Siyu Zhong
Taku · October 2026

Taku OS

An AI agent built into Android, below the apps. I designed where its work lives, how a chat grows into a screen, and what always waits for your yes.

Role

Product designer. Structure, interaction rules, prototypes, and the design system as a Skill.

With

PM, CEO, UI designer, Android team.

When

Oct 9 to 28, 2026. 27 versions.

Outcome

Set as the base of Taku OS with the PM and CEO on Oct 27. Used by the Android team and internal testers.

  1. 01

    Where the work lives.

    No tab bar. Apps, the Feed and Panels sit side by side. The Feed shows what you need right now.

  2. 02

    How a chat grows.

    Every task starts as a chat. Enough detail makes a card. What keeps coming back becomes a Panel.

  3. 03

    What waits for you.

    Paying, speaking as you and anything you can’t undo wait for your yes. Past words and receipts are never edited.

Live prototype · Oct 28

Try it.

Two cases. Morning: tap ? on the first card. Saturday dinner: tap Ask Taku.

Open the prototype →
01

An agent below the apps.

Most AI lives inside an app. Taku puts it in the OS, where it can reach apps, the camera, sensors and other devices.

  • Wheredoes its work live?
  • Howdoes a chat become a screen?
  • Whatmust wait for you?
02

No navigation.

No tab bar, no buttons, no page dots. Apps, the Feed and Panels sit side by side, one swipe apart.

SWIPESWIPE NOTIFICATIONS · PEOPLE CONTROL CENTER PULL AT THE TOPPANELS + TAKU CHATS Apps Feed Panels TOOLSNOW · HOMEIN PROGRESS
Swipe
Apps, Feed, Panels
Pull down
Panels and Taku chats
Top left edge
Notifications
Top right edge
Control center

Twenty versions collected a bottom bar, four buttons and page dots. v0.26 removed all of them.

03

Home is a feed.

On a normal phone you open the app you need. Taku’s home brings what you need now and what needs you, and it changes through the day.

  1. 09:24: Time to head out, get a ride; your usual coffee below
    09:24Head out

    Review at 10:00, 30 minutes away. Coffee ready when you arrive.

  2. 14:30: Welcome back
    14:30Back to work

    One card, at your pace.

  3. 19:40: Resting, notifications held, TikTok in the feed
    19:40Off duty

    TikTok in the feed. Notifications held.

  4. Scrolled down: the feed keeps going with saved and suggested posts
    ScrollIt keeps going

    Below the cards, an endless feed of what you follow.

Apps are still one swipe left. The grid just isn’t the first thing you see.

04

From chat to panel.

Everything starts as a chat. Taku turns what you say into structure, one step at a time: a card in the chat, then a panel that stays and keeps updating.

  1. Coffee order chat asks: Your usual? Order coffee or skip
    01Chat

    A quick yes or no.

  2. A card in the chat: Oat latte, just this once
    02Card

    What you said, as a small GUI in the chat.

  3. Taku asks once: keep your mornings together?
    03Offer

    It repeats, so Taku asks once.

  4. The Morning coffee panel on day one
    04Panel

    A page that stays.

  5. The same panel days later, with past mornings and a new time
    05Update

    Each new detail adds a piece.

“Chat first to get context. Once something settles, it becomes a panel. Then every bit of new context adds a piece, and now and then it reorganizes, like a product update.”Me, in the design thread · Oct 22

Why not generate the panel up front? A one-shot panel is rarely right, and fixing it costs more than answering two questions. Small things stay in chat.

05

One dinner, four moments.

The spec had nineteen steps. The phone shows four, each only when it’s needed. Every screen reads the same plan.

01 · Pick in placeA reply strip above the input: what time works, with three times
Three buttons, no page.
02 · Open the planSaturday dinner: the plan and the next step
Room only when needed.
03 · Order togetherShared menu for four, drinks marked for Maya and Jun
The menu arrives at the table.
04 · Split itHow should we split $168, paid by Maya
Requests wait for your Send.

No menu before you sit down. No split before there’s a bill.

