Membrane

Structure that survives complexity.

Keep your work as plain files.
Add what matters. Change it anytime.
No setup. No rules. No lock-in.

Structure vs Emergence

Traditional systems require fixed fields, filling gaps with NULL.
Membrane lets objects define themselves; you retrieve what exists, and nothing else.

Structural Legibility

Structure That Survives Contact With AI

Most formats compress ideas to fit rigid schemas — flattening nuance, scattering context, and forcing machines to reconstruct meaning.

Membrane preserves structure at the source, so humans and AI can operate on thought exactly as it was formed.

CSV / Tabular Export

chapter_number,title,summary,world_state,narrative_shift,discovery_vector,revelation 1,"The Ember Crown","Kaelin, a reluctant stable boy, discovers a dying dragon beneath an ancient forest.","Dragoncraft outlawed for centuries.",NULL,NULL,NULL 2,"Ashes Over Valewood","Valewood descends into quiet panic as crops fail and shadows linger.",NULL,"Kaelin hears fragments of a forgotten war.",NULL,NULL 3,"The Cartographer’s Lie","A wandering mapmaker reveals missing mountain ranges.",NULL,NULL,"Maps deliberately redrawn to hide something vast.",NULL 4,"Spire of the First Arcanist","A ruined spire bends gravity above the cloudline.",NULL,NULL,NULL,"Dragons were architects of reality itself."

Dense cells collapse structure. Machines must infer boundaries.

Membrane Output

$ me show --sort chapter_number --printed > Active brane: /archives/emberfall-chronicles [7ac91d02] # Projects (sorted by chapter_number) • the-ember-crown chapter_number: 1 [a13f9c21] • ashes-over-valewood chapter_number: 2 [c82ab511] • the-cartographers-lie chapter_number: 3 [91de773a] • spire-of-the-first-arcanist chapter_number: 4 [5bd884e0] --- ## the-ember-crown chapter_number: 1 summary: | Kaelin, a reluctant stable boy, discovers a dying dragon beneath the roots of an ancient forest. With its final breath, the creature binds its consciousness to him, marking him as the last bearer of a forgotten flame. world_state: | Dragoncraft has been outlawed for centuries, and the kingdom has trained itself to forget why. ## ashes-over-valewood chapter_number: 2 summary: | As rumors of smoke spread, Valewood descends into quiet panic. Crops fail without explanation, shadows linger too long at dusk, and traveling mages refuse to cross its borders. narrative_shift: | Kaelin begins hearing the dragon’s memories — fragments of a war no historian recorded. ## the-cartographers-lie chapter_number: 3 summary: | A wandering mapmaker reveals that entire mountain ranges have vanished from official charts. discovery_vector: | When Kaelin compares the maps to the dragon’s visions, he realizes the world has been deliberately redrawn to hide something vast. ## spire-of-the-first-arcanist chapter_number: 4 summary: | High above the cloudline stands a ruined spire where gravity bends unpredictably. revelation: | Dragons were never beasts — but architects of the laws that hold reality together.

Semantic fields remain intact. Context stays legible.

No export layer. No schema compression.

Membrane emits structured context directly from the source of thought — ready for human interpretation and machine reasoning.

See Membrane in action — creating projects, setting keys, and switching workspaces in seconds.

Watch the full 15-minute walkthrough →

Try It Out

Use this prompt with any AI tool to generate a project entry. Membrane doesn’t enforce structure; it records what emerges.

Prompt for Any AI

Generate a project entry for <your_project_or_idea>. Choose whatever keys feel most meaningful. Include the "name" key. Output only key:value pairs in valid YAML code block.

Example Output

name: Machine Learning Pipeline
status: in-progress
type: data-science
description: Building an ML pipeline for customer churn prediction
team: data-science
timeline: Q1 2026
technologies:
  - Python
  - TensorFlow
  - PostgreSQL
priority: high
last_reviewed: 2026-01-30

✨ No schema required. Your AI decides the structure. Membrane remembers it all.

Then use me push or paste it directly:

Copy the YAML output from your AI, run me push, and paste it into your terminal.

Built on Core Principles

Membrane strikes a balance between structure and freedom

📁

Your Work Stays Yours

Projects live as readable files you control — durable, portable, and never trapped inside a tool.

🧠

Structure That Adapts

Define what matters when it matters. Add fields naturally as your work evolves.

🧩

Built for Complex Projects

Membrane supports work that outgrows notes — research, systems, writing, and multi-layered initiatives.

🌐

Workspace-Oriented

Organize domains of work into independent branes and switch between them effortlessly.

⚙️

Minimal Surface Area

Membrane stays out of your way while your projects gain clarity and structure.

⏳

Durable by Design

Your structure persists across time, tools, and workflows — keeping context intact as projects grow.

Simple, Powerful CLI

Everything you need, nothing you don't. The me command does it all.

Initialize

$ me init

Create a new Membrane workspace in .membrane/

List Workspaces

$ me brane

View all known branes with active status

Switch Workspace

$ me checkout <id-prefix>

Switch to a different workspace globally

Create Project

$ me add my-project

Create a new project file with metadata

List Projects

$ me show

Display all projects in active workspace

Set Key

$ me set my-project status "in-progress"

Add or update a key-value pair

Install Membrane via Cargo:

cargo install membrane-cli

Then use me from anywhere

Distributed Workspace Architecture

Membrane maintains a global registry of workspaces. Each brane sits independently, yet all can be accessed and switched between seamlessly.

Global Registry

Each workspace registers itself globally and can be accessed from anywhere on your system.

Explicit Switching

Commands operate on the active workspace. Switch between branes withme checkout

Stable Identity

Projects get unique IDs, allowing them to be referenced by name or ID prefix, regardless of location.

What it’s for

Designed for builders who need structure without rigidity

What Membrane is NOT

Not a task manager— It doesn't track deadlines or enforce workflows.

Not a calendar— Time-based tracking lives elsewhere.

Not a ticketing system— Issues and workflow state aren't its concern.

Not cloud-synced— Your data stays local and inspectable.

What it IS

A structural layer for active work— Sits above your tools, observing how language emerges in your work.

A durable memory— Projects and keys persist across time. You can reason about them.

Intentionally minimal— Doesn't automate decisions or enforce structure.

Yours to reason about— Inspectable, human-readable YAML files you control.

The Balance

Most project tools fail in one of two ways: they're either too rigid (fixed fields, schemas, workflows) or too vague (notes with no structure). Membrane finds the middle ground.

Projects are files. Keys are language artifacts. Structure is allowed to emerge organically. Metadata exists, but stays out of the way.

You decide what matters. Membrane just remembers it.