Demos execute JS and need a browser; the app's own binary now provides
one: main.cjs boots a hidden window + CDP port under --browser-service
(before the single-instance lock - a helper is deliberately a second
instance of this binary), lifetime tied to the server's stdin (EOF =
quit, no orphans). headless.ts connects over CDP as PRIMARY (owner
ruling 2026-10-10), system Chrome stays the fallback, graceful refusal
when neither. Electron's CDP has no Target.createTarget, so the helper's
pre-created window is THE page, reused and reset per job behind a
serialized queue. PDFs and SVGs never reach a browser anymore (native
since stages 1-2); stale Chrome wording in model-facing tool copy made
engine-neutral. Live-proofed end-to-end from the dev tree (helper seen
by process watch, js-ran 42 probe, no orphan). Gates 1523/1523.
The browser was never the PDF engine - pdfjs always painted the pages;
Chrome only hosted the canvas tab. Now pdfjs-dist v6's own Node
integration (@napi-rs/canvas, its optionalDependency) hosts in-process:
same paint code, Skia canvas, zero browsers, zero temp files, no base64
hop. The whole pdf-reader runs browser-free - the Chrome gate on
pdf_render is gone.
The Skia binary (27MB per platform, exactly one per build - npm installs
only the building machine's) rides the standalone via the same
outputFileTracingIncludes pattern as pdfjs-dist. Verified: builds green
(1515), native render pinned against the real fixture (canonical
single-IDAT PNGs, dpi/72 arithmetic, page-range skipping), and the
canvas loads + paints from inside .next/standalone.
Stages 2-3 (resvg for SVG, the --browser-service demo helper) follow.
pi-ai 1.0's onProviderStreamEvent, at the layer our incident class lives
(GLM arg truncation, DeepSeek id resets) — env-gated (owner choice:
no app surface, off by default; raw events carry full prompts), one
JSONL per chat under data/debug/provider-events/ with a 20MB cap and a
run-start marker for record correlation.
Wired at every agent construction: teacher/prober turns (AgentBuildOptions.
chatId), jobs via LoopContext (researcher, demo-builder through
runSubagent; visual-maker + pdf-reader through their streamOnce), and
the extraction pipeline (extractor + auditor keyed by source id).
practice deliberately unwired (sunk-cost module).
- src/agent/lh-tool.ts deleted: the zod-wrapped LhTool + toPiTool bridge
(z.toJSONSchema per call, clientQuestion flag, hand-rolled result mapping)
is gone. Tools are pi-agent-core native AgentTools now.
- New src/agent/tool-execute.ts owns what the wrapper added: the abort guard
(runWithAbortGuard: run signal + 30s per-call timeout + 250ms grace,
'Operation aborted' / timeout wording preserved), ToolInputError (the
retryable '- problem at path' format), result mapping (string verbatim /
object JSON / image parts, details rides the record's tool part output),
and questionResult() — placeholder + terminate:true (owner Option A:
belt of terminate + slim makeQuestionStopper with the clean-question
rule; maxTurns deleted from the teaching turn entirely per owner).
- All 11 tool files + tools.ts registries converted to TypeBox parameters
(typebox@1.3.7, pinned to pi-agent-core's copy). zod refinements
(quizInputProblems, askOptionProblems, live-nodeId) moved from schemas
into execute — the model sees the same retryable error shape.
- question-core + contracts/probe TypeBox-authored (single source shared
with the UI); tool-parts parse seam runs the boundary's full chain
(Convert → Check → Clean → refinement), fixing the live-smoke lockout:
pi's boundary Value.Converts correctAnswer: 17 → '17' but the record
keeps raw args, so a parse without Convert rejected a posed quiz
(invisible pending question, turn ended). Pinned with the real smoke
emission shape.
- Subagents converted: demo-builder/researcher AgentTool-native,
visual-maker/pdf-reader declaration-only pi-ai Tools with local execute
fns, extraction submit schemas re-authored in TypeBox (owner option 2:
zod defaults → Type.Optional + fill at the submit seam).
- Accepted delta, flagged: TypeBox-native schemas skip pi's JSON-Schema
primitive coercion fast path... (boundary still Value.Converts), and
prober-quiz unknown keys ride through (Value.Clean strips at display).
- Tests: 988 passing (was 967 at the recon baseline); tool-abort and
read-tool rewritten against the native seams; question-core/question-
tools/tool-parts/demos/web-search/graph-tools/plan-tree/probe-done/
tool-toggles converted to Value.Check/execute pins.
Live smoke (PORT=3004, real model): native ls turn streams end-to-end; a
real quiz pose (first attempt missing correctAnswer → tool-input-error →
model retry → posed) terminates the turn cleanly and persists pending.
