The validation surface for the settings foundation — deliberately thin,
real read/write against the delta record, polish is a later wave.
Mount (owner decisions): dedicated page, single scroll; entry = sidebar
bottom row + ⌘/Ctrl+, (open-settings in the registry); chat defaults NOT
shown (they live on /chat/new); mode dark-only (light palette = design
wave); final tool list = research/demo/visual/pdf (master-adjudicated).
Sections (PUT /api/settings/[section], replace-whole per section):
- General: auto-update toggle.
- Agent: six background-role model+thinking selects (Default = config
pin; a stored id stays VISIBLE even when the catalog hasn't loaded or
dropped it — a select showing Default over a live override would lie),
the four tool toggles, prompt override switches (file-gated) with
source/override text editors over the segment routes.
- Appearance: applied LIVE as runtime CSS variables by an
AppearanceProvider at the root layout — proseFontSize → the one
reading-size var, fontFamily → --font-prose, background → --background
+ the derived raised/accent/edge palette (dark curve, today's exact
spacing: +8/+22/+47 per channel, clamped), sessionNameSerif →
--font-title (titles flip with ZERO chat.tsx edits), headingWeight →
new --lh-heading-weight token, bold/italic colors → the lh-ink vars.
Mode renders honestly DISABLED.
- Graph: the ladder grays a rung when any ANCESTOR is effectively off
(stored values persist, resolve inert — switch shows stored, graying
shows effective).
- Keyboard: view/rebind/reset over the registry; overrides persist in
lh:keymap and apply INSTANTLY (dispatcher reads per keydown); bare
modifier presses are ignored while armed; displayOnly actions list but
never rebind.
First-boot fix: {settings: null} is no-record, not fetch-failure.
CROSS-LANE (flagged for master): src/core/keyboard.ts gained the
open-settings action/binding and exports saveOverrides/loadOverrides
(one-liners; no existing pins); app/layout.tsx mounts the provider.
Live-verified: structure, record writes (general/tools/graph/appearance),
prose-size applying live (16→20px), rebind + chord navigation from
another page, ladder graying, no console errors. Gates: typecheck,
lint, 689/689 (28 new), build.
The old activity dock (fixed bottom-right, every view) was a cross-session
widget parked inside the session view — the same boundary confusion that
got the plan window moved. The sidebar is the app's cross-session surface,
so the agents section lives at its bottom strip now (user-locked design):
- ALWAYS present: empty means empty — the header ('Background agents',
matching the Sessions label language) sits alone; nothing hides and
nothing decorates (the total-cost span only renders when populated).
- Populates and grows when processes run: same blobs (sub-agents +
extraction runs, one poll, inferred cost, elapsed heartbeat), capped by
max-h-[40dvh] + internal scroll so a pile never crowds the session list.
- Per-blob END button (unchanged abort contract); the detail popover
becomes an INLINE expansion — the section scrolls, a floating popover
would clip at its bounds.
- Sidebar-native skin: border-t separator matching the sidebar's edge,
session-row hover language, no floating-card chrome.
- Sidebar closed = the learner opted out; no ambient signal for now
(user decision — invisibility until a clearer observability story).
- Narrow-mode count badge/drawer machinery retired with the dock.
app/layout.tsx: ActivityDock mount removed, ActivityProvider stays (the
sidebar consumes the context). Live-verified: populated rows with inline
detail + session link, abort makes the row vanish, idle renders the
header alone, closed sidebar hides the section with nothing floating.
Gates: typecheck, lint, 423/423 tests.
var(--font-jetbrains)/var(--font-sans3) in the @theme tokens resolve at
:root — the module classes must attach to <html>, not <body>. Chrome now
renders JetBrains Mono and prose Source Sans 3 live; 'lh-cmu' inlines a
plain name so the serif titles were immune. Gates all green; build ok.
- Palette per the owner's hexes: background #141414, raised #1C1C1C,
edges #434343, ink tokens, destructs unchanged; :root and .dark carry
identical values (the app is always dark).
