I've been using Navigators for my platform engineering work and they've completely changed how I interact with AI. Keeping track of work, planning implementations, and learning over time and across projects are all simple to achieve with this pattern.
What Is a Navigator?
A Navigator is like an engineering notebook that talks back. Deceptively simple, a Navigator looks like a folder of markdown files along with config telling the agent how to play the role of the navigator. I use Claude Code, so for me a navigator looks like a CLAUDE.md file, some folders with markdown files, and possibly some additional config in a .claude directory.
A navigator is a knowledge base that you talk to and that learns with you. Like any knowledge base, it is as good as the knowledge you curate within it. Unlike a traditional knowledge base, this one learns and can be questioned. This incredibly simple pattern makes it easy to create and maintain a comprehensive knowledge base that can act as precisely engineered context for LLM inputs or for human consumption.
In addition to being a learning repository of carefully curated knowledge, a Navigator should have skills like "ask" and "update" that allow other agents to get information from it and update it in structured ways.
Ways I've Used Navigators
Open Loops
My open loops nav is a tool I use at work to keep track of what I'm doing. This is like a notebook, except it learns from me and I edit it by conversation.
Leetcode
My Leetcode nav helps me study problem-solving patterns for programming practice. It's taught me a lot about solving problems efficiently.
How to Start Your Own Navigator Right Now
You don't need special tools. Here's how to start:
1. Pick your base AI - Use whatever LLM you're already using. The pattern works with any of them.
2. Create a context document - This is your Navigator's memory. Use markdown. Include your goals, how to organize information, roles, instructions, and any other useful context.
3. Load context at session start - Begin each conversation by pasting relevant parts of your context document. Yes, it's manual. We'll automate this later.
4. Update context at session end - After you finish, add new insights, decisions, or knowledge to the context document. This is the learning loop.
5. Iterate - Over time, your Navigator gets smarter. Understanding deepens. It becomes genuinely useful instead of just fancy autocomplete.
You can do this in a project by copy-pasting the output of some prompts into the start of a new session. The key is to use LLM output as an input to future sessions. Using something like Claude Code on a repository of text can get you a long way.
autonav: The Navigator Framework
I've built autonav (the Navigator Framework) as part of a larger multi-agent system called Platform AI. It automates the Navigator pattern for platform engineering teams.
How it works: Instead of requiring vector databases and complex infrastructure, AutoNav uses the Claude Agent SDK with Git repositories as knowledge bases. Navigators are engineering notebooks that talk back - they dynamically search curated documentation using agentic tools (grep, file reading) and can access MCP tools to pull context from your codebase, issue trackers, or other project resources.
What's built (Phase 1 - Complete):
Automatic scaffolding - nav-init CLI creates new navigators with templates and sensible defaults. Get started immediately without manual setup.
Structured queries - nav-query CLI executes questions against navigators with validated input/output schemas. Programmatic interaction built-in.
Knowledge organization - Navigators work with Git repos as knowledge bases. Version your docs, use standard workflows, no special infrastructure needed.
Communication protocol - Standardized schemas for queries, responses, and sources. Prevents hallucinations through grounding prompts and validation.
What's next (Phase 2): Watchers that observe support channels (Slack, GitHub) to extract patterns and automatically curate knowledge repositories over time.
Phase 1 is complete and ready for validation testing. If you're interested in building navigators for your domain, reach out.
If you do try it, I'd genuinely want to hear about your experience. What worked? What didn't? What would make this more useful?