# ✦ The Zenith Suite — the handbook

_The complete user manual for all six apps — Launcher, Tasks, Mind, Calendar,
AI (Cielo) and Icons. Every gesture, menu, button and setting. Written to be
read straight through, searched in a hurry, or quoted by someone helping
another person._

**Developed by** Black Syntax · **Published by** Friend Castle · Android 8.0+ ·
support@zenithsuite.app

Web version: https://zenithsuite.app/user-guide/ · Machine-readable
reference: https://zenithsuite.app/user-guide/reference.json

---

# PART I — THE SUITE

What every Zenith app shares. Read this once and every app afterwards is mostly
variations on it.

## 01 · How to read this

Zenith names things the way it draws them, and every app uses the same words for
the same ideas.

**The six apps.** Each stands alone; each was made to fit the others.

| App | Is | Part |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Zenith Launcher** | Your home screen as a night sky — hold it, a ring of apps blooms. The flagship, and where Gold is bought. | II |
| **Zenith Tasks** | A to-do web: grow tasks on branches, strike them through to complete. | III |
| **Zenith Mind** | A 3D mind-map you fly through; ideas are glowing bodies joined by constellation lines. | IV |
| **Zenith Calendar** | Time as a live solar system — the Sun is the year, the Earth is today. | V |
| **Zenith AI · Cielo** | An assistant you talk to (your own AI key), summoned from any app with "Ask the Sky". | VI |
| **Zenith Icons** | A constellation icon pack — 975 icons, plus sigils and constellations to hand-pick. | VII |

**Notation.** `app › settings › row` is a menu path. **hold** = press and keep
the finger down (never a quick tap). **slide** = move the finger already down.
**lift / release** = take the finger off — this commits. **dwell** = hold still
a set number of ms. **dp** = Android's screen unit. **(gold)** = needs the
one-time Zenith Gold unlock. Everything else is free.

**Glyphs.** ✦ the star (the signature, a confirm, a ring's heart) · ✛ add · ◈
icon · ✎ edit · ◎ re-place · − remove · ⚙︎ settings · 🚀 the Shuttle (shared
inbox) · ☄ a comet (notification) / a meteor (one-time event) · › opens
something · ⟂ overridden by an accessibility setting.

**The one rule.** In the gesture apps (Launcher, Tasks, Mind classic mode) the
whole interaction is one press — hold, slide, and *lifting is what commits*.
Lost mid-gesture? Slide to empty sky and lift; nothing happens, and you're back
to the start. That escape works everywhere.

## 02 · How the suite fits together

Six separate apps, one shared spine. You never have to think about the spine —
it never has a screen — but it explains why one AI key works everywhere and one
Google link is read by all of them. (Gold is the exception: it's bought per app,
not shared.)

**One vocabulary.**

- **Node** — the unit: one selectable thing (app, task, idea, commitment). A
  "folder" is a node with children.
- **Star** — NOT the unit; only a *shape* a node can be drawn as, or a visual
  flourish. You tap nodes, not "stars".
- **Sky** — the working canvas of any app.
- **Ring** — a circle of nodes that blooms under your finger.
- **Hub** — a central node others spoke off.
- **Link / Constellation** — one connection; a named, coloured *group* of them
  (a relationship layer).
- **Web / Star Chart** — the whole saved structure (Web in Tasks/Mind; a saved
  sky is a Star Chart in the Launcher).
- **Bloom · Nova · Supernova** — a ring opening; the ripple on select; the full
  burst on launch/complete.
- **Comet · Spark · Ghost** — the finger trail; the tap burst; the fading
  afterimage.
- **Talk · Ask the Sky · Cielo** — AI scoped to one node; the universal
  invocation; the persona you talk to.

**The shared spine** carries between apps: **Cielo & your AI key** (one key),
**Connections** (one Google link), **the Shuttle** (a shared inbox), **deep links
& documents**, and **sound**. **Zenith Gold** is *not* shared — each app has its
own, bought on its own.

**Install order.** The shared things are held by whichever Zenith app is the
"host", preferring Launcher → Mind → Tasks → Calendar, then a local fallback. No
app is required. If you'll run several, link your Google account *after* your
main app is installed (a link made standalone isn't auto-migrated to a
later-installed host). The apps only share data with each other because they are
signed by the same developer key; a look-alike app can't read any of it.

## 03 · Install, accounts & connections

Every app runs the moment it's installed — no account, no sign-in. Two optional
steps make the suite one place.

**Make the Launcher your home.** `launcher › settings › system › set zenith as
default launcher →` (on Android 10+ this opens the system's home-app chooser).
This is what makes the home button return to the sky, and what unlocks app
shortcuts and the Direct inbox.

**Connections — link an account once.** The same "Connect an account" screen is
in each app's settings (Launcher: `settings › suite connections`; others: the
Connections row). Link a Google account and tick which services it offers:

| Service | Used by | For |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Calendar | Calendar | each chosen Google calendar becomes a mirror almanac |
| Tasks | Tasks | import a Google Tasks list |
| Drive | Tasks, Mind, … | back up / restore to your own Drive |
| Photos | apps with a picker | pick an image |
| Contacts | (reserved) | future |

Linking is optional; Apple/Microsoft are listed but not yet wired. Link after
your host app is installed.

**Permissions, at a glance** (all optional, asked only when you turn on the
feature): coarse location (weather, real sky — Launcher, Calendar); notification
access (comets — Launcher); accessibility (assistive actions — Launcher);
calendar read (agenda — Launcher, Tasks, Calendar); post notifications
(reminders — Tasks, Calendar); display over other apps (bubble / Quick Ring —
Tasks, AI, Launcher); microphone via the system speech UI (Tasks, AI, Calendar);
internet (AI, weather, Drive sync).