- Type ladder declared once (11px base, each size carries its own
line-height); radii ladder 4/8/12/16; spacing rhythm = Tailwind's 4px
scale. All documented in the globals.css header.
- Fonts: JetBrains Mono (chrome) + Source Sans 3 (prose) via
next/font/google in app/layout.tsx; CMU Serif bold bundled locally
(public/fonts/cmunbx.ttf) behind the lh-cmu @font-face.
- Prose/emphasis tokens: --lh-ink-strong (rust bold), --lh-ink-italic
(blue italic), .lh-prose wrapper — ready for the future settings UI.
- l.h-ink-strong/italic defaults sampled from the reference mockup.
The plan now lives IN the chat (plan blocks, wave-4 item 3) and background
processes live in the activity dock (item 1), so the right sidebar's
tree panel + sub-agent fleet column is retired from the chat view:
- delete components/tree-panel.tsx (three-mode rail/list/graph panel) and
components/sub-agents-panel.tsx; their graph interaction machinery lives
on in plan-block.tsx and fleet observability in activity-dock.tsx.
- app/layout.tsx drops TreePanelModeProvider (the mode no longer exists).
- chat.tsx drops the xl:flex right column; the middle column is the view.
- tests: render-tree-panel.test.tsx deleted; the sub-agents panel suite
removed from demos.test.tsx (dispatch cards' jobs-context stays — the
central poll drives transcript dispatch cards).
One reserved corner of the shell, one blob per running BACKGROUND
process — session sub-agents (research/demo/visual) and global
extraction runs. Teaching turns are deliberately NOT here: the dock
exists to surface what the learner can't otherwise see; a running
teaching turn is already fully visible where it happens (user decision).
- Data: ONE poll of GET /api/activity (jobs across ALL chats,
title-joined, oldest-first + extraction runs), folded client-side
with core/prices.ts (jobCost). Adaptive interval — 2.5s while
anything runs, 10s idle, 4× slower on hidden tabs; a failed fetch
keeps the last feed (no flicker to empty on a blip).
- Per blob: kind icon, elapsed (ticking), cost, activity line, and an
explicit END on the blob's face. Click → detail popover (context
line, model, steps, open-session link). The context line is the LAST
model call's tokens vs the model's limit (JobUsage.lastStep — pending
agents-stream contract; "—" until it populates), NEVER a cumulative
sum. Absent data renders "—", never zero (the doctrine).
- Header: total running cost (sum of priced blobs, "—" when nothing
is priced). Narrow viewports collapse to a count badge → drawer.
- END posts to /api/activity/abort {kind, id} — the backend is being
composed by master over the streams' mechanisms; until it exists a
click locks the button and the popover says "Abort not available
yet" (never a dead control).
- Idle renders NOTHING. Mounted once in the root layout; every view
gets it for free.
toBlobs / formatElapsed / formatUsd / formatTokens are pure + tested;
SSR render tests pin blobs, the "—" doctrine, the face END, and the
priced total.
The persisted mode (lh:tree-panel-mode) was read inside TreePanel — a
per-page component that remounts on every session navigation. First
paint rendered the SSR-safe "list" default, then the mount effect
applied the stored mode: with the animated frame, opening a session
visibly opened the panel and then closed it. The mode now lives in a
root-layout provider (the SidebarProvider pattern) and survives
navigations untouched — the panel mounts already in the right mode.
The default stays "list" so SSR and first client render agree; the
stored preference applies once, on provider mount.