Owner decision 2026-09-22: 'it doesn't make sense to have any default
model configured anywhere; the application is bring your own keys.'
config.ts: MODELS deleted; ModelRole becomes an explicit 9-role union;
DEFAULT_THINKING_ORDER (medium, low, high, minimal, xhigh, max) bakes
the unset-level default — first entry the model supports; explicitly
set levels keep pi's native nearest-clamp.
core/settings-resolution: the factory layer dissolves — the chain is
role override → slot → NOTHING. resolveSettings(record) takes no
factory. Empty chains resolve to null/undefined; a thinkingLevel-only
slot is inert (stored, never run). resolveConversationSpec: chat.model
override over the strong slot, null when both empty. resolveRoleSpec
spans all nine roles for the job/extraction engines.
Refusal envelope (core/settings.ts): modelsNotConfigured(missing) —
{error, code: 'models_not_configured', missing: [slot tiers]} +
ModelsNotConfiguredError with .envelope. Per-need gates, each honest:
- chat-handler: universal turn gate (new + continuing turns) returns
503 before beginTurn — no liveness, no write-ahead persist, no graph
trigger before the gate fires.
- runner.runJob: unresolvable engine lands the job as error with the
envelope wording; no phantom loop, no result steer.
- extraction: refuseIfStagesUnconfigured throws before any stage
(turn-service info-skips so coverage retries next turn; the import
route surfaces per-file code+missing); labeler-less runs skip
cluster naming with a console line and still merge.
Write side: slot entries must carry a model — level-only slot writes
are 400s (absent slot key = clear). piEngineForSpec resolves unset
thinking levels via DEFAULT_THINKING_ORDER; piEngineFor now throws
honestly; thinkingLevelFor/modelIdFor deleted; teacher-agent, pi-run,
visual-maker, pdf-reader all read engine.level.
model-catalog: defaults/slots/rolePins null when the chain is empty
(contracts nullable) — no phantom ids in payloads. Stores drop
MODEL_PINS entirely.
Tests: pin-leaners converted to explicit injection (per-chat model
pins on scripted chats — exactly what the setup flow writes; faux
engines for agent-construction tests). New coverage: the 503 gate
envelope, the runner refusal, the extraction refusal + labeler skip.
Gates: typecheck, lint, 815/815, build.
Live-smoke follow-up the user approved (2026-09-19): the GEB read showed
"78 pages consulted" when the reader genuinely READ ~12 - pdf_search hit
snippets inflated the count. PdfResult now carries both:
- pagesRead: extract/render output entered the loop - the honest count
the badge and brief footer show ("read N pages", "Pages read: ...").
- pagesConsulted: every page whose content entered the loop, search-hit
context lines included - unchanged, still the citation audit set (the
reader's instructions still say "Pages consulted: N, N, ..." and the
footer still lists it when it exceeds the read set).
The unread-finish gate deliberately stays on CONSULTED: search hits are
genuine consultation (anti-fabrication duty), so a search-only brief is
honest and must deliver - pagesRead is a reporting refinement, not a
delivery gate. Pinned by the search-only faux test (read [], consulted
[1], delivered).
UI tolerates pre-split persisted records via ?? fallbacks (old steers
lack pagesRead).
Learner source files, on the teacher's own terms (nothing auto-injects):
- read tool (src/agent/tools/read.ts): pi-read port — path/offset/limit,
2000-line/50KB truncation with use-offset continuation notices, image
files (jpg/png/gif/webp/bmp) returned as native image content parts
(new LhToolImageResult escape hatch in lh-tool.ts). Always-on in both
the prober and teacher registries (user-decided 2026-09).
- pdf-reader sub-agent (JobKind 'pdf', toggleable, ack-and-steer): triage
via pdf_info (pdfjs text layer: per-page text/image/math-density),
targeted pdf_extract, regex pdf_search (hits count as consultation),
and pdf_render — pages painted by pdfjs onto a canvas shim in headless
Chrome (the pdfium viewer doesn't paint headless), screenshot fed back
image-in-the-loop (visual-maker idiom, providerSafePng applied). The
unread-finish gate bounces a zero-consultation brief once. Teacher gets
a text brief with page citations only; renders never leave the loop.
- MODELS.pdfReader = qwen/qwen3.8-flash (user override 2026-09-19: the
look-at-renders workload wants the vision-proven model; catalog listed
glm-5.3-flash as image-capable but qwen is the known-good daily driver).
- UI: PdfCompleteBadge + PdfBriefCard (steer-card, job-card), dispatch
card + activity-dock kind entries (type-forced, flagged for UI review).
- Prompts: 'Learner source files' section in teacher/30-jobs.md; read
line in prober/10-probe-doctrine.md. Doctrine rides tool descriptions
per the self-contained-tools principle.
amosblomqvist