Gaia Research

North Star Decisions & Asset Commission List

Last updated: 2026-07-09

Locked product decisions

Context Diet is priority Lab / Benchmark 001. It should be treated as the first real interactive Lab and benchmark surface, not a side experiment.
Gaia Skill Tree is considered complete for the current web-planning phase. It will supersede the previous /atlas framing as the canonical registry/product destination.
Vercel is the locked deployment target for the Next.js App Router build, including preview deployments.
GitHub OAuth and Supabase are locked platform decisions. Implementation details, schema, callbacks, and auth UX will be defined in future PRs.
Social channels are Twitter/X, Reddit, and GitHub only. Do not include Discord as a production CTA or footer destination.
Avatars are done. Milim and Nova avatar assets are considered approved unless a later brand pass requests variants.
Context Diet assets are mostly done. Remaining work should focus on production export formats, crops, UI integration assets, and any commission-quality hero/supporting illustrations that are missing.

Existing assets to keep / curate

Asset	Path	Status	Notes
North Star full Research comp	`assets/North Star - Gaia Research.png`	Direction reference	Do not ship as rasterized UI. Use as layout/design reference.
North Star Research long-page comp	`assets/North Star - Gaia Research Hero.png`	Direction reference	Useful for homepage density and section rhythm.
North Star Skill Tree comp	`assets/North Star - Gaia Skill Tree.png`	Reference / lower priority	Skill Tree is complete and supersedes Atlas planning. Keep for continuity only.
Chief Scout hero	`assets/generated/chief-scout-hero.png`	Candidate production hero	Needs responsive crops and compression.
Research OG image	`assets/generated/research-og.png`	Candidate OG base	Needs 1200×630 export and text-safe crop check.
Raphael archive preview	`assets/generated/raphael-archive-preview.png`	Defer / curate	Keep for registry/Skill Tree context, not primary Research homepage.
Milim avatar PNG/JPG	`assets/brand/Milim-avatar.*`	Approved avatar	Done. Use in profile/directive contexts.
Nova avatar PNG/JPG	`assets/brand/Nova-avatar.*`	Approved avatar	Done. Use where Nova appears in product narrative.
Brand SVG system	`assets/brand/logo`, `assets/brand/icon`, `assets/brand/ui`	Production-ready base	Continue using `currentColor` UI icons and hand-authored marks.

Assets to generate, export, or commission

A. Required production exports

These are not new creative commissions; they are productionization tasks for assets we already have.

chief-scout-hero responsive set:
- desktop 16:9 AVIF/WebP
- tablet 4:3 AVIF/WebP
- mobile 9:16 or 3:4 crop AVIF/WebP
- transparent/cutout PNG if useful for layered hero composition
research-og social set:
- Open Graph 1200×630
- Twitter/X card 1200×675 or 1600×900
- no rasterized small text in the final crop
Avatar export set:
- Milim 512×512, 256×256, 128×128 WebP/PNG
- Nova 512×512, 256×256, 128×128 WebP/PNG
- optional circular mask-safe versions
Favicon/app icon set from existing SVG mark:
- favicon.ico
- 32×32 PNG
- 180×180 Apple touch icon
- 192×192 and 512×512 PWA icons
Brand preview/contact-sheet image for README/social sharing.

B. Context Diet Lab / Benchmark assets

Context Diet is the first Lab / Benchmark and should get a distinct but on-brand visual kit.

Context Diet hero illustration: Milim/Nova inspecting a compressed prompt pipeline or token stream.
Context Diet benchmark badge: compact mark for “Lab 001” / “Benchmark 001”.
Token compression visual motif:
- before/after token blocks
- shrinking context window
- diet meter / calorie-style token counter, but technical not gimmicky
Prompt analyzer UI mock assets:
- input pane
- reduced output pane
- token savings meter
- export-to-SKILL.md chip
Context Diet OG image:
- 1200×630
- dark lab background
- no small unreadable text
- clear “Context Diet” title rendered in HTML where possible, not baked into reusable art
Benchmark result icons:
- token reduction
- faithfulness retained
- latency saved
- cost saved
- export validity
Empty/loading/error-state illustrations for the lab.
A small animated or static “context stream being compressed” accent for hero or dashboard use.

