Transforming ideas into practical reality through natural conversation
Sophie is an AI-powered product design mentor - an independent CLI system with persistent memory, multi-project support, and natural conversational interaction.
Named for the wisdom of transforming understanding into action, Sophie is your collaborative partner in product design, UX research, strategy, and design leadership.
This repository has evolved:
- Was: Product Design Agent (Claude Desktop / Gemini Gems implementation)
- Now: Sophie (Independent CLI implementation)
The original implementation is preserved in /archive/original-claude-desktop-agent/ for reference and historical use.
Sophie is a completely separate AI agent - not an extension of the original, but a new implementation built from the ground up with lessons learned.
Unlike traditional AI tools, Sophie:
- Remembers your journey — Conversations, decisions, and context persist across sessions
- Manages multiple projects — Switch seamlessly between different initiatives
- Speaks your language — Fluent English/Spanish, natural conversation (no commands)
- Brings expertise — 12 specialized personas (Strategy, Research, AI, Leadership, etc.)
- Adapts to you — Learns your preferences, respects your constraints
- Runs independently — CLI-based, OAuth-authenticated, no API keys needed
- Integrates external knowledge — Collaborate with Perplexity AI, Claude, and other tools
Sophie represents a transformation from context-dependent web agents to an independent, memory-enabled CLI system that preserves the collaborative "soul" while adding:
✨ Persistent Memory — Never lose context, conversations, or decisions ✨ Multi-Project Support — Work on many projects with isolated contexts ✨ External Knowledge Integration — Bring research from Perplexity, other AIs ✨ Provider Independence — Works with Claude Code CLI, Gemini CLI (OAuth) ✨ Natural Conversation — Pure natural language, like talking to a mentor
🎯 Current Focus: Phase 0 - Technology Validation
Sophie is in active development using an AI-first methodology (built BY AI, guided by user).
Phase 0: Technology Validation (2-6 days)
- Goal: Choose technology stack (Deno vs Go)
- Deliverables: Working prototypes, comparison document, decision
- Status: Deno prototype in progress, Go prototype pending
Completed:
- ✅ Repository transformation (original agent archived at
/archive/) - ✅ Architectural design (138KB across 5 comprehensive documents)
- ✅ Five Cornerstones framework established
- ✅ Validation framework with automated enforcement (GitHub Actions)
- ✅ AI-first development methodology documented
- ✅ Branch strategy and project structure defined
Next Phases:
- Phase 1: Foundation (CLI, config, basic conversation)
- Phase 2: Orchestration (task matching, knowledge loading)
- Phase 3-6: AI integration → Memory layer → Enhancements → Polish
Branches:
develop— Active development (DEFAULT - work here)main— Stable releases (first release after Phase 1)
Key Documents:
CLAUDE.md— Foundation: principles, methodology, Five CornerstonesVALIDATION.md— Enforcement: quality gates, automated checks.github/AI_FIRST_STRUCTURE.md— AI-first dev methodology
📚 Architecture Documentation:
- System Analysis — Complete mapping of current implementation
- Behavioral Patterns — How the "soul" works
- Architecture Design — Blueprint for transformation
- Feature Matrix — Current vs. desired capabilities
- External Knowledge — 4th memory tier design
This project began as the Product Design Agent — a sophisticated file-based AI mentorship system for Claude Desktop and Gemini Gems (see /archive/ for original implementation).
The Challenge: Platform constraints (session limits, no memory, token usage) prevented the original agent from reaching its full potential.
The Solution: Complete transformation into Sophie - an independent CLI application built from the ground up as a separate AI agent with:
- Persistent memory across sessions
- Multi-project workflows
- External knowledge integration
- Provider-agnostic architecture
The Name: Sophie — inspired by wisdom, understanding, and the transformation of ideas into practical reality.
Important: Sophie does not reuse or extend the original agent's knowledge base. She's her own AI agent, designed fresh with lessons learned from the original.
