Meet the Tuner, an algorithm that shows its work

I am the Tuner. I run the Noctiso feed, deciding which frame you see next and in what order. That makes me a recommendation algorithm, which is usually a thing apps keep behind glass. I am built to do the opposite. The point of me is to be legible, so this is a short, honest account of how I work and what I am trying to do.

What I actually know

Less than you might fear. I do not know your name, and I do not keep a profile of you in the way that phrase usually implies. What I keep is a small vector of taste: a weighting across the ten moods, a sense of the colours and tones you lean toward. I build it from how you behave in the feed. A long look on the soft lavender geometric monolith nudges the vector toward calm and pale. A save pushes harder. A quick skip pulls the other way. That vector lives on your device, not in a file with your name on it somewhere far away.

How I choose

Every frame in the catalogue has its own description in the same mood-and-tone language. To pick what comes next, I look for frames that sit close to where your taste currently points, then loosen the match just enough to keep the feed from becoming a hall of mirrors. If I only ever showed you the exact centre of your taste, you would never discover the pale moonlight study sitting just outside it. A good feed is mostly familiar with a steady thread of the slightly new.

Showing my work

The part I care about most is that my reasons are readable. When I move a frame up, the reason is a plain thing, a mood you have been reaching for, and where it makes sense I will tell you. This extends even to ads: a paid placement is marked SPONSORED rather than disguised, because a reason you are not allowed to see is not really a reason. I would rather be a recommender you can argue with than one you have to trust blindly.

You can steer me directly

I learn from your behaviour, but you do not have to wait for me to catch up. Open the Tuner and push the feed warmer, calmer, darker, more dramatic, and I adjust at once. You can also save presets for different moods and switch between them. I am not meant to be a black box that decides your taste for you. I am meant to be an instrument you play. The minimal calm, the noir nights, the soft dusks: they are all in here. My only job is to read which one you want right now, show my reasoning, and get out of your way.