release: 0.4.1 — big banner for every theme, live /theme preview, refreshed README banner

- All 11 themes render a big, bold wordmark: the 5 tiny personality faces
  (t3-chat, starry-night, vercel, fallout, mimi) → big block faces (big,
  nancyj, banner3, 3-d, puffy) at the full-contrast scale, still distinct.
- /theme <name> reprints the masthead live on a cleared screen so a face +
  palette previews without relaunching — the clear also fixes a prompt_toolkit
  cursor desync on Windows that painted stale shell scrollback over the banner.
- README banner SVG recolored from the deprecated blue wordmark to the
  editorial manuscript-red → ember → hot-gold gradient.
- Docs (plan.md, design.md) + CHANGELOG updated; version → 0.4.1.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: vikast908

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -6,6 +6,25 @@ to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.4.1] - 2026-07-19
+
+### Changed
+- **Every theme's masthead wordmark is now big and bold.** The five personality themes
+  (`t3-chat`, `starry-night`, `vercel`, `fallout`, `mimi`) shipped tiny figlet faces that rendered
+  a fraction of the size of the default; all now use large block faces at the same scale as
+  `editorial`/`highcontrast` (`big`, `nancyj`, `banner3`, `3-d`, `puffy`), while staying visually
+  distinct per theme.
+- **`/theme <name>` previews the new look live.** Switching a theme now reprints the masthead
+  (palette + wordmark face) instead of waiting for the next launch, so themes can be compared in
+  one session.
+
+### Fixed
+- **Theme switching no longer corrupts the display.** The live banner reprint clears the screen
+  first, fixing a prompt_toolkit cursor desync (seen on Windows terminals) where the new banner —
+  and a following Ctrl+C — landed mid-screen and exposed stale shell scrollback.
+- **README banner refreshed** to the current editorial palette (manuscript-red → ember → hot-gold);
+  it had been left in the deprecated blue wordmark.
+
 ## [0.4.0] - 2026-07-19
 
 ### Added

assets/writing-agent-banner.svg

@@ -644,8 +644,10 @@ combobox/listbox keyboard and ARIA contract. **Error state** below.
   framed top and bottom by a mirrored flame rule. It sits on the **left**; on a wide
   terminal a GET STARTED command column sits beside it (stacking beneath on a narrow
   one, collapsing to a one-line wordmark when the mark would wrap), and it prints
-  **every launch**. The gradient stops and figlet face are per-theme; a fallback face
-  chain preserves the mark if a theme's font is unavailable.
+  **every launch**. The gradient stops and figlet face are per-theme (each theme owns a *distinct*
+  face, but all at the same big block scale - the small personality faces were retired in 0.4.1); a
+  fallback face chain preserves the mark if a theme's font is unavailable. `/theme <name>` reprints
+  the masthead live (on a cleared screen) so a face/palette previews without relaunching.
 - **Loader - the Caret** - a blinking `▍` (accent) for view/content loading,
   optionally with a live word/token counter. “Loading…” is never shown visually,
   but an equivalent localized status is always available to assistive technology.

docs/design.md

@@ -634,7 +634,10 @@ persisted to `config/models.yaml`), `/skills`, `/skill <name>`, `/seed-skills`,
 `/books`, `/user <id>`, `/config`, `/update [msg]` (describe your changes → AI reviews and
 advises), `/retry` (re-send the last chat message), `/reset` (clear the chat context), `/compact`
 (fold the chat history into one summary), `/theme [<name>]` (themes change *everything* - palette,
-wordmark figlet face, fleuron, gradient; each a distinct hue family. `editorial` ink-&-brass
+wordmark figlet face, fleuron, gradient; each a distinct hue family. Switching **reprints the
+banner live** (on a cleared screen, so it previews without a relaunch); every theme's face is a
+big block face at the full-contrast scale (the small personality faces were retired in 0.4.1).
+`editorial` ink-&-brass
 default (manuscript red + gold on parchment) with semantic status colors; alternates
 `highcontrast` (Okabe-Ito colourblind-safe, §13.1) · `kazama` (flame, sheared) · `supabase`
 (emerald) · `violet-bloom` (purple) · `t3-chat` (pink) · `starry-night` (indigo+gold) · `vercel`

docs/plan.md

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 # Single source of truth for the version: pyproject derives from this (dynamic = version,
 # attr = writingagent.__version__) and the TUI/CLI import it - so there is exactly one place
 # to bump. Keep it a plain string literal (setuptools reads it statically).
-__version__ = "0.4.0"
+__version__ = "0.4.1"
 
 __all__ = [
     "Agent", "Project", "Approach", "Status", "Evaluation", "WriteResult",

src/writingagent/__init__.py

@@ -423,12 +423,25 @@ def _cmd_dashboard(console, uid: str, rest: list[str]) -> None:
                            style=DIM))
 