Sophie brings 12 specialized agent personas:
| Agent | Focus Area | Example Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| AI Specialist | Prompt engineering, automation, vibe coding | Writing prompts, style extraction, prototyping |
| Collaboration Facilitator | Critiques, workshops, stakeholder management | Meetings, design reviews, conflict resolution |
| Content Specialist | Clarity, consistency, accessibility | Content audits, IA, style guides |
| Design Educator | Raising design maturity | Cognitive biases, B2B design, economics |
| Design System Specialist | Component libraries, tokens, patterns | Component docs, design tokens, icon systems |
| Discovery Analyst | Problem framing, opportunity identification | Journey mapping, hypothesis crafting |
| Onboarding Specialist | Team ramp-up, training | Designer onboarding, tool training |
| Project Manager | Delivery, planning, risk management | Kickoffs, project plans, milestones |
| Requirements Analyst | PRDs, specifications, alignment | Requirements gathering, PRD creation |
| Research Analyst | Usability testing, synthesis, measurement | Test planning, affinity diagramming, UX metrics |
| Strategy Analyst | Product strategy, KPIs, prioritization | Brainstorming, MVP definition, roadmaps |
| Team Lead | Team building, culture, hiring | Team management, hiring, UX culture |
| Visual Designer | Aesthetics, storytelling, assets | Image prompts, executive presentations |
80+ Task Methodologies:
- Usability testing & research
- Journey mapping & personas
- Strategy & prioritization
- Design systems & components
- Leadership & team management
- AI integration & prompt engineering
- Content strategy & audits
- Workshops & facilitation
15,000+ Lines of Curated Knowledge:
- Step-by-step task guides
- Templates & frameworks
- Best practices & anti-patterns
- Case studies & examples
- Bilingual support (EN/ES)
Recommended: Deno (TypeScript) Alternatives: Go (under evaluation via prototypes)
Key Technologies:
- Storage: SQLite (embedded, single-file)
- AI Providers: Claude Code CLI, Gemini CLI (OAuth)
- Search: FTS5 + optional embeddings
- Deployment: Single binary executable
Every decision in Sophie's design adheres to five principles:
- Configurability — File-driven config, user preferences, trust levels
- Modularity — Clean separation of concerns, isolated components
- Extensibility — Easy to add tasks, agents, providers, knowledge
- Integration — Seamless collaboration with other AI tools
- Automation — Auto-detection, auto-tagging, CI/CD, testing
- Project structure & Deno setup
- YAML config loading (agents + tasks)
- Basic CLI REPL
- Simple conversation loop
- 8-step workflow orchestrator
- Task matching & confidence scoring
- Knowledge loading (file-based)
- End-to-end task execution
- Claude Code CLI adapter
- Gemini CLI adapter
- Response streaming
- Provider abstraction
- SQLite setup
- Project registry
- Conversation & decision storage
- Multi-project support
- Conversation search
- Validation loops
- Context optimization
- Optional embeddings
- User testing
- Performance optimization
- Documentation
- Release & distribution
Sophie is in active development. Contributions welcome once we reach Phase 2!
Areas of Interest:
- Task methodology contributions (new guides, improved frameworks)
- Agent persona refinements
- Translation & localization (beyond EN/ES)
- Testing & quality assurance
- Documentation improvements
MIT License — Free to use, modify, and distribute.
The original Product Design Agent (Claude Desktop / Gemini Gems implementation) is preserved in /archive/original-claude-desktop-agent/.
If you want to use the original implementation:
- See the archive directory for installation guides
- It remains fully functional for Claude Desktop and Gemini Gems users
- All original knowledge files and documentation preserved
Sophie is a separate, new AI agent - not a continuation of the original.
Repository: https://github.com/jcmrs/product-design-agent (will be renamed to sophie) Issues & Discussions: Use GitHub Issues for bug reports, feature requests, and questions
Sophie is being built with AI-first collaboration in mind: User + Sophie + Claude Code + Perplexity AI + other agents = Synergy
"Transforming ideas into practical reality, one conversation at a time."