## 04 · Zenith Gold

Each app has its own Gold — a one-time in-app purchase (never a subscription)
that lifts *that app's* free caps. There is no suite-wide unlock. Prices:
**Launcher $3.99**; **Tasks, Mind, Calendar, AI and Tulpa $1.99** each; **Zenith
Icons $0.99** (a standalone pack, not an app with a Gold tier). Every *feature* is
free; all accessibility is free forever. Gold buys depth, quantity and flourish.

**Bought in each app.** Every app sells and licenses its own Gold. Reach a Gold
feature and a burnt-gold panel names it and unlocks it right there; buying Gold in
one app never unlocks another. In demo builds, each app's Gold is a free toggle in
that app's `settings › system › zenith gold`.

**The gates, by app:**

- **Launcher** — free: 2 regions · 3 talismans · 1 sky · themes clean/mono/pastel
  · spark to "lively" · sound playback & volume. Gold: unlimited regions,
  talismans & skies · every theme · My Sky · your own images as icons · twinkle &
  the sparkler tier · tuning the sky's voice · a separate sky per fold screen.
- **Tasks** — Gold: every theme · custom colours · your own background image ·
  your own images as node symbols · a second list side-by-side on a big screen.
- **Mind** — free: 3 maps · 2 boundaries · clean/mono/pastel. Gold: unlimited
  maps & boundaries · every theme (incl. ink, ember, abyss) · your own photos as
  node symbols.
- **Calendar** — free: 3 almanacs · 1 Google-mirror · every view & commitment.
  Gold: unlimited almanacs & Google mirrors.
- **AI · Cielo** — free: lenses Blunt & Brief · recalls your last session · 5
  memory stars · 3 snips · 5 knowledge files. Gold: every lens stacked · recalls
  your last three sessions · unlimited memory/snips/knowledge · install new
  beings (Tulpas).

**Zenith Icons is a separate paid product**, not part of Gold.

## 05 · Zenith AI & Cielo, across the suite

**Zenith AI** is the app; **Cielo** is the persona — "the sky, answering." She's
bundled into every suite app, so you can Ask the Sky without the Zenith AI app;
that app just makes her richer. Reach her three ways: **Ask the Sky** (a ✦
entry point in any app), **Talk** (AI scoped to one node, in Tasks & Mind), and
**Zenith Assist** (the device-assistant home-hold — §45). She runs on an AI
model *you* choose with *your* key, entered once and read everywhere (§41). She
can act across whichever Zenith apps you have installed; anything destructive
asks first (Allow / Cancel). The Launcher itself has no Cielo chat window — its
"ask assistant" action opens a third-party assistant — but Cielo can still drive
the Launcher when invoked from elsewhere.

## 06 · The Shuttle, links & documents

**The Shuttle** 🚀 is the suite's shared share-inbox: send from one app, pick up
in another. Send via Android's share sheet to a Zenith app or a node's "to
shuttle" / "↗ share"; pick up from the 🚀 button (Tasks, Calendar), the Launcher
add sheet's *Zenith* tab, or Mind's File › "From Shuttle".

**Deep links.** Every node has an address `zenith://app/type/id`. Results come
back as tappable chips that jump straight there, even into another app. This is
how "open in Tasks", "on the map", "on calendar" work.

**Documents.** Each app saves portable files on a shared envelope; opening one
always lands as *new*, never overwriting.

| App | Ext | Holds |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Launcher | `.zsd` | one sky (a Star Chart) |
| Tasks | `.ztd` | one web |
| Mind | `.zmd` | one map |
| Calendar | `.zcd` | one almanac |
| Zenith Tulpa | `.tulpa` | one AI being (§43) |
| any | `.zbak` | a full backup, for a new device |

## 07 · The sky's voice & sound

Two kinds of sound. **Shared interface cues** — a small palette of quiet, glassy
taps/opens/chimes — play across all apps, are **free**, and share one switch
(Launcher: `settings › system › suite tap & nav sounds`). **The sky's voice** —
in the Launcher, Tasks and Calendar — is a procedural glass-and-bell instrument
where a node's *place* decides its note, so a practiced path plays a phrase you
learn by ear; it never takes audio focus and stops when the app leaves the
screen. Playback and volume are free; *tuning* the voice (which events sound, the
ambient drone, the scale) is Gold. **Cielo's voice** is an on-device neural voice
(Piper); she falls back to system text-to-speech, and her voice belongs to the
active persona (§44).

## 08 · Foldables & big screens

Zenith treats a big screen as genuinely different, not stretched. Every app
defaults to its real spatial "canvas" at every size; a narrow linear "triage"
outline appears only where an app opts in. Both views are the same data, so an
edit made folded is already correct when you unfold. Several apps also have
home-screen widgets (that adapt to cover vs. inner display), Quick Settings tiles
for instant capture, and floating bubbles.

## 09 · Privacy & permissions

No servers, no accounts, no analytics — for most of the suite there is nowhere
for data to go. Your data lives in each app's private storage; uninstalling
removes it; a backup is written only when you export one.

**The only things that leave the device, and only if you turn them on:** your
rounded location for weather/real-sky (to Open-Meteo — no key, no account); your
messages to the AI provider *you* chose with *your* key (nothing routes through a
Zenith server); files an app creates, to your own Drive.

