The running substrate

Different Gear's in-production toolkit, the grant workstreams that harden it, and how the pieces feed each other.

Survey: origin/main @ ae12d9d Date: 2026-04-24 Scope: 605 commits since Apr 15 Client in view: sophia-stel

The Amplify BC application is not funding an AI idea or an artist campaign. It funds the business-development work required to harden, productize, and transfer a toolkit that has been running live through Sophia Stel's 2026 international tour for months. This page shows what's running, where the activity is, and how the grant's four workstreams attach to the company substrate.

System map

Data flows left-to-right. Grey boxes are inputs; warm-tinted boxes are the systems under active development; cool-tinted boxes are the audiences they serve.

── INPUTS ── ── SUBSTRATE ── ── SURFACES ── ┌─────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐ │ Gmail inbox │ ─────────────────▶ │ tour-watcher [HOT] │ ─────────▶ │ itinerary.html │ │ (venue, air, │ │ watch.py + Claude CLI │ │ riders.html │ │ hotel, promo) │ │ advance-sync.py │ │ vitamins.html │ └────────┬────────┘ │ artwork-sync.py │ │ merch-inventory │ │ custom Gmail MCP │ state.json config.yml │ │ cole.html (per-pax) │ │ ─────────────────────────────▶ └──────────────┬───────────────┘ │ booking-tracker │ │ │ Cloudflare └──────────┬───────────┘ ┌────────┴────────┐ ▼ Worker │ │ airline + rail │ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ▼ │ + hotel sites │ ─────────────────▶ │ itinerary-server [HOT] │ ┌──────────────────────┐ │ 11 carriers │ Playwright-MCP │ worker.js │ │ artist │ │ 5 rail + 4 │ booking agents │ GL-PRESERVE sentinels │ │ touring party │ │ rental/hotel │ │ KV: guestlist + activities │ │ venues │ └────────┬────────┘ └──────────────┬───────────────┘ │ agents + promoters │ │ │ └──────────────────────┘ │ │ ▼ ▼ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐ │ bookings/*.md │ │ sophiastel.net [WARM] │ ─────────▶ │ public fans │ │ per-confirm │ │ index + tour + shop │ │ press │ │ markdown state │ │ contact + solitaire inline │ │ DSP linkouts │ └─────────────────┘ └──────────────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────┘ ── EVENT-DRIVEN SYSTEMS ── ┌─────────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐ │ merch toolset │ │ Instagram/social capture │ │ merch + press │ │ signs · inventory · model │ │ early press-domain adapter │ │ settlement signal │ │ tour-sales projections │ │ social assets → record │ │ social context │ └─────────────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────┘ ┌─────────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐ │ airline-claims dossier │ │ Passports.app (macOS) │ │ remote iPhone │ │ 8-doc legal framework │ │ .app wrap → FDA grantable │ │ ttyd + cloudflared│ │ reusable incident template │ │ TCC-workaround pattern │ │ Claude Code → tour│ └─────────────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────┘

Legend: hot · primary dev surface warm · active cool · stable / event-driven input · upstream of substrate

Activity heatmap

Feature commits per path on origin/main since 2026-04-01 (session-end auto-commits excluded where possible — raw git counts include them uniformly, so relative order is the signal, not absolutes).

System	What it does	Commits (Apr)
tour-watcher	Gmail → Claude extraction → itinerary patch	145
itinerary-server/src	Worker: 6 HTML views, guestlist CRUD, activities	93
press/site (sophiastel.net)	Public artist site, inline solitaire, OG stack	39
merch	Merch-sign boards (London / stock / general)	34
handoffs	Session handoffs — session continuity	16
itin-server/public	Poster assets, booking-tracker, supps manifest	14
bookings/	Per-confirmation markdown (25+ live bookings)	9
Passports.app	macOS widget, .app-wrapped for TCC	7
incidents/	Airline-claims dossier (8-doc legal framework)	6
press/ig-scraper	Early Instagram/social asset capture lane	2
hotels/ · records/	Search-state cache · album tracker	1

Reading the heat: tour-watcher + the Worker account for ~55% of feature commits this month. These are the two systems under the heaviest daily load and the two that carry the most incident scar tissue — precisely why they anchor the hardening workstream.

