session-history/ohm/0019/SESSION-0019.3-TRANSCRIPT-2026-05-28T11-28--2026-05-28T11-33.md

Session 0019.3 — Transcript

Parent: SESSION-0019.0-TRANSCRIPT-… (UX-polish wave, rfc-app v0.21.0) Subagent ordinal: .3 — roadmap item #32 (session/transcript page polish) + the /docs surfaces' share of #31.

Goal

In the isolated worktree /Users/benstull/git/rfc-app-v0.21.0-docs on branch feature/v0.21.0-docs-32:

(a) Collapse single-transcript session roots — render the transcript inline at /docs/sessions/:nnnn instead of a dead-end placeholder; multi-transcript sessions inline the .0 driver transcript and list the siblings. (b) Add a transcript metadata header (title, started/ended parsed from the filename ISO segments, derived duration, optional tldr from the manifest, external view-source link). (c) Docs-surface token polish + consistent loading/empty/error states + aria-labels on icon-only controls.

Pre-state

• Foundation commit carried frontend/src/styles/tokens.css (the #31 design-token module). Build requires VITE_APP_NAME (no default).
• /docs/sessions/:nnnn (DocsSessionIndex.jsx) rendered a .docs-session-overview placeholder: "N transcript(s) in this session. Select one from the navigation."
• DocsSessionTranscript.jsx rendered body via MarkdownPreview with a breadcrumb but no metadata header.
• Backend /api/docs/sessions/manifest (api.py:177-178) returns result["manifest"] verbatim — the full sessions.json object — so arbitrary per-entry fields already reach the frontend.

Turn-by-turn arc (honest)

1. Read tokens.css, SESSION-PROTOCOL.md (§1 naming + the 0017.0 folder-layout amendment + the sessions.json shape), all seven owned docs components, api.js docs helpers, docs_sessions.py, and the api.py manifest route.
2. Confirmed the manifest endpoint is a pass-through → no backend change needed for tldr. The decision branch in the task was resolved in favor of "already passes through".
3. Read the existing docs CSS block in App.css (read-only) to learn which classes a sibling owns (.docs-article, .docs-empty, .docs-error, .docs-source-link, .docs-session-overview, etc.) so Docs.css would not collide.
4. Rewrote DocsSessionTranscript.jsx: exported gitSourceUrl, transcriptOrdinal, parseTranscriptMeta, and TranscriptMetaHeader; added a manifest fetch for title+tldr; rendered the header above the body.
5. Rewrote DocsSessionIndex.jsx to inline-render the primary transcript (driver .0 preferred, else files[0]) and list siblings; reused the imported header + ordinal helpers.
6. Created Docs.css (new classes only, all token-valued).
7. Brought DocsUserGuide's bare <p className="error"> onto the shared .docs-error + retry convention.
8. Build failed first run (VITE_APP_NAME unset — env requirement, not my change); re-ran with VITE_APP_NAME="OHM Verify" npm run build → green (974 kB index chunk; >500 kB warning expected/benign).
9. Staged the four files explicitly (avoided the frontend/node_modules symlink), committed.

Design decisions

Inline-collapse (a). URL stays stable to the session number — the session root fetches the index, picks a primary file, fetches its body, and renders the same TranscriptMetaHeader + philosophy-body the standalone route uses. No <Navigate>, no 301. Primary selection: SESSION-NNNN.0-TRANSCRIPT… if present, else files[0] (backend returns the list pre-sorted). For multi-transcript sessions, a .docs-session-siblings strip lists every transcript ordinal — the primary marked "(shown below)" with aria-current, the rest linking to /docs/sessions/:nnnn/:filename. No empty placeholder remains on any path that has at least one transcript.

Metadata header (b). parseTranscriptMeta regexes the -TRANSCRIPT-<start>--<end>.md ISO segment (YYYY-MM-DDTHH-MM x2, colons-as-dashes per protocol). Times are built as local Dates and rendered as wall-clock via toLocaleString — the filename encodes no timezone (PST implied), and duration is a difference of two same-basis Dates so the implied-TZ ambiguity cancels. Legacy renamed-letter transcripts (no segment) → all derived fields null → header shows just the title + source link (graceful degrade). Duration omitted when start==end or unparseable.

tldr schema (b). Consumed as a string field named tldr on the per-session entry of sessions.json, i.e. keyed by the 4-digit session number alongside title:

{ "0019": { "title": "UX-polish wave …", "tldr": "One-line summary." } }

Read via getSessionsManifest() → payload[nnnn].tldr; rendered only when typeof === 'string' and truthy. Absent ⇒ no TL;DR line.

Polish (c). Docs.css styles ONLY the two new element families (.docs-transcript-meta*, .docs-session-siblings*), every value a tokens.css custom property, to avoid racing the #31 App.css sweep for the pre-existing docs selectors. DocsUserGuide normalized to the shared error convention. All icon-only controls already carried aria-labels (verified the drawer toggle ☰, scrim) — no aria gaps found in owned files.

Cut state

• Branch: feature/v0.21.0-docs-32
• Final commit SHA: adb5d2571532ad5992900791d295ef214ddfba0d
• Files changed (4):
  • frontend/src/components/DocsSessionIndex.jsx (rewrite — inline collapse)
  • frontend/src/components/DocsSessionTranscript.jsx (rewrite — meta header + exports)
  • frontend/src/components/DocsUserGuide.jsx (error-state normalize)
  • frontend/src/components/Docs.css (new)
• Backend: NOT changed. docs_sessions.py untouched — manifest pass-through already exposes tldr. (No py_compile needed.)
• Build: GREEN (VITE_APP_NAME=… npm run build; 974 kB chunk warning benign).

What the driver needs to know

• No backend coordination required for this item — frontend renders tldr when present; the field's value-backfill is the documented out-of-scope follow-up.
• sessions.json tldr schema to backfill (driver/operator task in wiggleverse/ohm-session-history): add an optional "tldr": "<one line>" string to any per-session entry next to "title". The frontend already consumes it on both the inline session-root view and the standalone transcript view. Absent ⇒ no-op.
• Inline-collapse changes the /docs/sessions/:nnnn semantics: it is no longer nav-only. The left-nav transcript rows + sibling links still point at the standalone /docs/sessions/:nnnn/:filename route, which is unchanged and now also carries the metadata header.
• Build needs VITE_APP_NAME set (env requirement, not from this item).

§19.2 candidates

• parseTranscriptMeta / transcriptOrdinal are filename-shape logic that mirrors the backend _TRANSCRIPT_FILENAME_RE and the nav's own transcriptOrdinal in DocsLayout.jsx — there are now two frontend copies of the ordinal regex (DocsLayout owns one; I export one). A future consolidation could lift a single lib/transcripts.js and have DocsLayout import it (DocsLayout is sibling-owned, so I did not touch it). Worth flagging for a follow-up de-dup.