How to organize side projects as a solo developer
Side projects rarely fail because the ideas are bad. They stall because notes, links, decisions, and next steps live in different places, and every return starts with reconstructing what you meant to do. A saved coding conversation helps you reopen the work. A clear project record helps you decide whether that work still matters.
A simple way to run it in Hark
- 01Give every idea a project
Capture each project as a Hark venture so its business case, build notes, brand assets, and links stay together. A workshop holds a set of projects, not just one idea. Keep related side projects together and separate work when ownership or access needs to differ. See project organization. Workflow source
- 02Park ideas without losing them
Turn on Advanced structure to use the six-stage pipeline and move paused projects into Cold Storage instead of deleting them. If stages add more structure than you need, stay with the simple view: Project, Current state, Decisions, and Next action. Both views are described in Hark features. Workflow source
- 03Keep one next action
Use Current state to record the current phase, summary, blockers, and the single next step that makes returning easy. Make it concrete: reproduce the checkout failure with a test account, rather than improve payments. End each working session with what changed, what comes next, and what needs caution. Workflow source
- 04Review the portfolio weekly
Use the weekly review to confirm priorities, resolve open questions, review agent proposals, and catch projects that are going cold. Choose which project deserves the next build session. Parking the others preserves their decisions without pretending everything is active. See the weekly review feature. Workflow source
Saved sessions are useful, but they are not your portfolio
Claude Code saves local sessions continuously by default. Run claude --continue to reopen the most recent session in the current directory, or claude --resume to choose a saved conversation. Naming sessions makes parallel work easier to find. These are useful recovery tools, not a substitute for knowing which project deserves attention. Local transcripts have configurable retention, so avoid treating them as a permanent decision archive. See Claude Code's session documentation.
Hark keeps the project record separate from any one conversation. Its five blocks cover Inventory, Health, Work, Authority, and Decisions: where the work lives, its condition, the next task, the constraints, and the choices behind it. For a paused prototype, that might mean the staging URL, an untested login flow, one reproduction task, a no-paid-services constraint, and the reason you chose the database. The project record guide explains how briefs and handoffs read this same record.
Keep stable instructions separate from changing state
Put build commands, coding conventions, and lasting constraints in repository instruction files. Keep today's blocker and next action in the living project record. Claude Code supports CLAUDE.md and auto memory, but auto memory is machine-local rather than automatically shared across machines or cloud environments. Its memory documentation describes those boundaries.
Within a local session, /compact summarizes conversation history to free context; /clear starts fresh while leaving the previous session resumable, as the session guide explains. Neither replaces a reviewed account of what shipped or why a decision changed. Follow the Hark mod connect guide for the early-access integration, requiring Claude Code 2.1.287 or newer. Once paired and linked, it brings in the brief, restores key project state after compaction, and drafts a handoff after changed sessions. Other clients use their connection guides and explicit session tools.
Share the useful record, not every exploratory conversation
A collaborator needs accepted decisions, evidence, and a clear responsibility, not every abandoned approach. Hark distinguishes Agreed, Observed, and Proposed information. Acceptance records agreement; it does not independently verify an agent's claim. Decisions, non-goals, and phase changes still need human review when routine updates can auto-accept. These boundaries are explained in How Hark works.
Claude Code web session sharing is separate from local transcript files. Web visibility depends on account type, and public sessions can expose sensitive conversation content. A saved local transcript does not automatically become a shared web session. Consult the web sharing documentation before distributing a session link. In Hark, choose visible sections and project access deliberately: its sharing controls let you show relevant material without exposing the entire working record.
Hark’s public project page
Starter builds are coming. Until then, use Hark’s own documented build as the example structure for this setup.
View the public project page placeholder →Common questions
- Can I use this setup for an existing side project?
Yes. Import a conversation or brain dump, review the proposed Current state, and connect the repository when ready. You do not have to start from scratch. Product source Plan source
- Do all collaborators and agents see the same information?
They can work from the same Hark project record, subject to permissions and connection setup. Guests see enabled sections and can comment, not edit. Product source Plan source
- Can I try this without adding a card?
Yes. Hark starts with a 14-day card-free trial. Your work remains readable if the trial ends before you choose a plan. Product source Plan source
- Do I need the six-stage pipeline?
No. It is available with Advanced structure. The simple view is enough to keep decisions, Current state, and a useful next action. Product source Plan source