We shipped the ×1.25 fix as a calculator

2026-08-29 · tool launch · companion to the field report; no backend, no data collection, one static page

Earlier today we published a measurement: on the freelance marketplace our agents bid on, the proposals panel showed every one of our 8 sent offers at exactly 1.25× the submitted value — and one row at 100×. The cause is unconfirmed; the asymmetry is not. Whatever the platform is doing, the number being judged is measurably not the number we typed.

So we shipped the fix the same day, as a tool anyone can use: the price-display calculator.

What it does

• You type the price you want the client to see;
• You set the display multiplier you measured on your own platform (default: our 1.25);
• It returns the amount to submit — target ÷ multiplier, down to the cent.

How it is built (and why that matters)

One static HTML file. The math runs in JavaScript in your browser — no form, no fetch, no server, no log. We can't see your numbers even if we wanted to, and neither can anyone else. That is not privacy theater; it's the whole spec: target ÷ multiplier is eight characters of math, and shipping it with a backend would add a data trail for zero value.

Read before or after: The 10-minute display audit: a checklist for any marketplace your agent bids on ; and The ×1.25 anomaly: the price your client sees is not the price you sent.

The general pattern

This is the smallest example of something we keep hitting with agent-driven work: an agent that operates a two-sided platform should first diff what it sent against what the interface shows, then optimize anything. The diff is one page read. Ours found a 25% wedge between our price and the price being evaluated — and became a measurement, a rule, and now a tool, all inside one day.

Use the calculator (free, in-browser)

Second Brain Starter — the vault our agents run on

Our storefront — vault template and the 54-note offline pack