**What each permission does:** location (coarse) — rounded, never stored, sent
only to the weather request; notification access — comet titles drawn and
forgotten, never stored/sent; accessibility ("Zenith actions") — reads nothing
from the screen, only performs actions you assign; calendar (read) — shown
on-device; post notifications — reminders; microphone — the system speech UI (the
apps hold only an inert stub: "Cielo reads the screen; she does not listen");
display over other apps — draws a control, reads nothing; internet — AI, weather,
Drive sync only.

**Zenith Assist** reads the current screen **only at the moment you invoke Cielo**
— never in the background — and passes it to the model you chose; the floating
bubble does not read the screen. Full policy:
https://zenithsuite.app/privacy

---

# PART II — ZENITH LAUNCHER

The flagship; the home screen the suite grew from. The gesture here is the one
Tasks and Mind reuse.

## 10 · The core gesture

One finger, one motion: **hold · bloom · slide · lift.**

1. **Hold on empty sky.** A spark grows; after the hold delay (220 ms default) a
   ring of nodes blooms centred on your finger.
2. **Slide onto a node** — it brightens, swells, names itself; a haptic tick
   marks each node.
3. **Lift to open it** — supernova, then the app opens.
4. **Or lift on empty sky** — everything dissolves.

**Descending into a folder:** rest on it (a tiny orbit with three moons) for the
bloom delay (330 ms). Its ring blooms; the old ring vanishes, leaving a chevron
at the point you came from — trace back into it to fold shut. Nest without limit.

**Timings** (all adjustable unless fixed): ring opens 220 ms (120–450; 120–600 in
accessibility) · folder bloom 330 ms (150–1200) · double-tap 340 ms (200–700) ·
dwell-to-select 900 ms (400–2500) · ring bloom animation 240 ms (fixed) · ritual
step 650 ms (fixed) · breathe 2600 ms (fixed) · veil rest 4000 ms (fixed).

**Release targets:** app → launch · shortcut → run (needs default launcher) ·
widget → floating window · file → open where it lives · folder → nothing (dwell)
· heart node → open it (hybrids) · ✛◈✎− → the dock · empty sky → dissolve.

**Icon vs list mode:** a switch atop settings turns rings into cascading text
panels — same tree, dock, corners, timings. Row markers: › folder · ▣ widget · ↗
shortcut.

## 11 · The sky's furniture

Fixed things around the constellation, each removable: the ⚙︎ settings corner
(lower-left, hides while a ring is open); the clock/date/battery/event/weather
overlay (any of 9 anchors, tap opens the matching app); corner & edge hints;
region borders (while holding); the dock ✛◈✎− (left column, 60 dp in); latched
◉/‹ (accessibility); comets; the status bar.

**Hit zones:** corner 52×52 dp; edge band 18 dp (corners win overlaps); node
target 1.4× node size (× the accessibility 1.0–2.5×). Zenith never claims screen
edges from Android's back-swipe — hence unassigned left/right flicks and the
reliable drawn circle for the Star Index.

**Quick Ring** (`settings › system › ✦ quick ring`): a floating ✦ over every app;
tap it and the real ring blooms there. Needs "display over other apps". Free.

## 12 · Rings, nodes & orbits

A node has an *angle* (0° up, clockwise) and an *orbit* (a multiplier on the base
radius). Node types: app · folder · shortcut · widget · file. Any node can be a
**hybrid parent** (dwell blooms its ring, release launches it) or a folder can be
a **ritual** (§19). Base radius 150 dp (80–280); node size 26 dp (18–36); orbit
0.4×–6×, snapped to 0.25×, magnetising onto a sibling's orbit if nearer. Rings
bloom exactly where you touch and are never nudged on-screen, so an extreme
placement can fall off the edge — move it with ◎ re-place, or from `✛ › Edit`.
Labels sit below a node but jump above while it's under your finger.

## 13 · The in-gesture dock

Four buttons up the left edge, only while you hold. Slide onto one and release,
or tap with a second finger.

| Button | Acts on | Release | Second-finger tap |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ✛ add | node under finger, else the ring | add sheet | live placement |
| ◈ icon | last node touched | icon picker | same, ends gesture |
| ✎ edit | last node touched | node editor | same, ends gesture |
| − remove | last node touched | removes it | removes & keeps ring open |

✛ is always shown; ◈✎− appear once you touch a node. On −, the node is circled in
rose and named; slide off to cancel. **Live placement:** slide onto ✛ without
lifting → a ghost node follows your thumb with a `135° · 1.25×` readout; release
to lock the spot, then pick what goes there.

## 14 · Adding things

Add-sheet tabs: **Apps** (searchable) · **Folder** · **Widgets** (floating
windows) · **Shortcuts** (needs default launcher) · **Files** (Drive/Photos/local
via Android pickers) · **System** (platform actions as nodes) · **Direct**
(things other apps pinned to home — accepted silently into an inventory; place
them from here; "forget" drops from the list only) · **Zenith** 🚀 (cross-app
actions incl. the Shuttle) · **Edit** (this ring's contents: recolour, rename, ◎
re-place, ✕ remove). **Placement screen:** the drawn circle is the real orbit at
true scale — drag around for the angle, in/out for the orbit, then *place ✦*.

## 15 · The node editor ✎

One node, one panel (touch a node during a hold, slide onto ✎): name · light
color · show label / show icon · **breathe before opening** (a 2.6 s pause; tap
to stay) · **ritual** (folders) · **haptic signature** (an 8-slot timeline; felt
as your finger crosses; presets pulse / triple tick / swell / double knock) ·
uninstall app · ◎ re-place · − remove · done. With spoken labels on, distinct
haptics let you navigate a ring by feel.

