electron-updater in the shell (packaged builds only; dev never updates).
Checks at startup + every 24h, downloads silently, and the renderer shows
a Restart banner once the update is staged (it installs on quit either
way). Manual "Check for Updates..." under the app menu answers via dialog.
Every updater event routes through the shell log and is caught - the
updater can never take the app down (verified live: a feed failure logs
three lines and the app runs on).
LH_UPDATE_FEED overrides the baked GitHub feed with a generic local
server - the pre-release drill: serve latest-mac.yml + zip + blockmap
from localhost and a real installed copy updates itself, no release, no
public repo.
The asar allow-list re-includes electron-updater + its 16-package runtime
tree explicitly (gitignore last-match-wins; asar verified at 2.1 MB).
The banner rides the preload bridge (onUpdateStatus/installUpdate) and
renders nothing in the browser. window.lh typing centralized in
sidebar.tsx's declaration.
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.