From 3am chaos to a business that runs while you live.
The same operator, two different lives. Spine OS is the spine between them — install it once, and the busywork runs itself under rules you set.
Lifestyle illustration only — no clinical or income claims. The “after” dashboard is a styled mock of the real local-first UI.
I built this at 1:19 in the morning.
My own tech stack had tangled past the point of usefulness, and I was sitting there looking at a picture of a dishevelled man who seemed a little too familiar. So I tidied my work into a spine — and figured I'd share it.
If you're feeling overwhelmed, please talk to someone — that part isn't what this fixes. But if it's your tech, your business admin, or your operations that needs intervening, I think you'll find this useful. Enjoy.
— Ilker · Mindspan · a registered Australian psychologist
You don't need a tenth subscription. You need a spine.
Notion here, Google Drive there, a CRM you rent, seven client folders, an inbox that runs you. Every tool owns a slice of your business — and your data — and bills you monthly for the privilege. None of them are yours.
🔒 Own it
Local-first markdown on your own drive. No vendor can lock you out, raise the rent, or read your files.
🛡️ Govern it
The same ADR + SOP + proof-gate governance pattern used to run a busy solo practice and a product ecosystem — so the AI works for you, not the reverse.
⚡ Augment it
Bring your own LLM (Claude / GPT). Agents draft, sort, and surface — under guardrails you control, with an audit trail.
One spine, four moving parts.
Your files sit at the base. Governance wraps them. Agents act through that governance. A dashboard makes it legible — all on your own machine.
Every layer is swappable.
Spine OS is an architecture, not a captive product. Prefer GPT over Claude? Obsidian over a plain editor? Swap any tile — the spine doesn't care. That's the opposite of the rented stack.
markdown vault
VS Code, iA Writer…
Anthropic
OpenAI
Llama, Gemini…
default · yours
opt-in sync
tools / agents
payments
booking
11 Big Sur +
not downloadable yet
most distros
fire tasks from your phone
review & approve
on your machine
Spine OS vs. the rented stack
| Dimension | Spine OS | Notion (representative hosted SaaS) | Build it yourself |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns the data | You (local files) | The vendor | You |
| Monthly fee | A$0 — optional human-support retainer available | US$10–20 / member / mo on annual billing | A$0 |
| Works offline | Yes | Limited / app-dependent | Maybe |
| AI under your governance | Yes, local rules + audit trail | Vendor settings and terms | If you build it |
| Time to running | Days | Hours | Weeks–months |
| Readable in any editor | Plain markdown | Proprietary | Depends |
The retainer is an optional monthly human-support plan (A$997/mo inc GST) — not a per-user SaaS fee. Spine OS itself has no monthly charge.
Two paths. Your choice.
Both planned paths end with you owning every file. The self-serve Kit is not yet a live sale; do not rely on same-day checkout. Done-for-you enquiries are handled separately.
From approved access to daily ops.
This is the intended journey, not a claim that checkout is live today. The current tested release is the approved-account macOS beta.
A productised setup, not a dev shop
Built for the one-person engine room — the operator who wears every hat and would rather own the machine than rent six of them.
Not a clinical records system out of the box. Spine OS is business-admin tooling — folders, SOPs, decisions and a dashboard. It is not a clinical, legal or financial records system, and it is not clinical, legal or financial advice.
Not for — 6+ staff · multi-site · real-time concurrent editing · or anyone needing certified SOC2/HIPAA SaaS out of the box. Spine OS is local-first by design — that's the point, and the limit.
Release status and planned tiers.
The displayed prices are the current Australian-dollar, GST-inclusive offer prices. No Spine OS paid tier transacts online yet. The current release is a granted-account beta on both macOS and Windows.
Monthly office hours (2 hrs), small changes, LLM/integration updates, quarterly governance audit. Month-to-month — cancel with one email.
Add-ons
· . (Maps your obligations to themes and checklists — not certification.)
The Kit is A$497 inc GST, one time. Licensed, not sold — a perpetual licence plus lifetime updates via re-download. 30-day, no-questions money-back guarantee on the Kit.
