feat(dashboard): visual revamp to reference bar (adversarial-gated)

[rickylabs]

Dashboard visual revamp — to the reference bar, adversarially gated

Raises the NetScript Dev Dashboard prototype to a premium operator-console quality bar (studied
against real product references), in NS One identity (warm-cream/dark, hard press shadow,
copper/teal/amber, --ns-* tokens, ns-* markup that round-trips to Fresh). Visual + layout only —
no routes/logic/data/copy changes.

What's here (this commit)

• Baseline references + DESIGN-LANGUAGE.md, ROLLOUT-DOCTRINE.md, HOME-SPEC.md — the bar and
  the per-screen doctrine (each screen bespoke; mine a different reference each pass; no two screens
  alike).
• DS-UPLIFT-BACKLOG.md — every new component/token/variant/option/mobile pattern the redesign
  needs, accumulated per pass. Drives a NS One design-system uplift after the prototype is signed
  off, before building the real product.
• Per-pass reports (render/_visual-reports/*.md): V2b Home, V3 investigation spine, V4 consoles.
• Adversarial gate: Kimi K2.6 (via OpenCode) — structural (code) + vision (screenshots) — checks
  each pass for distinctness + variety-leverage before acceptance (visual/_evals/).

Cadence

The evolving prototype source (render/prototype.dc.html + assets/*.css) and each new pass's report
are committed here as each visual pass completes (never mid-edit), with a PR comment per slice +
before/after screenshots. Passes so far: Home, spine, Workers (excellent), Sagas (being re-done as an
n8n-style node canvas). Rollout continues: control plane, AI, extensions, final polish.

The prototype is a Claude Design working record; it round-trips to @netscript/fresh-ui source later.

[rickylabs]

Sagas (V4b) — n8n node-canvas redesign

The rejected 3-column console template is replaced by a canvas-dominant node graph: a forward-path lane + a distinct compensation/rollback lane, wired by JS-measured bezier connectors (no SVG {{ }} holes), click-a-node → properties sidebar (touching edges recolor copper), mobile → bottom sheet, fully data-driven (the no-compensation export instance renders only the forward lane). NS One identity only (--ns-* tokens, ns-* markup, warm-cream/dark, hard press shadow, copper/teal/amber); routes/data/copy-meaning unchanged.

Adversarial gate — Kimi K2.6 (vision, native OpenCode), reading the shots against the n8n flow-builder + Kafka-console references: ACCEPT-WITH-FIXES, bespoke 74/100. Confirmed genuinely saga-tailored. One real defect: ~75–80% of the canvas is empty dotted grid → fails the "dense, no dead space" bar.

Gate-directed fix pass now in flight:

• Fill the void (mined from ref-21 n8n / ref-11 console): definition mini-map with active-path overlay, a per-lane compensation-health stat strip (avg latency / retry rate / compensation success %), richer edge error badges (e.g. E_TIMEOUT on the reserving → refund wire), a slim step execution rail, and ghost-node outlines for queued/terminal states so the graph owns the canvas.
• Variety-leverage: replace the airy step-timeline bullet list with a dense sortable step-history table (ref-11), tab the right detail panel (State / Transitions / Grounded / Actions), and give nodes stronger color identity (forward teal-tinted, compensation copper-tinted, terminal neutral) per ref-21 — within NS One tokens.

Source snapshot + refreshed screenshots land after the fix pass. Report: V4b-sagas-canvas.md · gate transcript: V4b-adversarial-vision.md.

[rickylabs]

Sagas — accepted at bespoke 82/100 (committed b33a1338)

Density fix + whole-screen-bespoke pass landed. The empty-grid dead-space is resolved (canvas coverage 29%→47%; the stronger gate now rates canvas density passing, <5% empty). Surrounding chrome rebuilt bespoke:

• 4 plain metric cards → saga-health band (compensation-rate donut, in-flight/terminal split, instances-by-state channel bar, forward/rollback edge ratio)
• per-lane compensation-health stat strips, E_TIMEOUT edge badges, step-execution rail, ghost-node outlines, definition mini-map + legend
• airy step list → dense sortable step-history table; transitions → typed transition stream (advance→ / compensate↩ / terminal◼)
• tabbed node inspector (State / Transitions / Evidence / Actions); mobile bottom sheet

Gate — now emits a concrete component-prescription table (≥8 rows) naming exact elements in named references (n8n flow-builder / Kafka dev-console / pm-dashboard), fed a diverse ref set via native OpenCode Kimi K2.6 vision: ACCEPT-WITH-FIXES, bespoke 82/100 (↑ from 74). Transcript: visual/_evals/V4b-fix-adversarial-vision.md.

Residual is chrome polish (stat-cards → click-to-filter bar; transition-stream → timeline connectors; payload → syntax-highlighted editor; retry → action palette) — logged for the final polish sweep rather than gold-plating one screen. Moving to the next screen.

