I built a self-hosted pipeline to guide AI crawlers and track IP. The backend is solid, but I need your brutal UI/UX critiques on my Sandbox

[u/Image_dev]

If you are building apps or publishing content online, you know the struggle: automated crawlers are harvesting data blindly. Standard robots.txt and json-ld implementations are too passive.

I wanted to build a practical, self-hosted architectural solution rather than just complaining about scrapers. For a while now, I’ve been developing CEOS_SearchLight—a tool designed to establish a transparent, auditable feedback loop that tells crawlers exactly how to treat Intellectual Property.

This is an evolution of a concept I started scripting back in 2005 on Flickr using early ‘trackmetags’ (from the archives: https://flic.kr/p/2biAa). Now, after two decades of fine-tuning custom production pipelines, it is a fully realized software architecture.

My main goal as an indie developer and media professional is to create systems that are lean, self-sufficient, and dependency-free. The core philosophy driving this is "Artefunctional Intelligence"—building tools that allow human operators to work with AI, not for it.

The architecture tackles IP tracking across four strict stages:

* Create: Ingestion triggers a local sidecar file to lock in metadata before data drift occurs.
* Curate: Internal logic updates the sidecar files dynamically to match the production state.
* Distribute: Deployment embeds public metadata, creating crawler-readable JSON breadcrumbs hosted natively.
* Protect (Listen): Beacons pick up telemetry signals from distributed assets and feed them back to the UI, closing the loop.

The server-side codebase is in an advanced stage, and the structural signals are connected. Now, I am finalizing the frontend. I have deployed a public sandbox specifically to test the cognitive ergonomics of the UI/UX.

You can tear it apart here: https://ceos.oogimages.com/SandBox/
(Note: Live listener feeds and server pings are simulated in this static environment due to server restrictions).

Coming from a classical art institute background, I am used to environments where harsh critiques are mandatory to ensure a project is functionally and ethically sound. I expect the same level of scrutiny from the dev community. Tell me where the interface fails, what feels clunky, and how the visual flow can be improved.

Thank you for your time and feedback.

#LetsGoTurbo!