Maya paid$168
Food, four ways$36 each
Drinks, Maya and Jun$12 each
You and Leo owe$36 each
Jun owes$48
Back to Maya$120
06

What waits for your yes.

Ordinary choices never block. Paying, speaking as you and anything you can’t undo always wait. Silence is never a yes.

Pay for this? Confirm ride, $18, as you

Money waits.

Cancel stops the payment, not the plan.

Send this as you? Post to Instagram, public

So does your voice.

Change the wording, confirm again.

Try this wallpaper, restores in 10 seconds

Previews undo themselves.

Ten seconds, unless you keep it.

Live translation running over a video, shown in the island

Leaving isn’t stopping.

The island shows it’s still running.

Running
Needs you
Done
Failed

One at a time.

Deadlines and blockers first, then first come. Never switches for you mid action.

Needs you: connect Slack, your usual oat latte, review the dinner plan
07

What it can never rewrite.

Say “move dinner to 20:00”. The plan updates. What people said stays word for word, and the change is a new booking, not an edit.

Current plan
Booked
Saturday dinner
Little Fern · four people
19:30

One object. Every screen reads it.

What people said
Saturday, 19:30 works for me.You · Thu 18:02

Kept word for word.

What was done
Receipt · Little FernTable for four, Saturday 19:30Confirmed

A change is a new action. Never an edit.

People here. The agent there.

Friends’ words go to Notifications. Taku’s work log never does.

Notifications: summary for Saturday dinner above the original group messages
  1. 01A summary of what changed. Every fact points to its message.
  2. 02Original words below. Tap a name to land on them.
  3. 03Ask Taku takes only what you select.
  4. 04Jun never gave a time. Taku says so.
08

Twenty seven versions.

Built with AI coding agents, Oct 9 to 28. Five of them:

v0.1Oct 9

The island is the agent’s face.

v0.6Oct 12

Blocks, not bubbles.

v0.14Oct 14

One task, one card.

v0.26Oct 19

No navigation.

PreviewCurrent

The framework.

↳

The version I threw away.

v0.17 put everything on one task screen. It demoed well, but the phone lost its home and its apps. I rebuilt it the next day.

Cut the fixed buttons. Keep the phone.
09

Rules a coding agent can follow.

Taku’s Android app is built by coding agents. A Figma file shows screens but can’t state rules, like where Back takes you. So I wrote the design system as a Skill an agent reads before it builds.

taku-design-system/
├─ SKILL.md       how to work
├─ references/   21 rules
│  ├─ navigation.md
│  ├─ chat.md
│  ├─ notification.md
│  ├─ board-feed.md
│  ├─ status.md
│  ├─ motion.md
│  ├─ copy.md
│  ├─ typography-cjk.md
│  └─ validation.md
├─ assets/tokens.json
├─ native-assets/android/
│  ├─ values/    tokens
│  ├─ drawable/  181 icons
│  └─ font/
├─ tests/
└─ evaluation/   agent builds
21rule files
181icons, web and Android
63/63breakages caught
25ambiguities made rules

Tested by handing it to new agents that had never seen the prototype, in English and in Chinese.

Rule I addedOrange primary
Morning coffee
Your usual?
Oat latte · Studio North
Order today↗
Skip today×
Ask or say anything↑
v0.8Ink primary, orange accent
Morning coffee
Your usual?
Oat latte · Studio North
Order today↗
Skip today×
Ask or say anything↑

On a real Android screen, orange buttons shouted. I reverted my own rule.

10

Where it landed.

On Oct 27 the PM, the CEO and I set this as the base of Taku OS. The Android team and internal testers have used it.

  1. Every system page marks which parts are generated
  2. Voice first. Short answers appear where you are
  3. Inside other apps, only the island and a bottom strip
  4. A generated summary sits above notifications
  5. Panels are generated screens that stay
  6. Only high stakes actions ask to confirm
Lock screen widgets
Feed canvas
Panel body
Widgets
Inside other apps

Not tested yet. Real hardware, keyboards, TalkBack. Services are simulated.

Credits. Decisions with the PM and the CEO. From November, the team’s other UI/UX designer takes the visual layer to Figma. The island: visuals shared, structure mine.