terms, and where the longer stories are.</p>

## What the video shows

Several AI sessions work on my projects at once. None of them remembers the others, and each one starts from nothing when it opens. I wrote about that problem in August, in [Threads That Don't Lose Each Other](/blog/threads-that-dont-lose-each-other): you cannot solve it with communication, because communication needs two parties awake at once, and there is no such moment. What is left is writing things down.

Atlas is where the writing goes. In its own terms it is the control plane and knowledge graph of the Quaesitor family: one model, kept as JSON in git, that holds every system I am building, their parts, the connections between them and the decisions made about them. On the day the video was made the model held `25` systems, `344` parts and `288` connections, `28` of them across system borders. The video calls the parts "parts" and the model "the board"; this page uses the system's words.

Three kinds of thing get written on top of the model, and the video names them in plain words. "Where we are" is each project's status and standing description. "What was decided, and why" is the typed decision log, in which the reason is its own field; the card the video shows is this site's own decision of 20.10.2026, that a video leads each topic and the article page is its evidence. "What waits, and on whom" is the project timeline's waiting items and decision requests, each naming who decides.

## Two people, two AIs, one place

The part I wanted to show is the collaboration channel. A partner on a project has Atlas Connect, a phone app, and their own AI assistant with the Atlas connector. I have mine. The two assistants never talk to each other; nothing connects one person's AI to the other's. Both write to the same place.

The video draws the channel after Connect's own guide, version 8 of 21.9.2026, which tells the partner what happens to a line they write: it is visible to me at once, and my assistant reads it in the next work session. A decision the partner makes is recorded in their name and with the date, and the same text reaches me as a message. The scenes show one partner and one project, drawn, not recorded: no partner's project is on screen, and no partner is named.

In shared projects this turned out to be a new way of working with another person. Both of us use AI, and the knowledge travels between us through the shared record, not through either assistant.

## What the record counts about itself

The decision log keeps a recommendation with most decisions and, for a growing number of them, what happened afterwards. On the afternoon of 29.10.2026, over its newest `500` rows, `491` carried a recommendation and `470` of them were followed; `111` carried an outcome from the world and `108` of those held. The rooms, which the previous video explains, had checked `220` of the decisions blind and disagreed with `43`.

Two things these counts are not. The followed count says how often I took the recommendation, not whether it was right. The held count says how often a chosen option held, over the rows that have an outcome, and most rows do not have one yet. Over time the record can show whether this way of working made the work better. It cannot say so yet.

## The longer stories

- [Threads That Don't Lose Each Other](/blog/threads-that-dont-lose-each-other): the problem the record answers, and the five mechanisms that replaced the meeting.
- [Decision Rooms in a Minute](/blog/decision-rooms-in-a-minute) and [The Room That Disagreed With Me](/blog/the-room-that-disagreed): the rooms behind the `220` and the `43`.

## Transcript

I have many AI helpers on my projects. Each one forgets when it closes. So I built them a notebook they all share.

It's called Atlas. It holds every system I'm building, twenty-five of them, how they connect, and every decision made about them.

Three things get written: where we are, what was decided and why, and what is waiting, and on whom.

Here's the part that surprised me. A partner and I each have our own AI. The two AIs never talk to each other.

Both write to the same place. My partner's line reaches me at once, and my AI reads it next time. Their decisions are recorded in their name.

In shared projects this turned out to be a new way of working with another person: both use AI, and the knowledge travels between them.

The notebook counts itself. Of the last five hundred decisions, most followed the advice, and nearly all of those checked against what happened held.

Over time it can show whether this way of working made the work better.

## Sources & further reading

- Atlas's own description of itself in its model, read 29.10.2026 through the Atlas tools: the system's description, its systems, modules and connections.
- Atlas Connect's guide, version 8 (21.9.2026): what the partner sees and how a line and a decision travel.
- [Threads That Don't Lose Each Other](/blog/threads-that-dont-lose-each-other) (27.8.2026): the problem and the mechanisms, with their own sources.

<aside class="evidence">

**EVIDENCE**

#### The Atlas model and the decision log · read 29.10.2026

- claim: the model held `25` systems, `344` modules and `288` connections, `28` of them across system borders, each connection counted once (the per-system counts sum to `316`, a cross-system connection counted at both ends) — source `atlas_list_systems` and `atlas_get_connections`, exported to `video/atlas-explainer/data/` — status: measured
- claim: three kinds of record on top of the model: the workspace's status and standing description; the typed decision log with the reason as its own field; the timeline's waiting items and decision requests, each naming who decides — source the Atlas MCP server's workspace and `atlas.KUVAUS` v3 (26.10.2026) — status: measured
- claim: the decision card on screen is `adr.sf3d.010`, decided by the owner on 20.10.2026: a video leads each topic and the article page is its evidence; its context, the text articles were heavy reading and had not been shared — source `docs/adr/0010` in the lab's repository — status: measured
- claim: a partner's line is visible to the owner at once and his assistant reads it in the next work session; a decision is recorded in the partner's name and date and reaches the owner as a message; the same can be done in a Claude conversation with the Atlas connector — source Atlas Connect's guide v8 (21.9.2026), sections Viestit, Päätökset and Sama Claude-keskustelussa — status: measured
- claim: on 26.10.2026 one partner sat at level `contribute` on one project, through Claude.ai chat and Connect — source `atlas.KUVAUS` v3, "Kuka istuu missä" — status: measured; the partner and the project are not on screen
- claim: over the newest `500` rows of the decision log, `491` carried a recommendation and `470` were followed; `111` carried a world outcome and `108` held; a room returned a result on `220` and deviated on `43` — source `atlas_decision_calibration` (limit 500), read the afternoon of 29.10.2026, the day the voice was made; the morning read of the same day had `469` followed, `105` outcomes with `102` held, rooms `216` with `43` deviated — status: measured
- claim: the problem the record answers, in the owner's published words of 27.8.2026: several AI sessions work on the project at once, none remembers the others, each starts from nothing — source file 9, this site — status: published
- not shown: how many sessions run a day, how often a partner writes, how fast a notification arrives (none measured); which decisions the dots are (the calibration counts them, it does not order them); any partner project's data
- the video's sources, scene by scene: `video/atlas-explainer/sources.md` in the lab's repository

</aside>

---

<p class="sig">— SF3D</p>
