Prakash Upadhyay

Worknoui.si

noui.si

Intent. Context. Outcome.

An early exploration of interfaces that assemble themselves around what you need, instead of making you learn a fixed screen.

The noui.si home page: What if software stopped making you learn its interface? Interfaces that adapt to your intent and context.

The question

What if software stopped making you learn its interface?

Software today gives you a screen. noui explores what happens when the interface emerges around your intent: built for one task, then set aside.

Today

Fixed interface

You learn the software, then work through it.

  • 01Navigate
  • 02Search
  • 03Configure
  • 04Operate

noui

Emergent interface

You say what you need, and the interface forms around it.

  • →Describe
  • →Intent
  • →Context
  • →Outcome

How the experiment works

  1. IntentSay the task in your own words.
  2. ContextAnswer one question: what matters most?
  3. InterfacePanels assemble for this one task.
  4. ChangesChange your mind halfway through.
  5. OutcomeOne clear next action.

When you change your mind, the interface changes its structure, not just its numbers: panels appear, move or leave, and morph into place with the View Transitions API. With reduced motion on, they simply swap.

Three scenarios

  • You say

    “Plan a 3-day trip to Kyoto”

    What matters most?

    AffordableComfortableSee the most

    Then you change your mind

    • “Actually, I'm travelling with my parents”
    • “Actually, keep the whole trip under $1,200”

  • You say

    “Get me to the airport tomorrow morning”

    When does your flight leave?

    EarlyMid-morningAfternoon

    Then you change your mind

    • “Actually, I have two large bags and a kid”
    • “Actually, my flight is delayed 90 minutes”

  • You say

    “Order dinner for tonight”

    What matters most?

    Get it fastKeep it lightKeep it cheap

    Then you change your mind

    • “Actually, my parents are joining and they're vegetarian”
    • “Actually, I'll cook it myself”

The scenarios are scripted and the prices invented, so what you judge is the interaction.

Listen: a voice-to-voice prototype

Say what you need. The interface assembles itself.

A recorded run of a cancelled flight: the traveller talks, Orby answers, and halfway through the traveller cuts in. Orby stops at once and re-plans.

Real

Speech recognition and Orby's voice run on the laptop as local models; the replies come from Anthropic's Claude.

Invented

The flights and prices. Nothing is booked.

Watch the recording

How it is built

  • One engine, many scenarios

    A generic engine owns the flow from intent to outcome. Each scenario is a small description: its question, two changes of mind, a plan and a layout.

  • Morphing, not swapping

    Every change runs through a view transition, so panels visibly travel to their new place instead of blinking.

  • Static and quick

    Vite, React 19 and Tailwind v4, served as static pages from Cloudflare Pages.

  • An open-source orb

    noui-orb, the living orange o of the noui mark, is a framework-free Web Component for voice surfaces and loading states.

    View on GitHub

Where it stands

Early explorationIt may not work, and part of the point is finding out where it does not.

Next: a hosted version anyone can try, better handling of speakers and echo, and more voices and languages.

Try it on noui.siRead the article on LinkedIn