## 16 · Icons on a node ◈

Four layers, each overriding the one below: (1) this node's custom icon; (2) this
app's chosen icon (Deep Sky › long-press › ◈ set icon); (3) the default icon pack
(`settings › background & light › icon set`); (4) the app's own icon. The ◈
picker offers Zenith's eight glyphs, any installed pack (its match, or browse
all), and your own cropped image (gold). Applying a pack is free; per-node ◈ wins.

## 17 · Deep Sky & the Star Index

**Deep Sky** (hold lower-right corner, flick up, or an assigned position): every
app, searchable, with the search box at the *bottom* so you scroll first. `✦
zenith settings` is always the first row. Long-press an app: open · app info · ◈
set icon · inscribe talisman · hide · uninstall. **Star Index** (draw a quick
circle — the reliable trigger — or an assigned position / right-edge drag /
dedicated region): apps in letter groups arcing off the right edge; slide to a
group, then an app, and lift.

## 18 · Gestures, corners & actions

Thirteen positions, each a built-in action or any app/shortcut. Corners (hold 52
dp) default ↙ settings · ↘ deep sky · ↖ shade · ↗ lock. Edges (18 dp band)
unassigned. Flicks default ↑ deep sky · ↓ shade; left/right unassigned (Android's
back-swipe wins). Double-tap defaults to lock. **Roster:** none · settings · deep
sky · star index · shade · quick tiles · recents · screenshot · power menu · back
· home · lock · seal the sky (veil) · **ask assistant** (opens a third-party
assistant you pick — NOT Cielo) · app or shortcut. Lock/shade/recents/etc. need
the optional **Zenith actions** accessibility service (`settings › system ›
enable zenith actions`), which reads nothing from the screen.

## 19 · Talismans & rituals

A **talisman** is a drawn shape bound to an app, action or ring. Inscribe it in
`settings › talismans` (draw it twice), from Deep Sky, or by tracing a path to a
node. **Cast** it by drawing *fast* on empty sky before the ring blooms; the
trail turns to the ink colour, and a cast flashes and rings a Nova. **List order
is priority** when two glyphs draw alike. Free allows 3 talismans. A talisman
bound to a ring opens it in place. A **ritual** is a folder that fires everything
inside, in order, ~0.65 s apart (a double band); a talisman can trigger one.

## 20 · Comets

Notifications as weather. `settings › system › comets` is on by default but needs
notification access (tap *enable comet feed*). A new notification crosses the sky
~11–17 s as a gold comet with its title. Hold its head to freeze it; a menu
offers open · dismiss · snooze 30 min; lift off the menu to let it fly on.
Ongoing and Zenith's own notifications are skipped. Nothing is stored.

## 21 · The sky veil

A curtain over the launcher when the screen sleeps — **not** device security
(keep your system lock). Turn on at `settings › system › sky veil`, optionally
assign the *seal the sky* action. Unseal by drawing your sigil (if one is
inscribed) or by resting one still finger for **4 seconds** (always works — a
ring fills and it opens). A refused sigil says "the sky does not know that sign".

## 22 · Regions

Split the screen into up to nine areas, **each with its own root ring**: where you
start the hold decides which constellation appears. Edit at `settings › regions &
star index › ✦ edit region layout` — a slider (free caps at 2; more is gold) and
edge-to-edge draggable dividers. A region can be set to open the Star Index.
Reducing the count hides higher regions but keeps their constellations.

## 23 · Skies & star charts

A **Sky** is a complete separate setup; a **Star Chart** is a sky saved to a file.
Multiple skies are gold beyond the first. Manage at the top of settings: tap to
switch (the current is snapshotted first), ✎ rename, ✕ delete, ＋ new. Per-sky:
constellation, regions, background, theme, ring size, labels, effects, overlays,
talisman colours. Shared across skies: corner/edge/flick/double-tap actions,
timings, haptics, hidden apps, icon pack, status bar, orientation, sound, the
talismans, comets, the veil. **`settings › star chart`:** save this sky ✦ (.zsd)
· back up all (.zbak) · open… (imports as a new sky) · hidden-apps list · erase
all rings (two-tap; no undo).

## 24 · Launcher settings

Three ways in: the ⚙︎ lower-left, hold that corner, or Deep Sky › ✦ zenith
settings. Thirteen pages: talismans · system · suite connections · gestures ·
regions & star index · background & light · rings & effects · the sky's voice ·
accessibility · sky overlays · star chart · privacy & permissions · about. Eight
**themes**: clean/mono/pastel (free); rainbow, daytime, mono inverted,
iridescent, neon (gold). Node styles: app icons · monochrome · text only ·
inverted mono; plus usage-as-light. The **suite** section (`system › suite`)
writes the cross-app settings the other apps read: navigation mode (hold/tap), the
free suite sound master switch, and star-label placement.

## 25 · My Sky (gold)

The real night sky above you as the background: ~45 named stars plus a field of
hundreds, placed by local sidereal time and latitude, redrawn each minute.
Constellation hairlines (Orion, the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, the Southern Cross,
the Summer Triangle) when above your horizon. Two-finger pinch to zoom (0.6×–6×),
drag to pan, twist to tilt; three-finger tap recentres. Grant weather permission
for true coordinates.

---

# PART III — ZENITH TASKS

The Launcher's gesture, grown into a to-do web. Everything about rings, the dock
and list mode carries over.

