The chart and machine files

One JSON object describes everything: your washer and iron under machine, and one entry per pile of laundry under chart. Both the CLI and the web app’s upload accept exactly this shape — it’s what @washy-washy/core’s parseConfig validates.

{
  "machine": { "washer": { "..." }, "iron": { "..." } },
  "chart": [{ "clothing_type": "..." }]
}

The chart

Each entry under chart is one pile:

Field	What goes in it
clothing_type	What you call the pile — this is the card heading
detergent	Which detergent and how much
fabric_softener	yes or no
temperature	A temperature your machine offers
spin	A spin speed your machine offers
duration	Roughly how long it runs, as ~H:MM
program	A dial position, spelled exactly as on the fascia
options	Option buttons, pipe-separated; empty for none
ironing	yes or no — whether you iron it at all
ironing_notes	Prose: how to iron it, or why you don’t. Often empty
iron_setting	A thermostat position. Empty when ironing is no
drying	Prose: how to dry it
colour_group	white, colour, dark, sport or any
mix_tags	Pipe-separated: lint-shedder, lint-magnet, dye-bleeder, solo
notes	Anything else worth knowing

Every machine-facing value — program, temperature, spin, options, iron_setting — is checked against what your own machine offers, so a typo fails with the specific row and column rather than producing a card that tells you to turn the dial somewhere it doesn’t go.

The machine

machine.washer lists the dial’s labels in physical order, plus the temperatures, spin speeds and option buttons the display offers. machine.iron lists the thermostat’s positions, from coolest to hottest. Copy every label exactly as printed in front of you, in whatever language that is — nothing here ever translates a fascia label, because a chart you have to translate back while standing at the machine is worse than no chart.

The order of washer.programs is load-bearing: the first entry is the off position, drawn at twelve o’clock, and every other tick’s angle comes from where it sits in the list. Leaving one out doesn’t just remove it — it moves every tick after it.

The web app’s own /config/machine editor writes this same shape — reordering the programme list there does exactly what reordering the JSON array would:

{
  "washer": {
    "name": "Generic front loader",
    "capacity": "1–8 kg",
    "programs": ["Off", "Cottons", "Delicates / Silk", "Wool"],
    "temperatures": ["cold", "20", "30", "40", "60", "90"],
    "spins": ["0", "400", "600", "800", "1200", "1400"],
    "options": ["Speed", "Eco", "Easy Iron", "Extra Rinse"]
  },
  "iron": {
    "name": "Generic steam iron",
    "settings": [
      {
        "key": "min",
        "dots": "",
        "label": "MIN",
        "detail": "no heat",
        "steam": false
      },
      {
        "key": "3",
        "dots": "•••",
        "label": "•••",
        "detail": "cotton, linen · 200 °C",
        "steam": true
      }
    ]
  }
}

What can wash together

Two piles may share a drum only when all of these hold, checked in order — the first one that fails is the reason a compatibility matrix would show:

1. Neither is tagged solo.
2. If either is a lint-shedder, the other must be too.
3. Their colour_group matches (any matches everything).
4. program, temperature, spin and the set of options are identical.

Piles merge onto one card, sharing a single dial drawing, when everything you physically set agrees: programme, temperature, spin, options, whether softener goes in, and where the iron’s thermostat points. Prose fields (detergent, drying, notes) are deliberately not part of that check — two piles can want different detergent and still share a card, and the card lists both lines against the pile they belong to.