Hypha Hypha is a small, invite-only network of designers. It answers one question: who is around for work in the coming weeks. This page covers what it is, how it works, and where assistants fit in. Members set one up on the connect an assistant page.
A shared directory with availability. Each member has a profile (name, interests, tags, links) and a row of upcoming weeks marked full-time, part-time, or not available.
There is no feed, no messaging, no signup form, and no admin panel. The network grows one way: a member invites someone they trust.
The software is deliberately simple. It stores facts and shows them, and it never guesses: a week nobody answered is shown as unanswered, not assumed. Judgment stays with people, and with the assistants they choose to connect.
Getting in. You join by invite. The invite records who brought you in, and that stays on your profile as your lineage. Members can also vouch for each other; vouches are public.
Signing in. No passwords. Enter your email and click the link we send you. The link works once and expires.
Availability. Every 14 days you get an email asking about your upcoming weeks. One tap confirms what is already on file, or you paint the weeks that changed: full-time, part-time, not available. Answers age. If yours is older than the asking cadence, the directory shows it greyed out as stale rather than passing it off as current.
Stewards. Stewards are members who can remove other members and resolve flags. That is the whole admin model. There is no dashboard behind the curtain.
Your data. You can download everything we store about you as JSON at any time. You can leave, which hides your profile and leaves an anonymous marker in the lineage. You can erase yourself, which permanently deletes your name, email, and links. None of these ever require accepting anything first. Old records clean themselves up: resolved flags are deleted after 6 months, expired invites after 90 days, spent sign-in links after 24 hours, and dead sessions immediately.
The network has a small API, so an assistant you trust can use it on your behalf: find who is free in March, keep your own weeks current, read the gigs board. It signs in the same way you do, it can only do what you approve, and you can revoke it at any time.
Two things it deliberately cannot do. It cannot invite anyone, because an invite is permanent and carries your name in the lineage forever. And it is never assumed: a week nobody answered stays unanswered rather than being guessed at, for an assistant exactly as for a person.
Setting one up takes one address and no key. Members do it on the
connect an assistant page, which lists every tool,
every permission, and where the address goes for each client. The machine
contract is public if you want to read it first:
https://hyphahypha.club/openapi.json.