Creative systems and software developer

Iain Reid

I build immersive worlds and stories, combined with the software systems that make ambitious creative work possible.

Seeds of the Throne is the central project: a long-form speculative world, a repository-owned development system, a visual compiler, and a public publishing platform built together.

Explore the showcase Email Iain Reid

What the showcase brings together

Creative and software development: One story project connecting worldbuilding, repository architecture, visual generation, publishing, and author-directed AI.
Software understanding: Making existing systems legible before the next change.
Guided AI workflows: Helping people finish substantial work with the AI they already have.
Production creative systems: Complete engines that turn creative input into finished output.

01 Showcase

Seeds of the Throne and selected work

Seeds of the Throne is the showcase. The supporting projects demonstrate the repository understanding, workflow design, image production, and application engineering behind it.

Creative and software development

Showcase · Active development

Seeds of the Throne

Speculative fiction world and creative-development platform

A long-form speculative fiction project and the software system being built to develop it. A repository-owned Obsidian vault connects story sessions, canon, research, drafts, visual direction, generated imagery, public material, and continuity checks without treating AI output as authority.

The repository acts as persistent creative memory and machine-readable direction. Its Visual World Compiler turns vault knowledge into structured character, appearance, era, environment, and scene context for repeatable image generation and feedback-driven refinement.

The creative work and the software evolve together: gaps exposed by a scene become explicit worldbuilding questions, approved answers return to the vault, and public-facing material is generated only from selected sources. The author retains control of canon, visual identity, and voice.

Creative development loop

Story session Possibilities and decisions
Canon promotion Selected material only
Knowledge graph Entities, eras, appearances, and places
Scene compilation Clean context for prose or imagery
Review and feedback Continuity, quality, and missing definitions
Creative output Prose, atlas, images, and video

Key properties

Repository-owned creative memory
Canon separated from exploration
Visual entity graph and generation packets
Authoritative identity, appearance, and era resolution
Environment masters and composition modes
Clean generation context separated from quality review
Missing visual definitions become worldbuilding tasks
Continuity decisions and unresolved questions tracked explicitly
Public story atlas generated from approved material
Authorial judgment remains the final authority

Repository , Seeds of the Throne Project Explorer , Seeds of the Throne Explore the story atlas , Seeds of the Throne

Software understanding

Active

VibeKB

Repository understanding

Turns an unfamiliar software repository into a living understanding site that documents what the software currently does, how components connect, where functionality lives, what is verified, and what remains uncertain.

The current focus: a system for understanding software before the next change.

The core problem: AI-assisted development makes software faster to create but harder to understand later.
The system response: VibeKB creates a repository-owned, source-grounded model before the next developer or agent changes anything.

Understanding flow

Repository Source of truth
Functionality model What the software does
Warnings & files Evidence with reasons
Explainable Diagrams Nodes and edges
Understanding site Static, shareable

Key properties

Functionality-first model
Nodes explain what components are
Edges explain why they connect
Verified versus inferred relationships
Files always include reasons
No graph database required
Static output suitable for GitHub Pages

Applied to

Specimen A

Arcana

VibeKB documenting a real PHP / MySQL / Gemini production application.

Authentication and email verification paths
Credits, plan gating, and Stripe assumptions
Uploads, image generation, and queue workers
Gallery behavior, watermarks, and render storage
Deployment assumptions, warnings, and uncertainty

Specimen B

Stoppr

VibeKB applied to a separate mobile application and its surrounding architecture.

Implemented versus partial functionality
Paywall and subscription flows
Superwall integration and placeholder configuration
OAuth assumptions
Widget and app-group concerns
Verified and inferred architecture boundaries

Repository , VibeKB Project page , VibeKB

II·B

Software understanding

Field record

Stoppr

Applied study

VibeKB applied to a separate mobile application and its surrounding architecture.

An annotated specimen rather than an interchangeable archive card: the understanding site records what is implemented, what is partial, and where the architecture boundaries are verified or inferred.

Documented surface

Implemented versus partial functionality
Paywall and subscription flows
Superwall integration and placeholder configuration
OAuth assumptions
Widget and app-group concerns
Verified and inferred architecture boundaries

Repository , Stoppr Understanding site , Stoppr Read about VibeKB

III

Guided AI workflows

Active prototype

SousMeow

Guided AI workflows

A guided workflow system that helps people complete substantial tasks using the AI subscriptions they already have.

Not a prompt library. It is closer to sitting beside someone who is good at AI and being guided through the complete task.