Systems

tour-watcher hot

clients/sophia-stel/touring/scripts/tour-watcher/

Polls Gmail via the custom MCP, passes threads through Claude CLI for structured extraction, patches itinerary.html in place. HTML-escapes all Claude output before embed; sentinel object distinguishes transient API failures from real failures.

Scar tissue: macOS TCC blocked launchd from ~/Desktop/ — a dead cron for 4 days drove the dev-root move.

itinerary-server hot

clients/sophia-stel/touring/scripts/itinerary-server/

Cloudflare Worker serving six views: itinerary, riders, vitamins (data-driven), merch inventory, per-pax (Cole), and the private booking tracker. KV-backed guestlist CRUD and Activities panel. preserve-sync.sh enforces GL-PRESERVE sentinel integrity.

Scar tissue: blind cp wiped the guestlist three times before the sentinel system.

booking agents warm

Playwright-MCP · bookings/*.md

Automates flights, rail, hotels, rentals across 11 airlines, 5 rail carriers, 4 hotel/rental systems. Per-booking markdown state: confirmation, fare class, pax, price, loyalty #. Airline sessions timeout in 10–15 min — codified rule.

Gmail, not the tracker, is authoritative. Southwest Basic (2026) stopped including checked bags — rule captured before it cost a booking.

custom Gmail MCP warm

~/Desktop/DEVELOPMENT/brain/mcp-servers/gmail/

Node.js + @modelcontextprotocol/sdk + googleapis. 8 tools, stdio, persistent refresh tokens. Built in ~45 min to replace Workspace MCP's transient-callback OAuth (failed on plane wifi during tour).

Feeds tour-watcher and every booking verification sweep.

airline-claims dossier cool

2026-world-tour/incidents/2026-04-15-*/

8-doc legal framework for the Berlin baggage incident: chronology, evidence, damages, Montreal / EU261 / CA APPR framework, claim letters (AC + BA), CTA / CAA escalation, supporting-letters inventory, live dashboard.

Templated: any future incident instantiates the same 8-doc structure.

sophiastel.net warm

clients/sophia-stel/press/site/

Public artist site on Cloudflare Workers [assets]. Index / tour / shop / contact + inline solitaire, full favicon + OG stack, 720px mobile breakpoint, 10-col streaming grid desktop / 5-col mobile.

Per-artist template — cloneable for the next two artists on the roster.

Passports.app cool

2026-world-tour/Passports.app/

macOS .app bundle wrapping passport-widget.py. Exists as a bundle specifically so it can be granted Full Disk Access (raw Python can't be added to FDA via System Settings).

The .app-wrap pattern is reusable for every widget that needs TCC grants.

remote iPhone Claude Code cool

ttyd + cloudflared

Terminal-over-HTTP tunnelled via Cloudflare. Matt runs a full Claude Code session from his phone while on tour; the machine stays home.

Operator-continuity infrastructure: the substrate follows the tour, not the desk.

domain-router CLAUDE.md warm

./CLAUDE.md (top-level)

Natural-language → eight-domain router (touring / booking / records / publishing / merch / press / finance / ops). Working rules codified as durable entries: airline timeouts, loyalty attachment, Ryanair URL locality, guestlist preserve-policy, booking-tracker-non-authoritative.

This is the productization substrate itself — every new client inherits the router.

Instagram / social capture early

clients/sophia-stel/press/ig-scraper/

Matt's early press-domain adapter: scrape_ssw.py captures public Instagram/social assets into the working record. This is not yet a production measurement layer; it is the visible first lane for social-platform context entering the company substrate.

Important because the grant-funded substrate should not be email-only. Press/social capture is the next signal class after touring, booking, and merch.

merch toolset warm

clients/sophia-stel/merch/ · itinerary-server/src/merch-inventory.html

Two coupled surfaces. Per-stop merch pricing signs (merch-sign-glasgow.html, merch-sign-london.html, merch-sign-stock.html) drive on-tour merch settlement conversations and shipped through the Gmail advance-sync pipeline (Brussels show-day overhaul; pricing sign delivered to Miro via the advancing thread). Merch-inventory worker view sits inside the six-view itinerary server alongside itinerary / riders / vitamins / Cole / booking-tracker. Tour-sales projection models fed into Claude generate hyper-segmented geographic and customer demand signal — which items run out where, restock cadence by territory.