Spine OS does not send your vault files to Mindspan by default. Your files live on your own drive. Optional, opt-in install telemetry sends only de-identified technical install fields; connecting an AI or another service is your separate choice and uses that provider's terms. We don't claim SOC 2 or ISO certification. What you get instead is local-first design, an explicit telemetry allowlist, and a product you can inspect before you commit.
Want a formal obligations map (e.g. ISO 27001 themes / Australian Privacy Act alignment) or hardened hardware (external SSD / NAS)? These are available as paid add-ons — see pricing.
Straight answers
+ What you get
- The branded Spine OS vault template — yours to keep, in plain markdown
- A governance starter — ADRs, SOPs and proof-gates, ready to adapt
- An offline-first dashboard that opens without an internet connection
- BYO-LLM — works with Claude or GPT, on your own key
- Lifetime updates via re-download
– What you don't
- We don't supply hardware — it runs on the machine you already own (hardware is available as a paid add-on — see pricing)
- We don't host your data — your files never reach our servers
- We don't hold certifications — there's no SOC 2 / ISO badge here; local-first means there's nothing of yours for us to certify
Spine OS lives on hardware you control. A laptop on its own is plenty to start; add an external SSD for room, or a small home NAS for a local backup, whenever you like — all on your own network, nothing leaving by default.
Example setup — hardware not supplied; available as a paid add-on (see pricing). Devices shown for illustration only — you bring your own.
Can I get a refund?
Yes — a 30-day, no-questions money-back guarantee on the Kit. If it's not for you within 30 days of purchase, email info@mindspan.com.au and we'll refund you in full.
What currency are prices in? Is GST included?
Every price on this page is in Australian dollars and inclusive of GST — for example, the Kit is A$497 inc GST. There are no surprise add-ons at checkout.
What is available today?
The current tested release is an approved-account beta on macOS and Windows. The macOS build is ad-hoc signed and not notarised, so it may require right-click → Open; Windows is unsigned and may show a SmartScreen prompt on first launch. Paid checkout is not open yet; join the waitlist for release news.
If I buy the Kit and later upgrade, do I lose the A$497?
No. If you upgrade from the Kit to Lite, we credit your A$497 toward the Lite price — so the Kit is never wasted money, it's the first step.
Is this software I have to maintain?
No. It's markdown files + a folder structure + a dashboard that opens in your browser. There's no server to run, no app to update, nothing to break at 2am. Bring your own LLM key when you want AI help.
Do I need to be technical?
For the Kit, comfort with files and copy-paste is enough. For Lite and up, we set it up so you don't have to. One technical-ish owner per business is the sweet spot.
What about my clients' confidential data?
It never leaves your machine unless you choose to connect something. That's the whole design — local-first, you control every integration. The compliance addendum maps your obligations to themes and checklists against Australian privacy & professional-standards expectations; it is not certification and not a compliance guarantee. Spine OS is business-admin tooling, not a clinical records system.
What if I prefer GPT, or Obsidian, or my own cloud?
Swap them in. Spine OS is an architecture, not a captive product — every layer (editor, LLM, storage, integrations) is substitutable. The “or” between the tiles above is literal.
Who built this?
A registered Australian psychologist, running a solo practice and a product ecosystem on this exact system. It's dogfooded, not theorised. No testimonials — judge it on the comparison and the deliverables, not on hype. Spine OS is commercial business-admin software, not a health service, and not clinical, legal or financial advice.
What if I want out?
You already own everything — the files are yours, in an open format, on your drive. There's nothing to cancel except an optional retainer, which is month-to-month and cancellable with one email.
Own your spine.
Join the waitlist for paid release news, or enquire about done-for-you work. The current Mac beta is granted-account access only.
Launch price: A$497 inc GST · one-time · no monthly lock-in.Join the founding waitlist
Be first to hear when the Kit opens at A$497 inc GST. No spam, one email when it's ready.
Planned launch price: A$497 inc GST · one-time · no monthly lock-in.
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