ascii-project-dashboard

type	skill
lifecycle	stable
name	ascii-project-dashboard
description	Create and maintain ASCII visual dashboards for project tracking with parallel lane progress bars
tier	standard
applyTo	**/*plan*,**/*roadmap*,**/*tracker*,**/*dashboard*
inheritance	inheritable
currency	"2026-04-22T00:00:00.000Z"

ASCII Project Dashboard

Visual project tracking that works everywhere — no dependencies, no rendering, pure text.

Why ASCII Dashboards?

Feature	Benefit
Universal rendering	Works in any editor, terminal, email, Slack, GitHub
No dependencies	No chart libraries, no build step, no broken images
Version control friendly	Diffs show exactly what changed
Accessible	Screen readers handle text; they struggle with images
Copy-paste portable	Works everywhere text works

Core Components

1. Lane Header (Visual Overview)

     🧠 BRAIN          🔄 HEIR SYNC       ⚙️ EXTENSION       🎨 UI/UX
   Skills, Links      Architecture      TypeScript Code    Sidebar Design
   ─────────────────  ─────────────────  ─────────────────  ─────────────────
   ▓▓▓░░░░░░░ 30%     ▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░ 50%     ▓░░░░░░░░░ 10%     ░░░░░░░░░░  0%

Elements:

• Emoji icon for quick lane identification
• Lane name in bold caps
• Subtitle describing scope
• Horizontal rule (─) for visual separation
• Progress bar with percentage

2. Progress Bar Syntax

Progress	Bar	Percentage
0%	░░░░░░░░░░	Empty
10%	▓░░░░░░░░░	1 filled
20%	▓▓░░░░░░░░	2 filled
30%	▓▓▓░░░░░░░	3 filled
40%	▓▓▓▓░░░░░░	4 filled
50%	▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░	5 filled
60%	▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░	6 filled
70%	▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░	7 filled
80%	▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░	8 filled
90%	▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░	9 filled
100%	▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓	Full

Characters:

• ▓ (U+2593) — Filled block
• ░ (U+2591) — Empty block
• Always 10 characters for consistency

3. Summary Table

| Lane | Focus | Tasks | Done | Progress |
| ---- | ----- | ----- | ---- | -------- |
| 🧠 **Brain** | Skills, instructions, prompts | 12 | 4 | ▓▓▓░░░░░░░ 33% |
| 🔄 **Sync** | Architecture, inheritance | 8 | 4 | ▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░ 50% |
| ⚙️ **Code** | TypeScript, commands, views | 10 | 1 | ▓░░░░░░░░░ 10% |
| 🎨 **UI** | Sidebar, tabs, feedback | 10 | 0 | ░░░░░░░░░░  0% |
| **TOTAL** | **All lanes** | **40** | **9** | **▓▓░░░░░░░░ 23%** |

4. Task Backlog Tables

#### 🧠 Brain (4/12)

| ID | Task | Status | Blocks |
|----|------|--------|--------|
| B1 | Health status rules | ✅ | — |
| B2 | Meditation parsing | ✅ | — |
| B3 | Dream state markers | ✅ | — |
| B4 | Connection scoring | ✅ | — |
| B5 | Chat memory audit | ⬜ | — |
| B6 | Frecency ranking | 🔄 | UI1 |

Status Icons:

• ⬜ — Not started
• 🔄 — In progress
• ✅ — Complete
• 🚫 — Blocked
• ⏸️ — Paused

5. Sprint Focus Box

### Current Sprint

**v7.10.0 — Health Pulse Data Model** 🏗️ `4/37` ▓░░░░░░░░░

#### File Setup (2/2) ✅
- [x] Create `src/views/healthPulse.ts`
- [x] Add exports to `src/views/index.ts`

#### Interface Definition (2/15) 🔄
- [x] Define `HealthStatus` type
- [x] Define `HealthPulse` interface
- [ ] `status: HealthStatus`
...

Layout Patterns

Pattern A: Horizontal Lanes (Wide Screens)

Best for: README files, documentation, wide terminals

     LANE 1           LANE 2            LANE 3            LANE 4
   Description 1    Description 2     Description 3     Description 4
   ─────────────    ─────────────     ─────────────     ─────────────
   ▓▓▓░░░░░░░ 30%   ▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░ 50%    ▓░░░░░░░░░ 10%    ░░░░░░░░░░  0%

Pattern B: Vertical Lanes (Narrow Screens)

Best for: Sidebars, mobile, narrow terminals

🧠 BRAIN ▓▓▓░░░░░░░ 30%
🔄 SYNC  ▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░ 50%
⚙️ CODE  ▓░░░░░░░░░ 10%
🎨 UI    ░░░░░░░░░░  0%

Pattern C: Milestone Timeline

v7.9 ────●──── v7.10 ────●──── v7.15 ────○──── v8.0
         ✅           🔄              ⬜         🎯

Timeline Characters:

• ● — Completed milestone
• ○ — Future milestone
• ─ — Timeline connector
• ✅ — Shipped
• 🔄 — In progress
• ⬜ — Planned
• 🎯 — Target

Update Protocol

When to Update

Trigger	Action
Task completed	Update status icon, increment Done count, recalculate bar
Sprint changes	Update sprint box, move tasks
Lane rebalanced	Recalculate task counts, update header bars
Major milestone	Update timeline, archive completed sprint

Calculation Rules

percentage = Math.round((done / total) * 100)
filledBlocks = Math.round(percentage / 10)
emptyBlocks = 10 - filledBlocks
bar = '▓'.repeat(filledBlocks) + '░'.repeat(emptyBlocks)

Alignment Tips

• Right-align percentages for visual scanning
• Use consistent column widths in tables
• Keep emoji icons in first column for quick identification
• Use monospace font assumption (10 chars = 10 chars)

Integration Points

With Universal Creative Loop

Map dashboard lanes to loop stages:

Loop Stage	Typical Lanes
IDEATE	Research, Exploration
PLAN	Architecture, Design
BUILD/CREATE	Code, Content, Assets
TEST	QA, Validation
RELEASE	Deploy, Publish
IMPROVE	Maintenance, Brain

With Planning Documents

Every PLAN-*.md should have:

1. ASCII lane header at top
2. Summary table after header
3. Lane backlogs with task IDs
4. Current sprint focus box

With Release Notes

Include mini-dashboard showing what shipped:

## v7.10.0 Release Summary

🧠 Brain  ▓▓▓▓░░░░░░  +4 tasks
⚙️ Code   ▓▓░░░░░░░░  +2 tasks
🎨 UI     ▓░░░░░░░░░  +1 task

Anti-Patterns

Don't	Do Instead
Use images for progress	ASCII bars work everywhere
Hardcode percentages	Calculate from task counts
Update manually	Use muscle script for consistency
Mix bar styles	Stick to ▓░ pair
Forget alignment	Right-align numbers, left-align text

Related Skills

Skill	Relationship
planning-first-development	Dashboards are planning artifacts
status-reporting	Dashboards inform status reports
markdown-mermaid	Mermaid for complex diagrams, ASCII for progress
north-star	Dashboard tracks progress toward North Star

Quick Reference

Progress:  ░░░░░░░░░░ 0%  →  ▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░ 50%  →  ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ 100%
Status:    ⬜ not started  |  🔄 in progress  |  ✅ complete  |  🚫 blocked
Timeline:  ●──────●──────○──────🎯
Lanes:     🧠 Brain | 🔄 Sync | ⚙️ Code | 🎨 UI