Signal Rail Workstation: Local Instance Management UI

The Signal Rail Workstation is signal_rail_workstation_final.html — a self-contained, offline-first application distributed as a single HTML file. Open it in any modern browser and it becomes a full local interface for reading, inspecting, staging, and writing to a live Signal Rail instance. There is no server to run, nothing to install, and no internet connection required. The workstation does not replace the canonical .txt files and does not change authority — it is a human-facing surface built on top of them.

Opening the workstation

Open the HTML file in a browser

Open signal_rail_workstation_final.html directly in Chrome, Edge, or another browser with File System Access API support. No local server is needed — double-clicking the file or dragging it into the browser address bar is sufficient.

Mount your Signal Rail instance folder

Click Open Folder in the utility bar. Select the folder containing your deployed Signal Rail instance. The browser will request read/write permission for the folder. Once granted, the workstation reads all canonical files and populates the surface grid.

Confirm the source mode

After mounting, the workstation enters live source mode. The status indicator in the utility bar reflects this. If system checks detect any issues — missing files, broken marker contracts, duplicate IDs — the System Checks modal will open automatically.

Alternatively, import a snapshot

If you do not have the folder available, click Import Snapshot and select a previously exported .json snapshot file. The workstation enters snapshot source mode and populates all views from the snapshot data.

The four main views

READ
WRITE
SYSTEM
DASHBOARD

The READ view is the primary inspection surface for a live Signal Rail instance.Surface map grid — displays all 15 surface definitions as cards. Each card shows the surface name, its canonical role, and live/sensitive status. Click a surface to load it in the main reading pane.Structured mode — renders the selected surface according to its display contract. Each surface type has its own rendering format:

working_state — renders the current state, active work, blockers, and next move as structured sections
entry_cards — renders named entry sections as individual readable cards
section_outline — renders section headers with collapsible content
map_hybrid — renders both structured metadata and raw text for map-type surfaces
orientation_compiled — renders orientation fields as a clean compiled view
freeze_state — renders freeze entries with id, principle, and reopening trigger

Raw mode — shows the plain text content of the selected file exactly as it exists on disk.Inspect sidebar — displays metadata about the selected surface: its purpose, what it governs, whether it is marked live or sensitive, and any workstation-level notes about reading boundaries.

The WRITE view provides structured entry flows for all supported canonical write operations.10 write action cards — each card corresponds to one canonical write target. Available write actions:

Card	Target
Latent	`05_latent_ideas.txt`
Working	`03_master_working.txt`
Handoff	`09_handoff_reentry.txt`
Findings	`97_field_findings.txt`
Parking	`98_parking.txt`
Archive	`99_archive.txt`
Orientation	`01_orientation.txt`
Freeze	`02_protocol_freeze.txt`
Decisions	`04_decision_log.txt`
Technical	`08_surface_map.txt`

Write form — selecting a write action opens a form with fields specific to the target canonical. The form builds a canonical write plan using one of the write plan builders (for example, buildLatentWritePlan, buildDecisionsWritePlan, buildFreezeWritePlan) and prepares the entry for preview before saving.Preview pane — shows exactly what the entry will look like when inserted into the canonical file. Review this before committing.Guardrails sidebar — lists the stop-and-ask conditions and constraints for the selected write action. Read this before writing to any sensitive canonical. These match the promotion and routing rules in the lateral kernel.Saving — click Save to write the entry directly to the canonical .txt file via the File System Access API. Saving requires a live folder to be mounted. Writing is not available in snapshot mode.

The SYSTEM view gives you operational visibility into the health and configuration of the loaded instance.Health grid — runs a set of automated checks and reports a pass/fail status for each:

Check	What it tests
Browser support	File System Access API availability
Source mode	Whether a folder or snapshot is loaded
Missing files	Canonical files absent from the instance
Marker contracts	Valid `--- ENTRIES START ---` / `--- ENTRIES END ---` pairs in each append-driven file
Duplicate IDs	Repeated F-xx, D-xx, L-xx, P-xx, or A-xx identifiers
Instance marker	Presence of `AI_TO_AI__DEPLOYED_INSTANCE_SIGNAL_RAIL.txt`
Write availability	Whether File System Access API write permission is active
Broken refs	Internal cross-file references that point to non-existent IDs

System Navigator — provides quick-access actions for source operations (open folder, import/export snapshot, refresh) and links to reference mini-layers.Attention Now — surfaces items from the health grid and canonical content that require immediate operator attention before proceeding.README viewer — renders the instance’s README.txt (or the baseline README.md if present) with minimal Markdown support, so you can read project-level notes without leaving the workstation.

Source modes

The workstation operates in one of three source modes at any time:

Mode	Meaning
`unmounted`	No folder or snapshot has been loaded. All views are empty.
`live`	A local folder is mounted via the File System Access API. Reads and writes go directly to canonical `.txt` files.
`snapshot`	A JSON snapshot has been imported. All views are populated from the snapshot. Writing is not available.

The current source mode is always visible in the utility bar. Switch between modes using Open Folder (to go live), Import Snapshot (to load a snapshot), or Refresh (to re-read the current live folder).

Snapshot import and export

Use snapshots to review a previous instance state, share an instance view without sending the raw files, or work offline when the original folder is not available.

Export Snapshot — captures all canonical file contents into a single .json file. The snapshot includes file names, raw content, and a timestamp.
Import Snapshot — loads a .json snapshot and populates all four views from it. The workstation enters snapshot source mode. No writes can be made while in snapshot mode.

Snapshots are point-in-time captures. They do not stay in sync with live folder changes — refresh the live folder to pick up any edits made outside the workstation.

System checks

The System Checks modal can be opened manually from the utility bar or triggered automatically on load when issues are detected. It runs the same checks shown in the SYSTEM health grid and displays them in a grouped, readable format with pass/fail indicators and guidance for each failure. Run system checks any time you are unsure whether the instance is in a valid state — particularly after manual edits to canonical files, after importing a snapshot from an external source, or before a substantive write operation.

Global search

The utility bar includes a global search box that searches across all workstation content simultaneously:

Scope	What is searched
`surfaces`	Surface names and canonical roles (READ view)
`write actions`	Write action card names and target canonicals (WRITE view)
`reference`	Reference mini-layer content (SYSTEM view)
`system actions`	Source operations and system navigator items (SYSTEM view)
`dashboard panes`	Overview, Radar, and Timeline section labels (DASHBOARD view)

Use arrow keys to navigate results and Enter to execute the selected action. The search box supports keyboard-only navigation throughout.

Important limits

File System Access API is required for live folder mounting and write operations. Chrome and Edge support this API. Firefox does not — use Import Snapshot mode in Firefox to read a snapshot, but be aware that write operations will not be available.The workstation does not change canonical authority. It is a reading and staging surface. The canonical .txt files remain the source of truth. The workstation has no authority to promote material, override routing rules, or bypass the entry sequence defined in 00_runtime_entry.txt and 06_ai_to_ai.txt.

Get Started

The Rails

Operating with AI

Tools & Workflows

Signal Rail Workstation: Local Instance Management UI

Opening the workstation

The four main views

Source modes

Snapshot import and export

System checks

Global search

Important limits

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

The Rails

Operating with AI

Tools & Workflows

Documentation Index

​Opening the workstation

​The four main views

​Source modes

​Snapshot import and export

​System checks

​Global search

​Important limits

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Opening the workstation

The four main views

Source modes

Snapshot import and export

System checks

Global search

Important limits