The control panel

At some point I couldn't answer a simple question: what is allowed to run right now, and what can it touch?

The problem

When you build things quickly, they pile up. Each one made sense when I added it. Together, they were more than I could hold in my head.

I didn't want a report. I wanted a switch.

What I built

I made a Mac app of my own. Every automation and every tool connection had its own on/off switch, and I could sort them by company, by client, and by what's personal.

The part I cared about most: turning something off actually stopped it. Flip an automation off and it doesn't run on its next turn. Flip a connection off and my AI tools get blocked when they try to use it.

A dashboard that only shows you status is a picture. I wanted a lever.

What went wrong

The app worked. That wasn't the problem.

The problem is that I'd built a custom app, and a custom app is one more thing to keep alive. It had its own data format, its own bugs, and its own updates. When I changed how things were organized, the app had to change too. I'd built a tool to reduce mess and given myself something new to maintain.

What I changed

The switches and the facts already lived in plain files. The app was just a screen on top of them.

So the files stay the source of truth, and the blocking still lives there, so a switch still really stops things. The screen on top can be anything, including a page in a tool I already use. The custom app goes away.

What I learned

• Make the switch realA switch that blocks the thing beats a status light that only describes it.
• Don't build a tool you have to babysitIf a tool you already use can be the screen, use it.
• Keep the truth in one placeScreens come and go. The files stay.