Guided workflow

Pantry Persistent context
Recipe One sequential step
Run in ChatGPT / Gemini Use existing subscriptions
Bring back result Capture the artifact
Quality check Success criteria & failure signals
Next Recipe Continue the workflow
Project Kit Exportable outcomes

Key properties

Cookbooks contain complete workflows.
Recipes are sequential steps.
Pantry context persists across the run.
Artifacts retain versions.
Every step has success criteria and failure signals.
Works with free or paid AI subscriptions.
The core loop avoids required API metering.
Results can be exported as a project kit.

Open SousMeow , SousMeow

Production creative systems

Working system

Arcana / You Are The Song Now

Production creative engine

Transforms a song, lyrics, band identity, style direction, and optional portrait references into a single cinematic visual composition.

Built as an operable product, not a single prompt demo, with accounts, credits, queues, storage, and shared-hosting deployment in mind.

Commercial integrations are part of the production surface; verification depth varies by path.

Production flow

Song input Lyrics, identity, style
Analysis Gemini → Song DNA
Prompt construction Structured direction
Queue Job intake
Worker Parallel cron paths
Image service Generation + fallbacks
Storage Renders retained
Gallery Watermarked presentation

Production capabilities

Gemini song analysis
Structured Song DNA
Prompt construction
Image generation
Style selection
Dynamic band-style analysis
Portrait references
Multiple aspect ratios
Queue processing
Parallel cron workers
Fallback paths
Accounts & email verification
Credits & plan gating
Stripe (integration present)
Render storage & gallery
Watermarks
Admin & maintenance controls
Shared-hosting deployment

Repository , Arcana Product , Arcana Understanding site , Arcana Read about VibeKB

02 Approach

How the work gets built

Seeds of the Throne brings all four principles together; the supporting systems show where each mechanism was developed and tested.

Find the real friction

Begin with the actual problem experienced by the user instead of the abstract technology story.

Seeds of the Throne: Starts from the difficulty of sustaining canon, continuity, and creative direction across a long story.
VibeKB: Starts from the confusion that follows AI-assisted code.
SousMeow: Starts from unfinished AI work and brittle prompt habits.
Arcana: Starts from the gap between song intent and finished visuals.

Build the smallest complete mechanism

Favor one complete end-to-end loop over many disconnected features.

Seeds of the Throne: Session → canon promotion → scene compilation → review → creative output.
VibeKB: Repository in → understanding site out.
SousMeow: Pantry → recipe → review → next step.
Arcana: Song in → queued render → gallery out.

Make the system explain itself

Capture architecture, warnings, decisions, status, and handoffs in the repository.

Seeds of the Throne: Canon, open questions, visual direction, and consequential decisions stay explicit.
VibeKB: The product is the explanation.
SousMeow: Every step carries success criteria and failure signals.
Arcana: Song DNA, queue state, and admin controls stay inspectable.

Ship for the environment that exists

Design around actual hosting, deployment, maintenance, and operating constraints.

Seeds of the Throne: Uses an Obsidian-compatible repository and static public atlas that remain portable across AI tools.
VibeKB: Static output that can live on GitHub Pages.
SousMeow: Works with free or paid AI subscriptions; no required API metering.
Arcana: Built for shared hosting, cron workers, and real billing paths.

03 Foundations

Foundations

The creative and technical foundations behind Seeds of the Throne and the supporting software work.

Product systems

Product architecture
Workflow design
Authentication
Billing and credits
Administration and maintenance

AI systems

Structured prompting
Gemini integration
Image generation
Response review
Human-in-the-loop workflows

Application engineering

PHP 8.2
MySQL
SQLite
Vanilla JavaScript
HTML and CSS
Cron and queue workers
File and image processing
Shared-hosting deployment

Software understanding

Repository analysis
Functionality mapping
Explainable diagrams
Provenance
Warnings and uncertainty
Static knowledge generation
Agent handoffs

04 About

Creative work as a software system

Seeds of the Throne brings Iain’s creative and software work into one evolving system: story development, canon and continuity, research, visual generation, and public presentation all remain connected without surrendering authorial judgment to AI.

The supporting products develop the same underlying craft: making repositories understandable, guiding substantial AI-assisted work, producing finished imagery, and shipping maintainable systems into real environments.

Iain Reid

05 Contact

Build the ambitious thing clearly.

Seeds of the Throne is my working proof that creative direction and software architecture can reinforce each other. I’m interested in similarly ambitious creative and software systems that need structure before they can grow.

iain@iainreid.dev

GitHub profile @realiainreid on X