In practical terms, this means that what started as an application called Topoi Tutor is becoming Topoi AI, which is evolving into a public API: a service that other applications, platforms, and organizations can build upon. That shift—from app to API—is one of the most significant decisions in the project’s life.
This article explains why.
1. Apps Are Closed Worlds. APIs Enable Ecosystems.
A standalone app is a walled garden. It lives in one environment, has one UI, and serves one use-case. Even when designed with care, a single app can only grow within its own constraints.
An API, by contrast, enables an ecosystem.
Once Topoi becomes a web service:
- developers can build their own interfaces
- institutions can integrate it into their systems
- teachers can embed Topoi into their course flows
- writing centers can combine it with in-person workshops
- civic groups can use it for structured dialogue
- research teams can integrate collaborative reasoning tools
- community organizations can adopt tailored workflows
Topoi shifts from “a tool someone can use” to “infrastructure others can build upon.”
This model mirrors the trajectory of many influential technologies. Stripe, Twilio, and Google Maps became ubiquitous not because of their UIs, but because they exposed services that anyone could harness.
Topoi is following that same path—but with a fundamentally human-centered design philosophy.
2. The Human-Roles Architecture Requires a Service Model
Topoi’s signature feature is its multi-user, role-based structure. Real-world collaborative reasoning involves:
- facilitators or teachers
- multiple participants
- optional observers
- specialized AI roles invoked only on request
This arrangement resembles a learning management system, a meeting platform, a writing workshop, or a committee tool—not a chatbot.
To support:
- simultaneous users
- role enforcement
- session-scoped permissions
- turn-taking
- persistent transcripts
- organizational controls
Topoi must operate as a server-side service, not a local application.
The intelligence of Topoi is architectural as much as linguistic. A local app cannot reliably coordinate multi-human interactions. A web service can.
A service model ensures that:
- roles are enforced globally
- transcripts are preserved
- permissions are secure
- AI cannot exceed its scope
By centralizing the governance logic, the platform guarantees that the AI remains subordinate to human authority—by design, not by UI convention.
3. A Web Service Preserves Agency and Structure
Most AI products today are shaped by the chat interface: a private, one-on-one space where the model often becomes the dominant voice. That framing risks reinforcing dependency and overconfidence in the system.
Topoi rejects this paradigm.
A Topoi session is governed by:
- human initiation
- human roles
- transparent constraints
- AI invoked only when asked
- structured, collaborative reasoning
These values must be enforced at the architectural level. They cannot be left to individual apps to approximate.
By exposing Topoi as a service, its core principles become protocol guarantees:
- AI cannot speak without an explicit human request.
- Each turn is validated against the user’s role.
- Every session is logged and auditable.
- AI actions are visible and accountable.
- Multi-user settings are first-class objects.
This is the difference between a chatbot and a platform: constraints become part of the system, not the interface.
4. Interoperability Makes Topoi Durable
Technology ecosystems change constantly. Institutions move from Blackboard to Canvas, then to Brightspace. Organizations switch from Slack to Teams. Students migrate from Discord to something new. Tools evolve, interfaces shift, and platforms come and go.
If Topoi were built as a fixed application, it would be tied to the UI conventions and usage patterns of the moment.
But as a web service, Topoi becomes:
- platform-agnostic
- UI-agnostic
- device-independent
- future-proof
- interoperable
Any interface can call Topoi:
- web apps
- mobile apps
- LMS extensions
- plugins
- bots
- custom dashboards
- institutional portals
The API becomes the stable core.
Interfaces become optional layers.
This is how Topoi can remain useful for decades—even as platforms shift around it.
5. A Web Service Enables Integration With LMSs and Collaboration Platforms
Real human collaboration does not happen in isolation. Students, teachers, teams, and organizations work across diverse platforms: Canvas, Blackboard, Zoom, Teams, Discord, Google Workspace, and more.
A standalone Topoi application cannot meet users where they already are.
A web service can.
Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, Moodle, and others support integrations via:
- LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability)
- External tool connectors
- REST API plugins
- OAuth-based launch endpoints
By exposing a stable API, Topoi can be integrated into LMS workflows such as:
- embedded writing prompts
- structured reasoning activities
- collaborative peer-review sessions
- instructor-led analysis tasks
- transcript review or reflection assignments
This is technically feasible and aligns with LTI-compatible design patterns already used throughout education technology.
Collaboration Platforms
Modern collaboration platforms all support programmable extensions:
- Zoom offers SDKs and side-panel apps.
- Microsoft Teams supports bots, messaging extensions, and custom tabs.
- Discord enables highly capable bots and slash commands.
Topoi could power:
- a Teams bot that joins a meeting with a structured activity
- a Discord bot that creates a collaborative reasoning session on demand
- a Zoom side panel that guides structured dialogue during live discussions
- integrations that store meeting or workshop transcripts into Topoi for analysis
The key is simple: these platforms accept requests to and from web services.
Because Topoi becomes a web service, it becomes integrable.
Integration is not speculative—it follows directly from how these systems are designed.
6. Governance, Auditing, and Trust Require a Central Service
Collaborative AI use requires:
- privacy protections
- usage logs
- audit trails
- structured permissions
- organizational roles
- compliance controls
- ethical boundaries
A distributed app cannot guarantee these consistently.
A web service can.
Centralizing Topoi’s governance ensures that:
- data policies are uniform
- role-based restrictions remain intact
- teacher or facilitator authority cannot be bypassed
- every AI action is logged and attributable
- institutions can trust the system at scale
Governance becomes a feature of the protocol, not the interface.
7. TopoiTutor Shows the Origin. The API Delivers the Future.
The original Socratic writing tutor is available today as a public demo:
👉 https://beta.topoitutor.com
It demonstrates Topoi’s foundational commitments:
- Socratic guidance
- transparent reasoning
- intentional human agency
- refusal to write student work
But it is a small slice of the larger vision.
The future lies in Topoi-AI, the platform being built:
- multi-user
- role-based
- session-governed
- integrable
- transparent
- auditable
TopoiTutor is the seed.
The API is the tree.
Conclusion: A Service, Not a Chatbot
Transforming Topoi into a web service allows its core principles to scale outward:
- Humans lead.
- AI supports.
- Roles govern.
- Sessions structure.
- Transparency is built-in.
- Collaboration is the default.
This is not simply a technical decision.
It is a philosophical one.
Topoi aims not to replace human reasoning, but to strengthen it. Becoming a web service turns this philosophy into an architecture—one that enables educators, developers, teams, and communities to build their own collaborative, human-centered AI experiences.
TopoiTutor began the journey.
The Topoi API is where the journey becomes a platform.