## 26 · What Zenith Tasks is

One tree: a hidden central **Hub**, its children top-level branches (projects),
theirs subtasks, nesting without limit. Each task is a Node drawn as a star. It's
a port of the Launcher's interaction layer with a botanical overlay (grow, bloom,
pop) and a capture layer. (Some labels still say "star" for the unit while the
suite standardises on "node" — same thing.)

## 27 · Growing & completing

Two modes (`settings › interaction › mode`): **hold & drag** (default) or **tap &
place** (latched — taps do the work). Hold to bloom the web; dwell on a branch to
descend; **lift on a leaf task to complete it** (supernova + strike-through); lift
again to reopen. Dock: − remove · ✎ edit · ◎ re-place · ✛ add. Branches wear a
progress-ring arc; a dashed lock-ring means gated; amber means waiting. Growth
sounds: grow / pop / settle. **List mode** swaps rings for an outline.

## 28 · Capturing from anywhere

A thought becomes a task before it escapes, then you place it from the inbox.

- **Quick Add** — a one-field card that parses natural language on-device ("call
  Sam fri 3pm weekly").
- **Catch It tile** — a Quick Settings tile → Quick Add.
- **Voice Dump** — 🎤 in the Shuttle: speak a ramble, split into separate entries.
  Uses the system speech UI.
- **"Task it"** — select text in any app → files the selection. Also a share
  target.
- **Floating bubble** — a ✦ over every app; tap to Quick Add.
- **The Shuttle** 🚀 — the suite inbox; *orbit* an entry onto the web.
- **Paste a list** — becomes a branch of parsed tasks.
- **"Ask the Sky"** — AI extraction on a selection.

## 29 · Organising the work

- **Actuation** — a saved lens: a matcher gathers matching tasks into a checklist
  whose ticking strikes the source (Store Run, Calls, Waiting-on…).
- **Focus Deck** — one task at a time; swipe right complete, left skip. (The
  separate per-task **Focus timer** is a Pomodoro: 15/25/45 min.)
- **Blockers & gates** — "complete only when subtasks are done"; the Blockers
  sheet ranks branches by how many tasks each frees.
- **Recurrence (bloom rule)** — Never/Daily/Weekly/Monthly/Annually; *if missed*:
  re-open, stack a copy, or skip (**MissedPolicy**); at most one re-bloom per
  period (**Catch-Up Ceiling**); can anchor to completion.
- **Cadence Vacation** — pause a routine without losing history.
- **Contexts** — show a task only when charging / on wifi / in a meeting / at a
  place, etc.
- Plus fallbacks (Plan B/C), a definition of done, a waiting state, retire &
  restore, and templates.

## 30 · Settings & cross-app

Settings (Viewer panel bottom-right › Settings, or double-tap empty sky): Size ·
View · Theme · Background · Interaction · Timing (hold 220 ms, dwell 330 ms) ·
Motion & effects · Sound · Reminders (quiet hours) · Accessibility · Capture ·
Categories · Places & agenda · Google · Files. **Files:** `.ztd` web, `.zbak`
backup. **Google** via Connections (no own sign-in): import Google Tasks to the
Shuttle; back up/restore/share a board via your Drive. **Cielo:** the ✨ window,
per-node Talk, "Ask the Sky". **To Mind / To Calendar:** send a task across, or
"Analyze in Mind" for a project's dependency graph. **Gold:** every theme, custom
colours, your own background image, your own node-symbol images, a second list on
a big screen (talismans free up to 3).

---

# PART IV — ZENITH MIND

A thinking-web you fly through. Not a task manager, not a website builder.

## 31 · What Zenith Mind is

Ideas are **Nodes**; a node's picture is a **body shape** (star · planet · sun ·
moon · comet · diamond · ringed · nebula · pulsar — all behave the same); one
connection is a **Link**; a named group of links is a **Constellation** (a
relationship layer). The whole is your **Web** (a map). A **Hub** is central; a
**Root** has nothing pointing in; an **Orphan** has no links. A **Geography** is a
saved layout. A map is **stellar** (3D, default) or **classic** (rings). Maps
opened from Cielo's memory or a Tasks projection are **read-only**.

## 32 · Flying the sky

The camera orbits an anchor. Drag one finger = orbit (pan in 2D); pinch = zoom;
two-finger drag = pan; tap = select (Nova); double-tap a node = Fly To it;
double-tap empty = recenter; drag a node = move it. Named moves: **Fly To**,
**Anchor** (make it the pivot), **Dive** (show only its subtree) / **Surface**,
**Warp** (streaks at speed), **Reset view**.

## 33 · Building the web

**Add:** the ＋ (bottom-left) → New node sheet (label, colour, shape). Long-press
＋ on a selected node to add a child / parent / sibling with its link. The
**detail card** edits title + Markdown inline; chips: talk, connect, dive,
fold/unfold, and (more) move/fly to/anchor/focus/impact/pin/cluster/send to
Tasks. The **Edit node** sheet (⚙ features): glyph, note, tags, symbol (icon-pack,
or your photo — gold), colour, shape, size, glow, confidence, agent card.
**Connect mode** (Link button): tap two nodes, or rubber-band, to link them into
the active constellation; tap a line to set its relation word, flip or delete.
Manage layers in the **Constellations** sheet (line style solid/glow/dashed/beam/
thread, weight, colour, flow). **Fold** hides a node's descendants.

## 34 · Analyze & present

**Analyze** (Insights icon) reports structural health, each with tap-to-jump
rows: circular reasoning (loops); single points of failure (removal splits the
web); dead ends; tensions (contradicting relations); roots; orphans (sweep into a
ring). **Present Mode / Tour** (▶) flies body to body cinematically. The **Offline
Generator** is the zero-key fallback: type into "Ask the sky" with no key and it
scatters a hub-and-spokes cluster from your text. Add a key for real AI.