C. Homepage / Research portal assets

Production logo lockup: mark + GAIA + [RESEARCH] as SVG/outlined vector.
Hero background overlays:
- grid layer
- pink spark layer
- blue verification/circuit layer
- vignette layer
Research Ledger icon set refinements:
- paper
- spec
- dataset
- API
- protocol
- benchmark
Milim Directive console accent art, preferably reusable as SVG/transparent PNG.
Gateway panel illustrations for:
- Labs
- Benchmarks
- Ledger
- Gaia Skill Tree
- Docs/specs
Footer/system-status visual treatment without Discord iconography.

D. Gaia Skill Tree / Registry support assets

Gaia Skill Tree is complete and supersedes Atlas as a planning priority, but the Research site still needs bridge assets.

Gaia Skill Tree product tile / gateway art.
Registry/trust record plaque component assets.
Optional Raphael archive image crop for a future registry page, if still desired.
Ivory/gold visual bridge tokens only if a Skill Tree route is built inside this repo later.

E. Social/community assets

Only Twitter/X, Reddit, and GitHub should be represented.

Twitter/X header image.
Reddit community banner.
GitHub organization/repo social preview image.
Launch announcement image for Context Diet.
No Discord CTA, icon, or footer link in production UI.

Commission brief

Commission work should preserve the North Star direction without copying existing anime/IP characters. The characters must read as original Gaia Research mascots, not direct references.

Style requirements

Cyber-Slime Laboratory: obsidian dark canvas, sharp HUD geometry, Milim Pink, Rimuru Blue.
High-energy but credible research tone.
No rasterized UI copy in illustrations unless explicitly approved for a one-off social image.
Composition must work behind semantic HTML text.
Avoid generic SaaS gradients, beige AI startup styling, and illegible tiny UI details.

Deliverables requested from artist/designer

Layered source file where possible.
PNG master at 2× or higher.
WebP/AVIF exports for production.
Crops for desktop/tablet/mobile.
Confirmation of originality and no direct character/IP copying.
Transparent-background variants where useful.

GitHub issue draft

Title

Finalize North Star decisions and production asset commission list for Context Diet launch

Body

Summary

Lock the updated North Star decisions into the design system and prepare the production/commission asset list for the first Lab / Benchmark launch: Context Diet.

Locked decisions

Context Diet is priority Lab / Benchmark 001.
Gaia Skill Tree is considered complete for current planning and supersedes the older Atlas framing.
Vercel is the deployment target.
GitHub OAuth + Supabase are locked, with implementation details deferred to future PRs.
Production social links are Twitter/X, Reddit, and GitHub only. No Discord CTA/footer link.
Milim and Nova avatars are done.
Context Diet assets are mostly done; remaining work is production export, crops, integration, and any missing commission-quality support art.

Tasks

Design docs

Append locked decisions to DESIGN.md.
Keep North Star comps as references, not rasterized UI sources.
Update any future footer/social specs to remove Discord.

Production exports

Export responsive chief-scout-hero AVIF/WebP set.
Export research-og social card variants.
Export avatar size ladder for Milim and Nova.
Generate favicon/app/PWA icon set from existing SVG mark.

Context Diet assets

Finalize Context Diet hero illustration.
Create Lab 001 / Benchmark 001 badge.
Create token compression motif and benchmark result icons.
Create prompt analyzer UI mock/support assets.
Create Context Diet OG/social image.
Create empty/loading/error state illustrations.

Homepage / portal assets

Create production GAIA RESEARCH logo lockup SVG.
Build reusable hero overlays and lab grid layers.
Create gateway art for Labs, Benchmarks, Ledger, Gaia Skill Tree, and Docs/specs.
Create Milim Directive console accent art.

Social/community

Acceptance criteria

DESIGN.md clearly reflects the locked decisions.
Asset backlog distinguishes existing, production-export, generated, and commissioned assets.
Context Diet has enough production assets to ship as the first Lab / Benchmark.
No rasterized UI text is used for core site content.
No Discord links/icons appear in production UI.