Planning the Arkos Flywheel: Designing for Compounding Value

I’m building Arkos: a new way to code.

It’s a visual programming system where you design infrastructure and write modular code using editable diagrams, typed interfaces, and test-driven development.

But from the very beginning, I’ve been thinking about more than just features. I’ve been thinking about the flywheel — the system of feedback loops that will make Arkos more useful, the more it’s used.

This post isn’t a retrospective. It’s a product design sketch — a look at how I want Arkos to compound value over time.

What I Mean by Flywheel

A flywheel is a feedback loop that gets stronger with every cycle.

In Amazon’s flywheel: more customers attract more sellers, which leads to better selection, which attracts more customers, and so on. The system reinforces itself.

In Arkos, I want a similar loop — not for growth, but for developer leverage. The more you use Arkos, the more structure, clarity, and reusability you accumulate. Each cycle should lower the cost of the next.

The Hypothetical Arkos Flywheel

Here’s the loop I’m designing for:

Draw your system as a diagram

Define typed interfaces between components

Write tests within that visual context

Implement your logic inside modules

Refactor, extend, and reuse everything

And then you do it again — but now, with more reusable components, clearer contracts, and validated logic to build on.

Let’s walk through the pieces.

1. Draw the System

In Arkos, everything starts with a diagram.

You lay out infrastructure and flow using visual elements — boxes for services, arrows for data flow, diamonds for logic, etc.

This does two things:

It creates shared understanding (for yourself and your team)

It sets up a canvas for enforcement — something the system can validate

This isn't a throwaway diagram in Miro. It's the foundation of your application.

2. Define Typed Interfaces

Every connection in the diagram gets a typed contract.

This lets you:

Catch mismatches early (e.g., wrong shape, missing fields)

Enable better editor support and testing scaffolds

Create a language of interoperability

The type system becomes your architecture. Instead of trusting humans to follow conventions, you let types do the enforcement.

3. Write Tests in Context

Once the shape of the system is in place, you write tests for each module.

But those tests are contextual — the editor knows what the inputs are, what downstream modules expect, and what contracts you’ve defined.

This turns test-driven development into something visual and grounded:

You see what you’re testing, not just what you’re asserting

You get failure feedback in the diagram itself

Eventually, Arkos could let you replay events, simulate flows, or even debug visually across modules.

4. Implement Behavior

Tests written, contracts defined — now you build the logic.

Because you're not starting from a blank file, you're not guessing:

You know the types you're working with

You know what this module connects to

You know how it fits into the system

You implement with full context, and tests guide correctness.

5. Reuse and Refactor

Here’s where the compounding effect kicks in.

Over time:

Your blueprints get stronger

Your interface patterns stabilize

Your test coverage grows

Your confidence in refactoring increases

You can remix old diagrams, swap out modules, or scaffold new systems from prior work — safely and quickly.

This is how Arkos becomes more than a tool. It becomes a system of leverage.

Why Plan for a Flywheel?

Because good tools decay. Great tools compound.

Most developer tools get messier over time:

Codebases rot

Diagrams go stale

Tests drift out of sync

Context gets lost

But with the right flywheel, Arkos could move in the opposite direction: every new project builds on the last. Every diagram is reusable. Every contract is enforced. Every test becomes a source of truth.

That’s the long bet.

Closing Thoughts

This flywheel doesn’t exist yet. But it’s the shape I’m aiming for.

I’m not building Arkos just to be a better editor. I’m building it to get better with use — to be a system that feeds itself, where every decision you make today makes tomorrow’s work easier, safer, and faster.

If I can get the loop right, everything else will follow.

Design the flywheel, not just the features.