From a Thing.
To a connected space.

01 · Unconnected information

Start with something that matters.

A project rarely fits into one file. It has people, plans, photographs, decisions and work in progress. MiddleGround gives these a shared place without requiring them all to be the same kind of information.

A Thing represents something you want to keep track of: a building, person, song, device or idea. You decide what it means. Start with a useful name and build up its information as you work.

Your Environment is the workspace in which you browse and organize these Things. Start in the Environment where you want the project to live.

When should something be its own Thing?

When it needs its own context or connections, or you want to refer to it from several places. A file can remain an artifact inside a Thing; you do not need to turn every file into a separate Thing.

Try it: Open Things in your Environment and choose New Thing. Begin with one project you already understand.

02 · Things + connections

Keep the information and its meaning together.

Three building blocks help a Thing become useful over time.

Context

The information that explains the Thing: what it is, what matters now, decisions and relevant background.

Artifacts

The material you work with, such as Markdown documents, photographs and other files. Directories help organize these within a Thing.

Relations

Connections to other Things. A relationship gives you a route from one part of your work to another.

Recorded and calculated connections

An explicit relation records a connection you have made. A calculated relation can surface a connection from existing signals. Inspect its explanation before treating it as a meaningful relationship; a suggestion does not create an explicit relation.

Try it: Add the project’s purpose, keep one useful document with it, and connect it to another Thing that matters to the work.

03 · Perspectives

Choose how you want to look at it.

Your information can support different ways of working. Changing the presentation does not create a second copy of the underlying Thing.

Remember: Views, Dashboard placement and Report links do not grant access. The underlying Environment and Thing permissions still apply.

04 · AI + application access

Give your tools the context to work with.

Connected assistants can find Things, read their context and work with supported artifacts and relations through MCP. Applications can use APIs. These connections let tools work with information kept in MiddleGround.

Connect your account, select the intended Environment and tell the assistant which project or Thing you mean. Read and write capabilities depend on the connection and your permissions.

05 · Connected information space

Build the picture as you work.

You do not need to design a complete system before starting. Add structure where it helps, then return to the same information through whichever perspective suits the next task.

1. Create a Thing for a project.
2. Add the context someone needs to understand it.
3. Keep a plan, note or image as an artifact.
4. Connect another relevant Thing.
5. Group useful Things in a View and explore their relationships.
6. Bring the work into a Dashboard or Report, or use a connected assistant.

Rooms and devices can also be Things. Representing a device does not automatically connect to or control the hardware: that requires a suitable integration. Explore how Providers make that connection →

MiddleGround is under active development. This guide covers the core concepts and current web workflows; individual controls can differ between clients.

Beyond the five steps

Connect devices and services.

Providers connect external systems to Things in your workspace. Explore the concept, Device Hub and examples from devices to incoming documents.