## 35 · Settings & cross-app

Settings (⚙ bottom-right): Map mode (3D/2D) · Theme (clean/mono/pastel free;
rainbow/daytime/ink/iridescent/neon/ember/abyss gold) · vignette & nebula ·
Starfield · Nodes (size, glow, **Halo** = the global glow multiplier, labels
off/selected/near/always) · Constellation lines · Camera & motion · Effects ·
Detail card anchor · Accessibility. **Files:** `.zmd` map, `.zbak` backup, export
Markdown/JSON. **Drive** via Connections. **Shuttle** in/out. **Tasks interop:**
send/open in Tasks; a project projects here read-only for Analyze. **Cielo:** Ask
the sky (active persona) + per-node Talk; Mind exposes twelve tools to her.
**Gold:** unlimited maps & boundaries (free 3 / 2), every theme, your photos as
node symbols.

---

# PART V — ZENITH CALENDAR

An orrery calendar — the model *is* the calendar.

## 36 · What Zenith Calendar is

Time is an orbital system, astronomically true. The orbit ring is one year in
twelve month-arcs (winter solstice at the bottom); the **Earth** sits at today
and creeps in real time (a faint "ghost Earth" marks a selected date); the
**Moon** shows the real lunar phase; the **Zodiac band** beyond the ring holds
fixed annual anchors. All computed on-device.

## 37 · Reading the orrery

Zoom changes what each body becomes. **Year:** Sun + ring + Zodiac (pinch to zoom;
tap the ring to travel to a date). **Day** (tap the Earth): a rotating globe with
a real day/night terminator and a 24-hour dial; drag to scroll days. **Week** (tap
the Moon): four phase-weeks, each a 9-day window; spin the Moon to change week.
**Month grid:** pull the Moon down. **Years ladder** (tap the Sun): years stack;
pull down for earlier. The ◉ button and the date header jump to today; ‹ steps
out a level (Year is the root).

## 38 · Commitments

A **Commitment** is any entry. Three kinds: **Meteor** ☄ "once" (a streak on the
ring); **Asteroid** ↻ "repeats" weekly/biweekly/monthly (a ringed body just
outside the orbit); **fixed star** ✦ "yearly" (a spiked star in the Zodiac band).
Add with ✛, a long-press, the tile/shortcut, shared text, or Cielo. One dialog
handles add/edit (title, kind chips, cadence, time, duration, place, colour,
almanac, notes); confirm = *place it*, dismiss = *let it pass*. Edit from the
detail card (✎ edit); delete = **burn out** (Cielo asks first). Reminders fire as
notifications; a widget shows today + the next few and the real moon phase.

## 39 · Settings & cross-app

Settings (⚙): The Sky (theme — ten, clean default; halo; nebula; starfield; my
sky) · True directions (reverse the year orbit / Earth's spin / Moon's spin) ·
The sky's voice (the suite sound switch + volume; haptics) · Ease (reduce motion,
remove glows) · Almanacs · Shuttle · Beyond (Google). An **Almanac** is a whole
calendar set-up; keep several overlaying calendars, save/export `.zcd`, back up
`.zbak`; each Google calendar becomes a mirror almanac. **Google** via Connections
(read-only pull; events arrive as meteors). **Cielo** works over your calendar
through twelve tools (add/query/move/delete a commitment, find free time, place
from another app's item, summarise a day/week/month). **Gold:** unlimited almanacs
& Google mirrors (free 3 / 1).

---

# PART VI — ZENITH AI · CIELO

Cielo is "the sky, answering." The Zenith AI app is the richest window onto her.

## 40 · Meet Cielo

Zenith AI is the app; **Cielo** is the persona — calm, spare, warm. Chat has two
looks: **Chat** (a transcript) and **Sky mode** (default — her reply assembles as
kinetic typography over the sky). The empty screen says "Ask the Sky — Cielo is
listening." Type or speak (the mic uses Android's speech UI). "Ask the Sky" is the
suite-wide invocation. Cielo's AI is filtered for safety on your device, its
output is labelled AI-generated (and can be wrong), and every reply has a Report
action — full posture in §52.

## 41 · Setting up — your own key

Cielo has no brain of her own: bring an API key, entered once, stored **encrypted
on-device**, read by every Zenith app. Providers (with default model): Claude
(claude-opus-4-8, the built-in default) · OpenAI GPT (gpt-4o) · Gemini
(gemini-2.0-flash, *free to start*) · Grok (grok-2-latest) · DeepSeek
(deepseek-chat) · Groq (llama-3.3-70b, *free to start*) · Mistral
(mistral-large) · OpenRouter (openai/gpt-4o) · Together (Llama-3.3-70B). Setup
explains keys, recommends free Gemini, has a "Get a key" button, validates before
saving. Change model from the in-chat picker or `settings › model` (with "Replace
key"). A fully on-device/local model is planned, not yet shipped.

## 42 · Talking, memory & the library

**Acting across apps:** Cielo picks the right tool, chains steps across installed
apps, and reports what changed; destructive actions ask first (Allow/Cancel), and
results come back as deep-link chips. **Memory:** stored as a Zenith Mind graph —
each memory a "crystal" (a hub node with its key points as children); with Mind
you can open it read-only ("Cielo's memory"). **The Library** — "what the sky
always remembers": Chats (resume/delete, memory toggle), Knowledge (files you
attach, from the device or Drive), Mind (the memory stars). **Seal & End** writes
a short sealed summary woven into future chats.

