The GCI development system

Glassforge.

Give AI-assisted development
a system that carries forward.

The shared rulebook, project knowledge, and release machinery for the AI agents that build and maintain Glass City Intelligence’s websites and platforms.

See how it worksExplore what it can do

Created and directed by Dan McConaughy.
Owned and operated by Glass City Intelligence.

How the pieces fit

01
Dan sets the direction

The goals, decisions, and boundaries

Glassforge

The knowledge and machinery
behind the work.
InstructionsLessonsDocumentsChecks
Claude CodeBuilds independently
CodexBuilds independently
04
A checked, documented change

Reviewed, published, verified live

Coordination lives in GitHub and the project documents.

01 / What it is

The work continues.
The knowledge should, too.

An AI conversation ends. A website keeps changing. Glassforge gives the decisions, lessons, and working methods a home that the next session can read.

Think of a workshop’s instruction binder and inspection process. The binder records how the work should be done. The inspections test specific requirements. The builders still do the work.

In practical terms, Glassforge is a private GitHub repository of versioned documents, scripts, and workflow templates. Adopting projects generate their own workflow files from it and run the checks in their own build and release processes.

01

Standing instructions

The owner’s decisions have a permanent home: what matters, what is allowed, and what must never change without permission.

The laws and working rules
02

Knowledge by feature

Each page, tool, and shared system has a document explaining its files, behavior, checks, and limits. The next agent has somewhere to start.

The project’s working memory
03

Lessons that stay learned

Incidents are recorded with their cause and the rule or check that followed. A correction can become part of how the next change is made.

Experience made reusable
04

A path to production

Reusable templates define how a change is previewed, checked, reviewed, merged, and published for each supported stack.

The release machinery
05

Checks with consequences

Automated checks test specific conditions: documentation, project isolation, rendered-file drift, and whether pages load in a browser.

Evidence before publication
06

Controlled upgrades

A project pins a Glassforge version and generates its workflow files from that version. Improvements move into the project through a reviewed update.

A versioned foundation

02 / How it works

Follow one change
from request to reality.

Choose an illustrative example. Each follows the same principle: change the software and leave enough knowledge for the next person or agent to continue.

A new website page

“Explain our new service clearly.”

A published page with its own feature document and a checked route.

Illustrative workflow

  1. Read the context

    The agent reads the owner’s instructions, the project guide, and the relevant feature documents.

  2. Build the change

    It creates the page on a separate branch, using the project’s actual content, design, and data boundaries.

  3. Make it understandable

    The same change includes a feature document explaining the page and how another agent can modify it.

  4. Check and review

    The project runs its checks and builds a preview. The agent reviews the diff; required checks must pass on the exact version being merged.

  5. Publish and verify

    The pull request is merged under the owner’s policy. The host publishes it, and the changed page is checked live.

A different agent takes over

“Improve the tool the other agent built.”

A change the next agent can understand without needing the previous conversation.

Illustrative workflow

  1. Find the feature

    The feature index points to the document for the tool, including its files, behavior, and known limits.

  2. Start independently

    Claude Code or Codex works from the current repository on its own branch. It does not need the other agent’s permission or chat history.

  3. Update code and knowledge

    The agent changes the implementation and updates its document in the same pull request. Its commit identifies which tool made the change.

  4. Reconcile and check

    If the main branch moved, the changes are reconciled and the required checks run against the updated candidate.

  5. Leave a usable handoff

    The reviewed change is published and verified. The repository carries the updated knowledge into the next session.

A better release check

“Prevent this failure from happening again.”

A reusable improvement that adopting projects can take deliberately.

Illustrative workflow

  1. Record the incident

    The failure and its evidence inform a lesson and the proposed rule or check.

  2. Improve Glassforge

    The shared template or script is changed in Glassforge, documented, checked, and released as a new version.

  3. Update the project

    An adopting project moves its version pin and regenerates the affected files. It reviews the resulting diff.

  4. Prove the adoption

    The drift check verifies that generated files match their recorded templates and project settings. The project runs its own release checks too.

  5. Release deliberately

    The project publishes through its normal pull request process. Other projects keep their existing version until they are upgraded.

Routine, reversible changes can be reviewed and merged by the agent under Dan’s policy. Changes involving laws, legal pages, credentials, new spending, data loss, or unresolved risk go back to the owner.

03 / What it can do

A foundation for building.
Room for what comes next.

Glassforge supports how software is developed and maintained. The websites, tools, and experiences are built by the agents and their project code.

Website development

Websites that keep evolving

Support new pages, design changes, technical search work, and ongoing maintenance with a repeatable change process.

Application development

Custom tools and platforms

Provide the development discipline around dashboards, browser workspaces, automation tools, and knowledge systems. Each still needs its own implementation.

Independent collaboration

More than one agent

Let Claude Code and Codex work on separate tasks while sharing repository knowledge, documentation conventions, and release requirements.

A reusable foundation

More than one project

Reuse supported workflow packs while keeping each project’s configuration and data separate. A different stack needs its own pack and verification.

In use today

Two projects. Two release stacks.

Glass City Intelligence Vercel + Astro

Glass City Intelligence has completed adoption of its Vercel–Astro pack: project isolation and authorship scans, generated-file drift checks, feature-document checks, commit attribution, and browser smoke tests. GitHub’s handoff check and Vercel’s build check guard changes before they reach production.

Explore GCI’s work

PC NET TECHS Wix-managed Astro

PC NET TECHS has completed adoption of the Wix–Astro pack. Its preview, release, heartbeat, and release scripts use Glassforge, with feature documentation and generated-file drift checks in its own project.

Project pin: Glassforge 1.12.0 · Verified October 6, 2026.

Explore the PC NET TECHS project

Current workflow packs

Vercel + Astro
Build checks, browser tests, and a GitHub handoff check
Wix-managed Astro
Preview, publishing, heartbeat, and release scripts

These two completed adoptions demonstrate reuse across Vercel-hosted Astro and Wix-managed Astro, with each project keeping its own configuration and release process.

Other stacks require adaptation.

04 / Questions

The details,
in plain English.

Does Glassforge write the code?

Claude Code and Codex write and modify code. Glassforge supplies the instructions, knowledge, templates, and checks that shape their work. It runs nothing on its own.

Who is responsible?

Dan McConaughy created and directs the development system. Glass City Intelligence owns and operates Glassforge. Dan sets the standing instructions and remains responsible for the work; agents may review and merge routine, reversible changes under his delegated policy.

Can it build any kind of software?

Its current workflow packs cover Astro projects on Vercel and Wix-managed Astro projects. The approach can be adapted to other software, but a new stack needs appropriate templates, integrations, and checks. That is development work, not a capability already supplied by these packs.

Does a green check mean the work is perfect?

A check proves only the conditions it tests. It cannot prove every claim is true, the design is excellent, a product will succeed, or that no defect remains. Reviewing the actual change and verifying the live result remain part of the process.

Is it a product I can sign up for?

Glassforge is currently GCI’s private development foundation. This page explains how it works. It does not offer a public account, hosted application, or self-service installation.

Glass City Intelligence

Ideas need direction.
Progress needs continuity.

Glassforge is how GCI carries its development decisions forward—from the first request to the next improvement.

Discuss a projectCreated by Dan McConaughy