null design
Null Design explores how computation can expand human agency.
We design intelligent systems, learning environments, software and experiments using computation as both material and collaborator. The studio operates as a research practice, a selective design and engineering studio, and a developer of reusable tools.
- null.design
- intelligent systems · agentic systems · learning environments · software · research infrastructure · automation · data systems · physical computing · fabrication · experimental interfaces
- AI is a material the studio uses. It is not the studio's identity.
- RUN-2026-0001
01Selected work
Real systems, described at the level of architecture. Metrics are counts that exist; nothing is estimated. Full index →
- ND-002
Qlass
Self-hostable, open-source learning management infrastructure (Next.js, PostgreSQL, Prisma) with a teacher-gated agentic unit builder: plan → author → review, every run logged to an audit table, nothing published without a human. A candidate learning environment for Agentic Education.
- MIT
- 28 (Prisma)
- 8 (Vitest)
- plan → author → review → teacher publish
- ND-004
arXiv Weekly
Autonomous weekly research infrastructure: search 21 arXiv categories, enrich with citation data, filter 100 candidates to 5–10, synthesise a briefing into a knowledge vault, write a script, produce audio, publish an RSS podcast feed. Running unattended every Monday since June 2026.
- 12 (2026-06-09 → 2026-08-31)
- 21
- 100 → 5–10
- weekly
- ND-001
Null Operator
The studio's own operating layer: a lead agent decomposes work into narrow, test-specified jobs, dispatches them to interchangeable worker models (OpenCode/GLM, Codex, a self-hosted agent), gates every result behind tests and a human decision, and records provenance for each run.
- 3 (OpenCode, Codex, Hermes over SSH)
- RUN-2026-0001
- ND-005
MDSolids Web
An open-source, browser-based, clean-room reimplementation of the classic mechanics-of-materials teaching suite: section properties, axial, torsion, beams, trusses, columns, Mohr's circle, combined loading, pressure vessels. Built by a human directing a fleet of agents against a shared module contract.
- 11
- MIT
- GitHub Pages
- ND-003
Atlas Curriculum Audit
An agent skill that reconciles a school's gradebook records against its curriculum-mapping system and a published course guide: build the assignment inventory, classify evidence, correct misplacements, verify every unit — with a human confirming every destructive step. Practical agentic orchestration across educational systems of record.
- agent skill (SKILL.md), runner-portable
- 6
02Research
Programs produce ideas, essays, experiments, methods and open research. Research →
- ND-R01
Agentic Education
Agentic Education investigates how computational agents can increase human agency in learning without outsourcing the cognitive work through which learning occurs.
DEFINE → DECOMPOSE → DELEGATE → OBSERVE → VERIFY → SYNTHESIZE → DEFEND
- ND-R02
Computational Research in Secondary Education
How advanced computational methods — neural forecasting, Monte Carlo simulation, transformer classifiers, numerical mechanics — change the scale and nature of inquiry available to secondary-school learners and their teachers.
The purpose of the agent is to increase the agency of the learner.
03Process
The studio is itself an example of human-directed agentic orchestration. Agents have defined computational roles; a human holds the gates. How we work →
- RESEARCH
- SCOUT
- ANALYSIS
- CRITIQUE
- HUMAN GATE
- BUILD
- VERIFY
- ARCHIVE
- PUBLISH
Agents search, read, draft, build against tests and critique. A human sets direction, approves publication, makes client and financial commitments and owns every research claim. Each run is recorded — trigger, inputs, tools, roles, artifacts, critiques, decisions — and the record is the source for what appears here.
This page was produced by RUN-2026-0001: one Operator under human direction; 2 Scout, 1 Researcher, 9 Builder and 2 Critic dispatches. Nothing was deployed or transferred without a recorded decision.
04Studio
Null Design is available for selected commissions, collaborations and research partnerships: agentic systems, research tooling, educational systems, computational curriculum, internal software, data applications, prototypes and automation infrastructure.