Sidebar (replaces the modal drawer):
- Inline, toggleable, no backdrop/focus theft — can stay open while working
- Open state persists across pages (provider in root layout) and reloads
(localStorage; starts closed server-side to avoid hydration mismatch,
stored value applied post-mount; default open on first run)
- Hamburger in page headers only when closed; close button in sidebar header
Floating composer blob (per reference screenshot):
- Floats over the transcript (absolute overlay), persists at bottom while
scrolling, content fades behind it (gradient mask); pb-44 scroll clearance
- Concentric corner radii: blob rounded-2xl(16px) − p-1.5(6px) = send
rounded-[10px] = 25% of the 40px button; CornerDownLeft icon per reference
- Stop moved from header into the blob (busy → square icon)
- prompt-input.tsx + 7 orphan ui files pruned (attachments/command palette
unused); hand-rolled Composer is ~100 lines and render-tested
Pending-question morph (one text field on screen, never two):
- Quiz/ask-select pending → blob becomes the note field (send hidden, hint
line above); card's internal note input removed; Submit consumes it
- Ask free-text pending → blob becomes the answer field; its send submits
via the card's registered submit api (ref bridge); Enter works
- Chat owns the single text state; card clears it on submit
- canSend for answer mode mirrors the card predicate directly — reading the
ref during render lagged one commit (found in browser testing)
Widths: one shared column (max-w-3xl + px-4) for transcript, cards, and
composer — all three measured pixel-identical (left 416, width 736).
Assistant Message max-w-full/MessageContent w-full (was max-w-[95%]/w-fit —
the 'cards are a bit shorter' bug).
User messages render plain text again — no math pipeline on learner-authored
text (currency hazard accepted for the model only, guarded by the prompt).
Tests: 58 pass (5 new composer pins; card tests updated to controlled
props). Verified live: note flow, answer flow, sidebar persistence, float,
fade, zero console errors — plus the live model spontaneously honoring the
$ currency escape contract in a continuation.
Layout:
- Home = knowledge-graph placeholder (main view) with new-session input
docked below; session list moved out of home into a hamburger drawer
- SessionDrawer: slide-over session navigation (backdrop/ESC close, active
highlight, fetches /api/chats on open) on both home and chat headers
- Chat header loses the back button — the drawer is the navigation
Math (inline $ was silently not rendering):
- @streamdown/math defaults singleDollarTextMath:false — now
createMathPlugin({ singleDollarTextMath: true }) in message + reasoning
- katex.min.css imported in layout (streamdown does not inject plugin
styles; display math only looked right via browser MathML fallback)
- QuizCard/AnsweredCard route question/options/explanation through
MessageResponse; user chat bubbles render markdown+math too
- Currency hazard: micromark-extension-math@3.1 lacks pandoc's
closing-digit rule, so bare '$5 and $10' parses as math — defense is at
the source: system prompt now instructs escaped \$5 / 'USD' for money
Hydration fix (React #418):
- QuizCard shuffled options with Math.random() — server/client orders
diverged. shuffleOptions now takes an injectable RNG; QuizCard passes
seededRandom(toolCallId) (mulberry32/FNV-1a in question-core). Same
question → same stable order across reloads; still varies per question.
Tests: 53 pass (5 new math-rendering pins incl. fenced-vs-one-line $$
behavior and the escaped-currency contract). tsc + next build clean.
Verified live in browser: inline/display math in text + cards, drawer
open/navigate/active-highlight/ESC, no console errors, no font 404s.
The teaching agent no longer runs on pi. Stack:
- ToolLoopAgent (ai@7) + OpenRouter (OPENROUTER_API_KEY), model via LH_MODEL,
default anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5 with reasoning tokens
- quiz/ask_user_question = client-side tools (no server execute): the call
lands as a typed tool part in input-available state; the card grades via
src/core/question-core.ts; addToolOutput sends the verdict; the teacher's
reaction continues the same assistant message
- resume-mid-quiz is free: the pending tool part persists in the transcript
- persistence: one JSON per chat (data/chats/), full UIMessage transcripts,
saved onFinish (also on abort)
- UI: AI Elements (owned copy-paste components, pruned to the five in use)
+ button-based QuizCard/AnsweredCard (ask answers never graded)
- pi fully removed: TUI, extensions, Fastify+WS server, bridge, custom
protocol all deleted (recoverable from git history)
- tests: question-core units carry over; chat-flow integration drives
handleChatRequest with MockLanguageModelV4 (48 tests, zero tokens);
render smoke tests guard the cards (renderToStaticMarkup)
Carried over unchanged: teacher system prompt, question-core, schema/
ledger/derive/extract pipeline, data model.
amosblomqvist