[rickylabs]

Triggers — accepted (committed e0da07c4)

Bespoke rules-and-firings console — its own composition, not a Sagas/Workers clone:

• category-health band (Schedule/Webhook/Event/Manual: per-type sparkbars, armed/silenced pills, click-to-filter)
• WHEN→DO rule builder (event → condition chip → action) + action-type palette
• schedule day-strip (7-day next-fire horizon) + temporal next-fire cards with progress-to-fire bars
• dense firing-history table + a wired query toolbar (quick-search, outcome filter, show-limit) + per-row 24h sparklines + inline arm switches
• iconified metric strip (shield/flame/alert + micro-sparkline + trend)
• dead-letters mini-table (error snippet, age, retry-count, inline retry/inspect) + depth summary
• tabbed detail drawer (action-chain / payload / schedule) → mobile bottom sheet

Gate (native OpenCode Kimi K2.6 vision, diverse refs): first pass 55 → focused fix pass resolved all 5 concrete defects → 62, ACCEPT-WITH-FIXES. Remaining gate asks (turn the builder into a full node-graph, a code editor in the webhook test box, segmented row bars) are subjective/gold-plating — logged for the final polish sweep rather than looping one screen against an insatiable gate. Transcripts: V5-triggers-adversarial-vision.md, V5-triggers-fix-adversarial-vision.md.

Next: Streams.

[rickylabs]

Streams — accepted at gate 72/100 (committed 1c50218b)

Bespoke durable-stream topic console — every section stream-native, distinct from all neighbours:

• streams-health composite header (throughput sparkline / consumer-lag + backpressure / partition pips / retention)
• live throughput hero — JS-measured area chart + hover crosshair + value readout + peak/avg/floor footer + backpressure pill
• producer → log → consumer topology fan-bus (per-group lag)
• partition & offset ledger with inline lag heat-bars + partition × time lag heatmap
• consumer-group radial lag gauges (Consumers tab)
• live event tail + fan-out delivery drawer (per-consumer attempt/outcome) → mobile bottom sheet
• Config tab: KV + line-numbered Avro schema

Gate: 72/100 ACCEPT-WITH-FIXES — bones confirmed genuinely bespoke (topology, ledger, heatmap, fan-out). Residual polish (throughput time-range pills, live-tail filter bar, denser message panel) logged to visual/_evals/POLISH-SWEEP.md for the final sweep. Transcript: V6-streams-adversarial-vision.md.

Next: Config Resolution.

[rickylabs]

Config Resolution — accepted (committed ee8f8ace)

A novel precedence-waterfall metaphor — visually distinct from all four consoles:

• precedence waterfall: framework → package → env·profile → runtime override on a numbered rail; the winning layer is elevated (press-shadow), shadowed values struck through with source:line provenance, and non-contributing (not-set / passes-through) layers collapse to slim pips so partial-resolution states carry no dead space (silent-layer space −49%)
• effective-config table with namespace filters + winning-layer chips; values in DM Mono with type-color (numbers amber / strings teal / booleans copper)
• KPI header with micro-viz (namespace ticks, override pips, shadowed/total meter, precedence diamonds)
• framed side-by-side override diff (context lines + pink/green gutter), shown only when a runtime override wins
• resolution trail + detail drawer → mobile bottom sheet; data-driven per key (override-wins vs package-wins verified)

Gate: 68/100 → focused density fix resolved the concrete hits (collapse not-set layers, denser KPIs, framed diff, mono type-color). Deferred asks (node-graph rail, inline override editor) → POLISH-SWEEP.md. Transcript: V7-config-adversarial-vision.md.

Next: Migrations.

[rickylabs]

Migrations — accepted (committed e6568825)

A bespoke migration version-chain timeline — distinct from the Config waterfall and the consoles:

• version-chain timeline: applied spine (v1→v2→v3) → a slim LIVE DB · HEAD drift divider → a dashed-copper pending queue; each node carries an inline metadata row (objects-changed · rows-affected · duration + applied-at) so it earns its height with data, not padding
• schema-drift arc-gauge (n drifted / m-of-k in sync) + per-object drift deltas (has → wants, struck)
• header composite with micro-viz (applied ratio bar, pending/drift pips, relative time)
• apply card with a what-will-change preview + CLI; dense migration ledger; detail drawer with the DDL diff correctly demoted to a secondary tab → mobile sheet

Gate: 62/100 → focused density fix (compact nodes w/ metadata, denser header, slim divider). Gold-plating (ledger inline-diff, docs-tabs, DDL editor, invented author/step data) declined → POLISH-SWEEP.md. I also front-loaded the gate's recurring density feedback into ROLLOUT-DOCTRINE.md so future first passes land denser. Transcript: V8-migrations-adversarial-vision.md.