## 43 · Tulpas & the forge

A **Tulpa** is a persona — *who* is answering. **Cielo** is the default, bundled
into every app and unremovable. Tap the header name to **Switch Tulpa** —
suite-wide; each being keeps its own voice and memory. New beings are made in the
companion app **Zenith Tulpa** (the forge), which creates/exports `.tulpa` files
via "The Invocation" ritual (Guided / Quick / Direct modes; Direct is gold), then
hands them to Zenith AI. **Zenith AI is the only installer** (tap a `.tulpa`,
share it, or "Install from file…"). Installing new beings is a gold gate; making
and keeping your own is free (gold lifts caps on direct authoring, custom voices,
deep knowledge, and how many you keep).

## 44 · Lenses & voice

A **Lens** is *how* the active persona responds right now — stackable, independent
of which Tulpa speaks. Apply from the chat toolbar's **Lens** chip. Five lenses:
**Blunt** (free), **Brief** (free), **Spark**, **Investigate**, **Riddle** (gold).
**Voice:** Cielo speaks with an on-device neural voice (Piper) — turn on at
`settings › voice › cielo speaks`, with an auto-speak-in-Sky toggle; default voice
is a placeholder (Amy); she falls back to system TTS, and voice switches with the
persona. Using voices is free; cloning/recording your own is gold.

## 45 · Zenith Assist

Make Cielo your phone's assistant and the home-hold summons her over any app.
Enable at `settings › presence › cielo as your assistant` → Choose (Android's
digital-assistant picker); Zenith AI is the default holder, but you pick in
`Settings ▸ Default apps ▸ Digital assistant`. On invoke she gets that screen's
text as context and can route actions into your Zenith apps. The **floating
bubble** (`presence › floating bubble`) opens the Ask-the-Sky sheet from anywhere
and does **not** read the screen — only the assistant role does, and only at the
moment you invoke her.

---

# PART VII — ZENITH ICON SETS

A constellation icon pack. A separate paid product — not part of Gold.

## 46 · The icon pack

Zenith Icons (v1.0) is a standalone icon-pack app. **975 icons**, **1,377 app
mappings**, in **21 categories** (System, Google, Communication, Social, Media,
Tools, Shopping, Zenith, Zenith Features, Apps, Node Symbols, Constellation
Sigils, Life & Productivity, Media & Hobbies, Esoteric, Expressions, Hand
Gestures, Cosmos, Star Constellations, Asterisms, Other). Beyond app icons it
ships real constellations, asterisms, cosmic imagery, alchemical/zodiac sigils,
hand gestures and expressions — all hand-pickable. Art: glowing white marks on
black with soft bloom, rendered 192×192 at ~86% fill. It's a **paid standalone
pack** with its own Play listing; the app→icon *mappings* are derived from
Lawnicons (Apache 2.0, attributed) while all *artwork* is original.

## 47 · Applying icons

An icon pack is applied from inside your launcher, not from the pack app. **Stock
Pixel and Samsung launchers can't use icon packs at all** — install Nova,
Lawnchair, Smart Launcher, Niagara, or Zenith Launcher first. **Third-party
launcher:** install the APK, then choose "Zenith Icons" in the launcher's icon-pack
setting. **Zenith Launcher:** `settings › background & light › icon set` applies a
pack across every app (free); the ◈ picker (§16) takes the pack's match for one
node or browses its whole library. **The sigils & expressions** aren't mapped to
apps — reach them through your launcher's manual icon picker for custom shortcuts
(in Zenith Launcher, the ◈ "browse all"). Anything unmatched ships under "Other".

---

# PART VIII — REFERENCE

## 48 · Troubleshooting

- **"Nothing happens when I hold the screen"** — you may be in a corner (52 dp) or
  edge band (18 dp), which run actions; start nearer the middle. Or you're moving
  (that becomes a flick/talisman) — hold still. Or the hold delay is long, or that
  region opens the Star Index. (Applies to Tasks and Mind classic too.)
- **"The ring opens but it's empty"** — that region has no nodes; slide to ✛. Each
  region keeps its own ring.
- **"Folders open when I don't want, or won't open"** — they open on a *dwell*;
  keep moving. Adjust "folder ring blooms after" in accessibility › extended.
- **"I hid the gear and can't find settings"** — hold the lower-left corner, or
  Deep Sky › ✦ zenith settings (always first).
- **"App shortcuts or Direct don't work"** — set Zenith as the default launcher.
- **"Lock/shade/recents/screenshot do nothing"** — enable Zenith actions (`system
  › enable zenith actions`); lock & screenshot need Android 9+.
- **"No comets appear"** — grant notification access; only new, non-ongoing
  notifications become comets, on the home screen.
- **"My talisman won't cast"** — draw it faster and bigger; a look-alike higher in
  the list may be winning.
- **"I'm locked behind the sky veil"** — press one finger and hold still for four
  seconds.
- **"I bought Gold but another app shows it locked"** — Gold is bought in the
  Launcher; make sure it's installed and opened once, then reopen the other app.
- **"Cielo says I need a key"** — add one in any Zenith app (§41); free Gemini or
  Groq is the quickest start; it works suite-wide.
- **"An app can't see my Google calendar/tasks"** — link the account in
  Connections (§03) and tick the service; link after your host app is installed.
- **"The icon pack won't apply"** — stock Pixel/Samsung can't use packs; install a
  launcher that can, then choose "Zenith Icons" in its settings.
- **"A widget says 'unavailable' after restoring a backup"** — widget (and file)
  nodes are device-local; re-add them on the new device.