Tour + merch are the two named productized lanes for the next calendar year. Merch settlement is the highest-variance revenue line on tour, and the same intelligence shape (item × territory × audience) extends sideways to brand-partnership evaluation.

per-domain artefacts cold

records/ · publishing/ · finance/ · ops/

Album tracker HTML, signed principal-terms PDFs, invoice directory, template stubs. Currently the thinnest surface — the growth target for W2 productization.

Today: receipts. Tomorrow: the template layer every new client inherits on day one.

How the grant workstreams attach

The four Amplify BC workstreams map directly onto the substrate above. None of them build a new system from scratch; each one hardens, generalizes, or transfers what's already running.

── WORKSTREAM FLOW ── W1 · HARDEN THE SUBSTRATE │ ├──▶ tour-watcher test harness · retry/backoff · artwork-sync timeout fix ├──▶ itinerary-server guestlist integrity · KV audit · deploy pipeline ├──▶ booking agents UI-drift regression suite · per-carrier contracts ├──▶ Gmail MCP secrets rotation · audit trail · multi-account └──▶ $2K security/data-stewardship line secrets · role-based access · rotation W2 · PRODUCTIZE FOR THREE-ARTIST ROSTER · TOUR + MERCH + PRESS/SOCIAL LANES │ ├──▶ domain-router CLAUDE.md becomes per-artist scaffold ├──▶ sophiastel.net template cloned for artist 2 + 3 ├──▶ ops/ + prompts/ templates fleshed out ← thinnest surface today ├──▶ incident-dossier template → reusable framework ├──▶ merch toolset (per-stop signs · inventory worker · projection models) ├──▶ Instagram/social capture becomes press-domain adapter └──▶ multi-client data isolation enforced, not just policy W3 · STRATEGIC DECISION TOOLS │ ├──▶ booking-tracker ↔ Gmail reconciler ├──▶ finance layer on top of booking/settlement data ├──▶ merch settlement reconciliation on top of toolset above ├──▶ social/press signal capture on top of Instagram lane └──▶ audit roll-up from different-gear → punk-brain ← audit_unwired today W4 · BC INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER │ ├──▶ 3–6 community-service sessions · 20+ BC pros ├──▶ curriculum drawn directly from the stack above │ airline booking automation · tour ingestion · merch settlement │ social asset capture · custom MCP servers · Worker-served artist views ├──▶ B.C.-based training co-facilitator engaged through equitable hiring └──▶ authority paper / case study as companion artifact

How Different Gear benefits

The substrate is already doing work. The grant lets Matt stop paying for that work in overtime and incident response.

Scale without hiring. The same operator services three artists instead of one, because the substrate handles the ingestion, extraction, and view-serving.
Incident → template, not crisis. The Berlin baggage case produced an 8-doc legal framework. The next incident starts from that framework, not from scratch.
The tour follows the substrate, not the desk. Remote iPhone Claude Code, persistent Gmail tokens, Worker-served views. The operator is available wherever the artist is.
Every artist inherits the template layer. New client onboarding becomes mkdir + clone sophiastel-template + copy domain-router, not six weeks of bespoke setup.
BC industry levels up alongside. The training and authority-paper work turns internal tooling into community-service capacity — 20+ BC pros learning the same stack that services the roster.

Hardening surface (known gaps)

This is the honest list. Every item feeds at least one workstream.

No regression suite on booking agents — UI drift kills silently → W1.
Cross-client data-isolation is policy, not enforcement → W2.
Secrets sprawl across ~/.claude/gmail-*.json, wrangler tokens, booking-site sessions → W1 / $2K security line.
launchd / TCC / Desktop-path fragility surfaced Apr 14–18 — fix in motion, not verified post-migration → W1.
artwork-sync Claude-CLI timeout — retry/backoff incomplete → W1.
booking-tracker ↔ Gmail drift — no reconciler yet → W3.
ops/, prompts/, docs/ nearly empty — the productization unlock is the thinnest surface → W2.
audit/evidence roll-up different-gear → punk-brain currently audit_unwired — partnership-intelligence wiring gap → W3.

Sources: handoff series 2026-04-10 → 2026-04-23 · origin/main tree inspection · feature-commit extraction git log origin/main --since=2026-04-01 -- <path>. Companion doc: discovery/2026-04-24-different-gear-toolkit-landscape.md.