Apps people come back to
Each example is one moment in an app people return to, shown twice: once with no memory, and once with nothing changed except that KAPEX sits underneath it.
Written to show the intent, not captured from a running system.
When the same person comes back
These are apps a person opens again days or weeks later, usually without warning. The first thing they notice is whether they have to start over.
Tell the help desk once
A help desk. The customer has told this story twice already.
With KAPEX
Customer: Hi, it’s me again about my coffee order. It still hasn’t arrived.
App: That’s the dark roast we sent again after the address mix-up. Tracking shows it stuck at a sorting hub since Tuesday.
App: Would you like a fresh bag sent to your office today, or should I chase the hub first?
Customer: Office, please. Thank you.
Without memory
Customer: Hi, it’s me again about my coffee order. It still hasn’t arrived.
App: Sorry to hear that. Could I have your order number and the email on the account?
Customer: I sent all of that on Tuesday, and again yesterday.
App: I’m sorry, I can’t see earlier conversations. Could you send the order number once more?
The customer didn’t have to tell the story again.
Behind the reply. The app got a short note from KAPEX first: the order, the address fixed last time, and the parcel stuck at the hub.
Pick the lesson up where it stopped
An evening class for adults, one lesson a week after work. Opening every lesson by finding out what the student already knows uses up most of it.
With KAPEX
Student: Back again. Can we do the product rule tonight?
App: Last week the chain rule clicked once we pictured nesting dolls, one function inside another. Want a picture for the product rule too, or straight to examples?
Student: Picture first.
App: Think of a rectangle where both sides are growing. The new area arrives in two strips, one from each side growing while the other holds still.
Without memory
Student: Back again. Can we do the product rule tonight?
App: Of course. Before we start, how comfortable are you with derivatives?
Student: We spent all of last week on that. The chain rule finally made sense.
App: Great. Let’s begin with the definition of the product rule, then.
The lesson began with the new idea instead of a quiz.
The one useful line KAPEX handed the app was that nesting dolls made the chain rule click for this student.
Leave the marathon alone
A journal app. Some things should wait until the person brings them up, and when someone says so, the app should take them at their word.
With KAPEX
Me: I’m not running the marathon this year. Please stop bringing it up.
App: Understood. I’ll leave it alone unless you raise it.
A month later.
Me: Can you plan me an easy week of runs?
App: Here’s a gentle week. Short, easy runs most days, one a bit longer on Sunday, then a rest day. Tell me if any day clashes with work.
Without memory
Me: I’m not running the marathon this year. Please stop bringing it up.
App: Understood.
A month later.
Me: Can you plan me an easy week of runs?
App: Sure. What are you training for? If you have a race coming up, I can build toward it.
Me: No race. I said that last month.
It planned the week and left the race out of it, because the person asked.
When the person asked, the app told KAPEX to leave alone everything it held about the marathon, and KAPEX stopped handing those lines over.
When the work runs for weeks
Here the thread belongs to a piece of work, and it runs longer than any one conversation. Often the person asking has lost track of half of it too.
Why we chose the database
With KAPEX
Developer: Should we put a cache in front of the database for the search page?
App: Maybe not yet. When you picked the database, you said you wanted as few moving parts as possible, and a cache is another service to run.
App: Two options that add nothing new. An index on the columns the page searches, or caching results inside the web process for a few seconds.
Without memory
Developer: Should we put a cache in front of the database for the search page?
App: Probably. A separate cache service is the usual way to take load off a busy search page.
Developer: We decided on no new services this year. I’m fairly sure I told you.
KAPEX handed the app that decision and the reason given for it, so the model did not have to guess.
What was still open from the last call
Call prep for sales, on a deal that has run for weeks.
With KAPEX
Rep: Prep me for tomorrow’s call with the new buyer at the freight company.
App: On the last call their finance lead pushed back on price, and their security lead asked for the questionnaire, which nobody has sent yet. The new buyer took over from the person who signed last year.
App: Want me to draft the questionnaire email so it goes out before the call?
Without memory
Rep: Prep me for tomorrow’s call with the new buyer at the freight company.
App: Happy to. Here is a standard agenda: introductions, their goals for the quarter, a short product walkthrough, then next steps.
Rep: Anything from the last call I should bring up?
Note: The rep has to carry it.
App: I don’t have anything from earlier calls. Your notes from that meeting might.
The price objection, the unsent questionnaire and the change of buyer were all in the note from KAPEX.
The thing the team agreed in March
A meeting assistant. In March the team agreed to ship export first, and nobody wrote down why.
With KAPEX
Team lead: Write up this proposal for the group: calendar sync ships before export.
App: Here’s the summary. Before you send it, one thing. In the March planning call the team agreed to ship export before anything else, and this proposal changes that order.
App: Should I flag that at the top, so the group decides it on purpose?
Without memory
Team lead: Write up this proposal for the group: calendar sync ships before export.
App: Here’s a summary. The proposal moves calendar sync ahead of export to answer requests from larger customers. Shall I post it to the channel?
Note: No one hears about March.
The change of plan got decided out loud instead of by accident.
The March decision was in the note KAPEX handed the app, which is how the conflict got caught.
Written to show the intent, not captured from a running system.
Where it fits
We’re building it for anything a person comes back to over days or weeks, where starting over costs them time and goodwill.
In every case the people who make the app decide how it talks and what it shows. KAPEX is the memory under it.
- Help desks and customer serviceCustomers who write in more than once about the same order, account or fault.
- Classes and tutoring for adultsCourses that run for a term, where each lesson builds on the one before.
- Journals and personal assistantsApps a person talks to about their own life, where asking first matters most.
- Coding assistantsProjects where the reason behind a decision outlives the chat that made it.
- Sales and account workDeals and renewals that run for weeks.
- Project and meeting assistantsTeams that decide something in one meeting and need it in the next.
When KAPEX is the wrong choice
Some apps don’t need it, and some shouldn’t use it yet. Better to hear it now than after you’ve built against it.
- Your app is one conversation and done.
- Then you don’t need this. Memory is only worth adding when people come back.
- You handle protected health information.
- KAPEX should not be used with it. The security page says why.
- You need something you can call today.
- There is no public endpoint and no hosted sandbox yet, and the Python and TypeScript clients are not published to PyPI or npm. The developer page says what runs today.
- You need a record of every word.
- A log or a search index is the better tool. What KAPEX hands the app is a short note about a person.
Get in touch
If one of these looks like your app, the waitlist box asks what you’re building. Say so there.