Next: Dead-Letter Queues.

[rickylabs]

Dead-Letter Queues — accepted on verified density (committed 9b3d5427)

An operational triage console, distinct from every prior screen:

• error-signature clusters (the signature): failures grouped by mode (E_CONN ×3, E_TIMEOUT ×2…) with source chips, death sparkbar, age range, per-cluster Retry-all/Purge + click-to-filter
• triage strip with by-queue split micro-bar, retry-exhausted pips, arrival sparkbar
• queue-health fill-meters (redis ELEVATED / postgres LOW / kv CLEAR) — kept horizontal on purpose so DLQ ≠ Migrations' arc gauge
• dense failed-message table (retry pips + severity rails + bulk-select) + message inspector (payload JSON + retry-history timeline + gated reprocess/purge) → mobile sheet

Gate: 62/100 — accepted on verified density (9/10). The gate over-reached: its major asks were already present (micro-viz, cluster severity borders), functionally wrong (it wanted to remove the bulk-select checkboxes that make triage work), or variety-declined (arc gauges). Two trivial residuals (frame payload JSON, connect retry timeline) → POLISH-SWEEP.md. This is where the gate's absolute score stops being reliable and judgment takes over. Transcript: V9-dlq-adversarial-vision.md.

Next: Catalog.

[rickylabs]

Catalog — accepted on verified quality (committed b61667dc)

A contract-registry explorer — distinct from every monitoring screen:

• header composite: by-kind distribution channel-bar (click-to-filter) + describe() coverage ratio meter + REST/RPC/SDK transport-reach tri-meter
• filter toolbar (search + kind/method/coverage chips) that live-filters the rail + hides empty groups
• grouped registry rail: method-tinted contract cards (method chip + mono proc + input→output preview + duality pips + coverage dot) + per-group coverage bars + gated "install crons"
• contract detail: version + compat chip, method/transport strip, a line-numbered type-colored signature + schema, and a producers→consumers strip → mobile sheet

Gate: 62/100 — accepted on verified quality (9/10). The gate over-reached with off-doctrine asks: raw-hex #22c55e green buttons, a centered modal to replace the intentional mobile bottom sheet, converting the bespoke registry rail into a generic table (would echo the consoles), and a schema diff (Config owns that pattern). All declined → POLISH-SWEEP.md; one valid residual (tighten the stat strip) kept. The gate now reliably catches real defects on weak screens but applies a generic wishlist to strong ones, so I'm filtering it against NS One + the variety mandate. Transcript: V10-catalog-adversarial-vision.md.

Next: Auth Sessions.

[rickylabs]

Auth Sessions — accepted on verified quality (committed 4c542c30)

A session-security console — a live TTL/expiry idiom that appears on no other screen:

• header composite: status-distribution bar (click-to-filter) + elevated-scope + MFA-coverage meters + an expiry-horizon strip (soonest-to-expire TTL bars) + pulsing server-clock + gated Revoke-all
• identity-forward roster cards: avatar + device glyph + provider + geo + MFA + a live TTL countdown bar + scope chips + revoke
• session detail: a lifespan viz (issued → TTL → expires, elapsed vs remaining + now-marker), KV grid, scopes, lifecycle timeline, gated revoke → mobile sheet

Gate: 64/100 — accepted on verified quality (9/10). The gate over-reached (convert the identity-forward cards into a generic table — would echo the consoles; off-domain provider brand icons; called the micro-viz header "fat cards"). One genuinely valid residual — the peripheral Auth event stream is sparse — deferred with two minor items to POLISH-SWEEP.md. Transcript: V11-auth-adversarial-vision.md.

Next: Extensions.

[rickylabs]

Extensions — accepted (committed d6bc021b)

A contribution-manifest console (not an app-store grid) — each extension is a provider that mounts contributions into named host surfaces:

• header composite: contributions-by-surface bar (click-to-filter) + enabled-coverage meter + a compatibility alert (held/quarantined update)
• Providers view: roster with a per-provider surface-typed contribution micro-bar (copper=panel/teal=command/amber=tool) + a sticky manifest (source/version/tier/contract + surface-grouped contributions + "plugs into")
• Surfaces view: the cross-cut — Panels/Commands/AI-tools lanes with share-meter headers + provider-provenance footers
• Available view: install/quarantine cards with a contract-compatibility meter

Gate: 58/100 → focused density fix (the gate was more right than its recent over-reaches). Kept the manifest idiom (declined convert-to-table / avatars / timeline); provider cards 88→59px, micro-bar 8→4px, CONTRIBUTES rows 64→44px, and the Surfaces-view lower-right whitespace 372→~5px via a 2-column lane split with lane meters + footers. Transcript: V12-ext-adversarial-vision.md.

Next: Runtime Config.