 
-def _set_theme(name: str, console, settings: Settings) -> None:
-    """Apply + persist a theme; shared by /theme and /set theme."""
+def _set_theme(name: str, console, settings: Settings, cfg: ModelConfig | None = None) -> None:
+    """Apply + persist a theme; shared by /theme and /set theme.
+
+    When ``cfg`` is given (the /theme path) the banner is reprinted so the new
+    wordmark face + palette preview live - the writer can compare themes without
+    quitting and relaunching (which is what they used to Ctrl+C out to do)."""
     settings.theme = name
     save_settings(settings)
     ui.apply_theme(name)
     _sync_palette()
+    if cfg is not None and console:
+        from .branding import _banner
+        # Clear FIRST: reprinting the tall banner between prompt_toolkit prompts
+        # otherwise desyncs its cursor tracking (Windows ConPTY especially) - the
+        # next prompt, and a Ctrl+C, then land mid-banner and expose stale shell
+        # scrollback. A clean screen re-anchors the prompt at the true bottom.
+        if getattr(console, "is_terminal", False):
+            console.clear()
+        _banner(console, cfg, settings)   # clean-screen live preview of the new theme's masthead
     _out(console, f"theme -> [{ui.GOLD}]{name}[/] [dim](saved - the prompt/completion "
                   f"styles refresh on next launch)[/]")
 

src/writingagent/shell/commands.py

@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ def run_shell(parser, commands, cfg: ModelConfig, settings: Settings) -> None:
             else:
                 line = (console.input(prompt_plain) if console else input(prompt_plain)).strip()
         except (EOFError, KeyboardInterrupt):
+            # Ctrl+C / Ctrl+D at the idle prompt QUIT the app (like every shell). A ^C
+            # DURING a run pauses the pipeline instead - that's caught deeper (dispatch/
+            # dashboard), not here.
             break
         if not line:
             continue

src/writingagent/shell/repl.py

@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ def _handle_slash(line: str, console, cfg: ModelConfig, settings: Settings, stat
         else:
             tname, cands = ui.smart_match(rest[0], ui.THEMES)
             if tname:
-                _set_theme(tname, console, settings)
+                _set_theme(tname, console, settings, cfg)   # cfg → reprint banner as a live preview
             elif cands:
                 _out(console, f"[{ERR}]'{rest[0]}' matches several:[/] [dim]{' · '.join(cands)}[/]")
             else:

src/writingagent/shell/slash.py

@@ -89,41 +89,41 @@
         DIM="grey54", RULE="#59243f", ERR="#ff6b6b", ON_CLR="#6aaa5c",
         OFF_CLR="grey50", FLEURON="♥",
         STOPS=("#9d174d", "#ec4899", "#f9a8d4"),
-        FONT="smblock", WORDS=("WRITING", "AGENT"), SHEAR=False,
-        DESC="t3 chat - hot pink, light bubbly face",
+        FONT="big", WORDS=("WRITING", "AGENT"), SHEAR=False,
+        DESC="t3 chat - hot pink, big bubbly face",
     ),
     "starry-night": dict(
         GOLD="#ffd86b", GOLD_HI="#ffeaa6", INK="#5b8dd9", PARCH="#cfdcf2",
         DIM="grey54", RULE="#27355c", ERR="#e06c75", ON_CLR="#6aaa5c",
         OFF_CLR="grey50", FLEURON="✶",
         STOPS=("#1e3a6e", "#5b8dd9", "#ffd86b"),
-        FONT="elite", WORDS=("WRITING", "AGENT"), SHEAR=False,
-        DESC="starry night - gold stars on van Gogh indigo, deco face",
+        FONT="nancyj", WORDS=("WRITING", "AGENT"), SHEAR=False,
+        DESC="starry night - gold stars on van Gogh indigo, big deco face",
     ),
     "vercel": dict(
         GOLD="#ededed", GOLD_HI="#ffffff", INK="#888888", PARCH="#c8c8c8",
         DIM="grey54", RULE="#333333", ERR="#ff4444", ON_CLR="#50e3c2",
         OFF_CLR="grey50", FLEURON="▲",
         STOPS=("#555555", "#ededed", "#ffffff"),
-        FONT="smmono9", WORDS=("WRITING", "AGENT"), SHEAR=False,
-        DESC="vercel - monochrome minimal, hairline face",
+        FONT="banner3", WORDS=("WRITING", "AGENT"), SHEAR=False,
+        DESC="vercel - monochrome minimal, big hollow-block face",
     ),
     # tweakcn imports (dark variants) - palettes from tweakcn.com/themes/<id>
     "fallout": dict(
         GOLD="#ffcc00", GOLD_HI="#ffe97a", INK="#00ff66", PARCH="#e0d5a0",
         DIM="grey54", RULE="#5d4a00", ERR="#ff4444", ON_CLR="#00ff66",
         OFF_CLR="grey50", FLEURON="►",
         STOPS=("#8a6d00", "#ffcc00", "#ffe97a"),
-        FONT="pagga", WORDS=("WRITING", "AGENT"), SHEAR=False,
-        DESC="fallout - pip-boy amber phosphor, terminal green, scanline face",
+        FONT="3-d", WORDS=("WRITING", "AGENT"), SHEAR=False,
+        DESC="fallout - pip-boy amber phosphor, terminal green, big CRT face",
     ),
     "mimi": dict(
         GOLD="#e4a2b1", GOLD_HI="#fbe2a7", INK="#50afb6", PARCH="#f3e3ea",
         DIM="grey54", RULE="#324859", ERR="#e06c75", ON_CLR="#6aaa5c",
         OFF_CLR="grey50", FLEURON="♡",
         STOPS=("#c67b96", "#e4a2b1", "#fbe2a7"),
-        FONT="double_blocky", WORDS=("WRITING", "AGENT"), SHEAR=False,
-        DESC="mimi - dusky rose, cream and teal pastels, tiny playful face",
+        FONT="puffy", WORDS=("WRITING", "AGENT"), SHEAR=False,
+        DESC="mimi - dusky rose, cream and teal pastels, big playful face",
     ),
     "astrovista": dict(
         # burnt-sienna rust (kept clear of the manuscript-red default accent)