A spatial knowledge environment where you walk through a 3D holographic museum and engage with history's greatest thinkers — each powered by a live Claude Code terminal with their unique cognitive architecture loaded as a system prompt.
The Halls of Polymathica is a 3D Electron app that turns AI agent prompts into places you visit. Instead of selecting from a dropdown, you walk through a holographic rotunda, enter a wing dedicated to a school of thought, fly down a corridor lined with that thinker's methodology, and arrive at their alcove — where a real Claude Code terminal awaits, preloaded with their cognitive architecture.
25 polymathic agents live here. Each one applies a historical figure's thinking patterns as structural constraints on reasoning. They don't roleplay — they think differently.
A central hub with four wing archways arranged at cardinal points. A settings pedestal sits at the center. WASD to move, mouse to orbit, click a wing card to approach it.
Four wings, each grouped by cognitive mechanism:
| Wing | Direction | Color | Thinkers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hall of Reduction | North | Cyan | Feynman, Carmack, Shannon, Rams, Musk, Linus |
| Hall of Structural Vision | East | Gold | Tesla, da Vinci, Lovelace, Tao, Munger, Gates |
| Hall of Inversion | South | White/Blue | Bezos, Sun Tzu, Thiel, Disney, Andreessen, Aurelius |
| Hall of Resonance | West | Orange | Jobs, van Gogh, Ogilvy, Godin, MrBeast, Graham, Socrates |
Click a wing card to frame it, then click a portrait to enter their corridor.
A spline-driven camera flight through the thinker's methodology. Holographic panels on alternating walls reveal their kernel, identity traits, workflow phases, decision gates, and key quotes.
At the corridor's end: the thinker's portrait, name, and title on a glass wall — with a live terminal below. Click "Engage" to spawn a shell, then click the portrait to launch claude @<agent-file> with that polymath's full cognitive architecture.
A "Focus Terminal" button locks all keyboard input to the terminal so Claude Code can receive ESC, WASD, and other keys normally captured by the 3D scene.
Each agent file in agents/ defines a complete cognitive architecture — not a persona, but a thinking constraint system. They are read-only consultants: they analyze and advise.
Code & Architecture — Carmack, Linus, Tesla, Shannon Product & UX — Jobs, Rams, van Gogh, Disney Strategy & Decisions — Bezos, Thiel, Gates, Andreessen, Sun Tzu, Musk Thinking & Analysis — Feynman, Tao, Munger, Socrates, Lovelace, da Vinci, Aurelius Marketing & Content — Ogilvy, Godin, Graham, MrBeast
- Electron 34 + electron-vite 3 — Desktop shell with hot reload
- React 19 + TypeScript 5 — UI layer
- React Three Fiber 9 + drei 10 — 3D scene graph, OrbitControls, Html overlays, GLTF loading
- Three.js 0.172 — WebGL rendering, CatmullRom spline camera paths
- xterm.js 5 — Terminal emulator in the browser
- node-pty — Real PTY processes (PowerShell/bash)
- better-sqlite3 — Local database for polymaths, conversations, tags
- Zustand 5 — Reactive state management
- Tailwind CSS 4 — Utility styling for HUD overlays
- Playwright — E2E screenshot tests
- Node.js 20+
- Claude Code CLI installed globally (
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code) - Windows (node-pty builds for the current platform)
# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/ahostbr/TheHallsOfPolymathica.git
cd TheHallsOfPolymathica
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Run in development mode
npm run dev
# Build for production
npm run build
# Package as installer
npm run dist| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| W/A/S/D | Move camera forward/left/back/right |
| Mouse drag | Orbit camera |
| Scroll | Zoom in/out |
| Shift + drag | Pan camera vertically |
| Click wing card | Navigate to wing |
| Click portrait | Enter corridor (from wing) / Launch Claude (from alcove) |
| ESC | Go back one depth level |
| Focus Terminal | Lock keyboard to terminal |
| Release Terminal | Return keyboard to 3D scene |
Rotunda → Wing → Corridor (spline flight) → Alcove (terminal)
↑ ↑ ↑ |
└────────┴─────────┴──── ESC pops one level ──┘
src/
main/ # Electron main process
services/
pty-manager.ts # PTY lifecycle management
pty-bridge.ts # HTTP PTY bridge
session-spawner.ts # Shell + Claude Code spawning
agent-content-service.ts # Parses agent .md files
db/
database.ts # SQLite schema + queries
ipc/
db-handlers.ts # Database IPC handlers
pty-handlers.ts # PTY IPC handlers
polymath-seed.ts # 25 polymath definitions
renderer/ # React 3D UI
features/spatial/
components/
RotundaLayout.tsx # Root scene orchestrator
Rotunda.tsx # Floor, dome, archways, pedestal
Archway.tsx # Wing card with click-to-navigate
WingGallery.tsx # Portrait grid per wing
Corridor.tsx # Panels + end wall + terminal
Alcove.tsx # Alcove end wall with portrait
CameraController.tsx # WASD + lerp/slerp transitions
SplineCameraController.tsx # CatmullRom corridor flight
CorridorPanel.tsx # Holographic info panels
HoloGlassPanel.tsx # Glass material panel
HoloText.tsx # Holographic text rendering
PolymathPortrait.tsx # Portrait with click handler
SpatialScene.tsx # R3F Canvas + lighting
ParticleField.tsx # Ambient particle effects
store/hallStore.ts # Zustand navigation state
constants/
wings.ts # 4 wing definitions
layout.ts # Dimensions, camera, spacing
hooks/
useCorridorContent.ts # Agent content loader
useSplineFlight.ts # CatmullRom flight logic
materials/ # Custom Three.js shaders
components/
terminal/TerminalInstance.tsx # xterm.js wrapper
SettingsModal.tsx # Flight speed + terminal display
HallHUD.tsx # Breadcrumb nav + settings
preload/ # Context bridge (IPC)
agents/ # 25 polymathic agent prompts
public/
portraits/ # Holographic portrait PNGs
models/ # GLTF models (pedestal)
tests/ # Playwright e2e specs
# Unit tests
npm run test
# E2E tests (requires build first)
npm run build
npm run test:e2e
# E2E with visible browser
npm run test:e2e:headedClick the pedestal in the rotunda center to open the settings modal:
- Corridor Flight Speed — How fast the spline camera flies (3–20 seconds)
- Terminal Scale — Size of the terminal in 3D space
- Terminal Width/Height — Pixel dimensions of the terminal
- Terminal Y Position — Vertical placement on the end wall
All portraits are cyan holographic wireframe on black — a TRON/Minority Report aesthetic. Generated via AI image models and hand-curated for consistency.
MIT