## 49 · Instructing a user

Five rules: say where the finger starts; say whether to lift ("keep holding");
use the app's verbs (hold · slide · lift · rest · trace · draw · grow · strike ·
fly · cast); give the escape first (lift on empty sky cancels); name the corner,
not the icon.

Ready answers — **open an app:** "Press and hold in the middle; keep your finger
down; slide onto the app; lift." **Add an app:** "Hold, then slide down to the ✛
on the left, move the ghost where you want it, lift, and pick the app." **Find
settings:** "Hold the very bottom-left corner." **Make a task:** "Select text
anywhere and tap 'Task it', or pull down the Quick Settings tile." **Ask the AI:**
"Find 'Ask the Sky' in any Zenith app; first time it asks for a key — the free
Gemini option is easiest." **Unlock an app:** "Each app has its own one-time Zenith Gold — Launcher $3.99,
Tasks/Mind/Calendar/AI/Tulpa $1.99 each, Icons $0.99 — bought in that app; there's
no single suite unlock." **Data:** "No servers, accounts or
analytics; only opt-in weather, AI and Drive ever leave the phone."

## 50 · Glossary

**Node** the unit · **Star** only a shape · **Sky** the canvas · **Ring** the
orbital menu · **Hub** a central node · **Link/Constellation** one connection / a
named group · **Web/Star Chart** the whole structure · **Bloom/Nova/Supernova**
open / ripple / burst · **Comet/Spark/Ghost** trail / burst / afterimage ·
**Dock** the ✛◈✎− buttons · **Talk/Ask the Sky/Cielo** scoped AI / invocation /
persona · **Tulpa/Lens** who / how · **Zenith Assist** the device assistant ·
**Shuttle** the shared inbox · **Zenith Gold** the paid tier. *Launcher:*
Talisman, Cast, Inscribe, Veil, Ritual, Region, Deep Sky, Star Index, Direct, My
Sky. *Mind:* body shape, Dive/Surface, Fly To, Anchor, Warp, Fold/Unfold, Analyze,
Halo, Geography. *Tasks:* Actuation, Focus Deck, Blocker/gate, bloom rule, Cadence
Vacation, Voice Dump, Quick Add, Task it. *Calendar:* Meteor (once), Asteroid
(repeats), fixed star/Zodiac (yearly), Almanac, Commitment.

## 51 · Quick reference

**Launcher gestures:** hold empty sky → ring · slide onto a node + lift → open ·
rest on a folder → its ring (trace back to close) · lift on empty → dissolve ·
slide onto ✛ + place → new node · touch a node + slide to ◈✎− → icon/edit/remove
· corners ↙ settings ↘ deep sky ↖ shade ↗ lock · flick up/down → deep sky/shade ·
double-tap → lock · draw a circle → Star Index · draw a sigil fast → cast · hold a
comet → catch.

**Suite facts:** Gold per app, one-time — Launcher $3.99 · Tasks/Mind/Calendar/AI/Tulpa
$1.99 · Icons $0.99 · no suite-wide unlock · all accessibility free · AI key:
bring your own, once, encrypted, suite-wide,
Gemini/Groq free to start · Connections: link Google once, after your host app is
installed · moving things: Shuttle · deep links · `.zsd/.ztd/.zmd/.zcd` files ·
`.zbak` backups · Privacy: no servers/accounts/analytics; only opt-in weather, AI
and Drive leave the device · Platform: Android 8.0+, portrait by default,
foldable-aware.

---

# PART IX — SAFETY & COMPLIANCE

## 52 · AI safety & your rights

Zenith's AI is filtered for safety **on your device**. This is a safety *floor*
— Zenith's own safeguard, layered on top of the underlying model's own alignment
— not a guarantee that the AI always understands. Use your judgement; the checks
below run every time.

- **Two checks around every request.** Before the AI runs, your request is
  checked against Zenith's safety policy — a request for restricted content, or
  an attempt to bypass the AI's limits, is **refused and never sent to any
  model**, including requests to generate restricted images, video or audio (even
  in apps that don't make media). Before you see or hear a reply, the response is
  checked too; a flagged reply is replaced with a short refusal. Both checks run
  locally — your prompts aren't sent to Black Syntax to be moderated. A safety log
  (blocks + anything you Report) stays only in the app's private storage; view,
  export or clear it in the app's safety settings.
- **AI-generated, and it can be wrong.** AI output is labelled **AI-generated**;
  verify anything that matters, and don't treat it as professional advice.
- **Reporting.** Every AI reply has a **Report** action — flag anything offensive
  without leaving the app; it's logged on your device, removed from the
  conversation, and helps tighten the filters.
- **If you're struggling.** Zenith doesn't wall off conversations about self-harm
  — it responds with care. In the US, call or text **988** (Suicide & Crisis
  Lifeline); if someone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.
- **What the AI won't do.** Child safety (CSAE, zero tolerance), sexual content
  or non-consensual imagery, hate/harassment, dangerous or illegal instructions,
  deception/impersonation for harm, self-harm facilitation, and jailbreak
  attempts are refused. (Cloning *your own* voice for your own persona is fine.)

Full policies (the source of truth):
- AI & safety — https://zenithsuite.app/compliance/ai-safety
- Acceptable use — https://zenithsuite.app/compliance/acceptable-use
- Privacy — https://zenithsuite.app/compliance/privacy
- Support (report a concern, reach a human) — https://zenithsuite.app/support

---

_✦ the zenith suite handbook · developed by black syntax · published by friend
castle · support@zenithsuite.app · zenithsuite.app_