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booth/persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-u7-remeasured-before-scoping.md
vh e15ee2c4ab memory: U7 re-measured before scoping — pre-work only, no unit started
The standing instruction is to re-count the booths before scoping U7. Done
against the live 19-booth set, so the scope call is a short read rather than an
investigation.

Two findings. Sections are worth zero and it is now measured twice: not one of
the eleven gallery booths has a subdirectory, and the only two booths that do
are both reports, the job where grid navigation matters least. And the grouping
signal is in the filename rather than the tree -- stripping a trailing digit-run
yields 5 to 16 sensible groups on four of the five large galleries and
degenerates to one group on the fifth, while the competing split-on-second-
hyphen heuristic is useless everywhere.

The sizing case has also moved: the unit was scoped against 270-item booths and
the largest gallery is now 81 items / 40 images.

No U7 code and no U7 contract. The scope direction is the operator's call.
2026-09-22 14:38:26 -07:00

3.1 KiB

U7 re-measured before scoping — sections are dead, filename prefixes are not

2026-09-22 · booth

Pre-work, not the unit. The standing instruction is "re-count the booths before scoping U7". Done, on the live set (19 booths). No U7 code, no U7 contract — this exists so the scope call is a thirty-second read.

The set as it actually is

booth items images subdirs shape
miranda-is 92 0 0 report
sindra-bakeoff 81 40 0 gallery
sindra-corpus-v1 66 66 0 gallery
sindra 61 30 0 gallery
sindra-sfw-pool 59 59 0 gallery
sindra-nude-pool 42 42 0 gallery
pewpew-ui-brief 34 1 7 report
dfa-concepts 21 14 1 report
…11 more ≤19 0

Finding 1 — sections are worth ZERO, and this is now measured twice

Not one gallery booth has a subdirectory. Zero of eleven. The only two booths with subfolders are both reports, the job where grid navigation matters least, and pewpew-ui-brief's seven subdirs hold one image.

The IA doc calls sections "most of the navigation fix". On this set they are none of it. Cutting Item.section rendering from U7 costs nothing measurable. (Item.section already exists from U1 and stays — this is about whether U7 builds a section RAIL, not about deleting a field.)

Finding 2 — the grouping signal is in the FILENAME, and it pays

Tested two heuristics against every large gallery. Strip a trailing digit-run from the stem and group on what remains:

booth images groups verdict
sindra-corpus-v1 66 16 useful
sindra-nude-pool 42 12 useful
sindra-sfw-pool 59 10 useful
sindra-bakeoff 40 5 useful
sindra 30 1 degenerates

Specimens: 00-sheet-c1-market-noon.png, ac01.png, a01.png, flag-rear.png. The competing heuristic — split on the second hyphen — is useless everywhere (59 "groups" from 59 files).

So a prefix heuristic pays on 4 of 5 large galleries and collapses to one group on the fifth. That is a filter/grouping affordance, not a section rail, and it must degrade gracefully to "one group" rather than render a useless single-section rail.

What this implies for the scope, stated as a recommendation not a decision

U7 as written is four things: sections, a sticky rail, filters, grid keyboard. The measurement says drop sections, keep the other three, and consider prefix-grouping as the thing sections were supposed to be — with a stated degenerate case.

⚠ The sizing case has also changed: the unit was scoped against 270-item booths and the largest gallery is now 81 items / 40 images. Everything about virtualization stays parked (2026-09-21-ia-and-v1-gate-landed names it); at 66 images a lazy grid is fine and measuring it first is the rule.

The booth set churned again during this session — sindra-sfw-pool (59 images) appeared and the pancake-* set went. Re-count again before writing the contract; do not trust this table either.