Introduction

Spaceframe is a spatial notebook app for web research, notetaking, moodboarding, and writing. It runs on the Quest family of AR headsets. Spaceframe’s clean, immersive user interface optimizes for focus, productivity, and flow.

Installation

Spaceframe is a radical redesign of an existing AR application called Softspace. In the near future, it will replace Softspace on the Meta Quest Store, at which point the current version of Softspace will remain available as a legacy version.

To install Spaceframe, first you must install Softspace, then select the Spaceframe Beta public release channel.

Inputs

Hand Tracking

Although Spaceframe will work with the Quest’s Touch hand controllers, it has been designed to be used with the Quest’s hand tracking functionality. This is because putting the controllers down to type and picking them up again adds undesirable friction to your workflow.

Spatial Cursor

In Spaceframe, each tracked hand (or hand controller) has a Spatial Cursor which can be used to interact with UI elements at a distance. There is one Cursor for each hand, but only the last one that was clicked will be active. This is to prevent accidental inputs.

To use the Spatial Cursor, move your hand until the Cursor icon hovers over an interactable item. Tap your thumb and pointer finger to click that item, or touch and hold them together to start manipulating it.

Direct Touch

Objects which can be interacted with using the Spatial Cursor can also be used by directly reaching out and touching them. When your hand is close enough to such an object, that hand’s Cursor will disappear to prevent accidental inputs.

To directly use a clickable object, push into it with your pointer finger.

To directly grab a manipulable object, touch and hold your thumb and pointer finger together while they are close to that object.

Physical Keyboard

Spaceframe is designed to be used with a physical keyboard, because nothing comes close to its speed and precision for doing real work.

If you have access to the Bluetooth keyboard, you can pair it to your Quest headset, and it will be recognized in Spaceframe.

You can also use the Network Keyboard web app to type in Spaceframe using a nearby computer. To connect a Network Keyboard, press the Keyboard button in the Palm Menu and follow the instructions.

Virtual Keyboard

If no Bluetooth or Network keyboard is detected when a text field or browser window is selected, the fallback Virtual Keyboard will appear. This keyboard uses the ISO US English key layout. It also has a speech-to-text button, allowing for speech text input.

Palm Menu

From the Palm Menu, you can create new items and access various settings.

To activate the Palm Menu, hold up an open hand with the palm facing toward you. Palm Menu buttons can be pressed using the pointer finger of the opposite hand.

Account

Spaceframe stores your Workspace data on the cloud. This has several benefits, including allowing your Workspaces to persist across app installations. Therefore, you must log into your Spaceframe account before you can create and use your Workspaces.

Spaceframe supports two authentication methods:

• Google sign-in
• Email + password

Workspaces

Content in Spaceframe is grouped into self-contained Workspaces.

Workspace Management

To manage your Workspaces, press the Workspaces button in the Palm Menu. This button is only usable while you are signed in.

Workspace Canvas

The primary representation of your Workspace is an infinite plane called the Canvas, on which its Items are positioned.

You can move the Canvas by closing one hand into a fist, holding this gesture for a moment, then moving your hand. The Canvas will move as if you had grabbed it by that point in space.

You can scale the Canvas up or down by closing both hands into fists, and moving them closer together or further apart.

You can create new Items in the Workspace by double-clicking on the Canvas grid. This brings up the Item Creation Menu, from which you can choose the Item you would like to create.

Workspace Console

Items in the Workspace can also be opened in the Console: a secondary view of the Workspace in which Items are arrange ergonomically. Items in the Console are linked duplicates of their original on the Canvas.

Items in the Console always face toward you for comfortable viewing, and remain fixed relative to you as you move the Canvas.

Note items, image items, and chat items can be opened from the Canvas into the Console by clicking the ‘Expand’ icon in their top-right corner.

Bookmark items in the Canvas will create a new browser window in the Console when clicked.

Items in the Console can be moved, resized, and closed independently of their Canvas instance.

Items

Spaceframe Workspaces contain Items: individual content objects that roughly correspond to a single file or window.

Note Items

Note Items are the core item type in Spaceframe. They are like individual markdown files.

Notes can either be user-written or AI-generated. To create a new Note or AI Note, press the corresponding button in the Palm Menu, or in the Canvas’ Item Creation Menu.

Notes can also be created by importing the following file types from Dropbox:

• .txt
• .md

AI Notes have distinctive purple title text. Unlike regular notes, they cannot be directly edited. Instead, type a prompt into the AI Note title field, then press [enter]. The built-in AI will fill in the note according to your prompt, taking into account relevant information elsewhere in the Workspace.

Image Items

Image Items are created by dragging them into the workspace from a web browser.

Images can also be created by importing the following file types from Dropbox:

• .jpg
• .png
• .gif (will not animate)
• .bmp
• .tif
• .psd

AI Chat Items

AI Chat Items represent a conversation thread with a built-in AI assistant. The assistant is aware of information in the rest of the workspace (including the contents of notes, other conversations, bookmarked websites, and open browser windows) and can use this to better respond to you.

To create a new AI Chat, press the corresponding button in the Palm Menu or the Canvas’ Item Creation Menu.

Web Browsers

Unlike other Item types, Web Browsers only exist in the Workspace Console, and not in the Canvas.

To create a new Browser, press the corresponding button in the Palm Menu or the Canvas’ Item Creation Menu.

Web Bookmarks

Unlike other Item types, Web Bookmarks only exist in the Workspace Canvas, and not the Console.

To create a new Bookmark, press the Bookmark icon in the bottom-right corner of an open Web Browser. This will bookmark that Browser’s current URL.

Groups

Items in the workspace Canvas can be organized into Groups.

AI Context

Spaceframe currently has two types of AI-enabled items: generated Note items, and AI Chat items. Being able to control the contextual information that AI items draw on is important for generating useful responses with minimal “hallucinations” (false information).

AI items in Spaceframe can either be explicitly contextualized or implicitly contextualized.

Explicit Contextualization

AI-enabled Items have a connection handle on their left-hand side. This handle allows other items (including other AI items) to explicitly contextualize the AI item, which means that those, and only those, items’ contents are used to generate the response.

Implicit Contextualization

If an AI-enabled item doesn’t have any explicit contextualization connections, then it will be implicitly contextualized. This means that Spaceframe will use the most-relevant information from elsewhere in your workspace to generate responses. How this works is different for AI items which are inside a Group, and those which are not.

• AI Items inside a Group → AI items inside a group which have no explicit contextualizations will be implicitly contextualized by only those other items which are also in the same Group.
• AI Items not in a Group → AI items not in a group which have no explicit contextualizations will implicitly contextualized by all other items in the workspace, both inside and not in Groups.

Import

Spaceframe is able to import notes and images from Dropbox.

To open the import panel, press the Import button in the Palm Menu.

Select Dropbox as the import source, then sign in if you haven’t already.

You can browse your Dropbox and import individual files, or entire folders.

Export

Spaceframe is able to export your entire workspace to Dropbox.

To open the export panel, press the Export button in the Palm Menu.

Select Dropbox as the export target, then sign in if you haven’t already.

You can browse your Dropbox and select a folder for your workspace export.

Support

If you any questions or comments, please send them to → hi@spaceframe.xyz.