# Persistent memory — ratatoskr

This file captures durable intent and supporting evidence (goals, decisions,
foot-gun warnings, in-flight state) across context resets. Read it at session
start; treat it as one input alongside `CLAUDE.md` and the auto-memory system,
not as the single source of truth.

When durable state shifts enough to warrant capture, run `/snapshot` and
commit alongside the next commit per the persistent-memory commit-along rule
in `CLAUDE.md`.

---

## Repo purpose

Ratatoskr is a **dev-grade debug-observability TUI** for Worldtree's
Conversation API. The product IS the observability surface; chat is the
input mechanism. Devs run Ratatoskr against a local Worldtree to watch a
turn flow through every layer of the system, side-by-side, in one terminal:
agent SSE stream, persona/Vili affect dispatch, tool calls, Bifrost
handshake state, admin lifecycle events, optional raw server log.

Named after the squirrel that runs up and down Yggdrasil carrying messages
between layers. On-the-nose Worldtree resonance (Yggdrasil = the World Tree).

Origin: althing ask from worldtree-dev (thread `01KS3R34XD3N6HMK91VXESHGW7`,
2026-05-20) for the shape of a TUI Conversation API consumer. brokkr-smithy
ran the shape pass; operator's reframe routed it as a new repo with a
separate dev team rather than an in-tree Worldtree tool.

## Current state / in-flight

**Status: scaffold verified + first contract authored.** Design is locked;
implementation begins next, TDD against `sse_client.contract.md`.

What's in the repo:
- `docs/design-brief.md` — the locked design (copy from `brokkr-smithy/docs/ratatoskr-design-brief.md`).
- `docs/SPEC-PIN.md` — Worldtree spec pin documentation + bump procedure.
- `docs/conversation-api-spec.md` — vendored Worldtree spec at the pinned SHA.
- `docs/conversation_api.contract.md` — vendored Worldtree server-side contract at the pinned SHA.
- `docs/contracts/issues/1.contract.md` — **issue-scoped contract for issue #1** (https://gitea.phasefinal.com/vh/ratatoskr/issues/1). v2.1, complexity=high. `target_module: ratatoskr.sse_client`. `prd:` block pins to issue body SHA `abcbc49467e86f1d` at `2026-05-21T03:57:37+00:00`. Four FN blocks: `stream_turn`, `reconnect_turn`, `cancel_turn`, `_parse_sse_id`. Drift check (`scripts/contract_drift_check.py`) returns clean.
- `pyproject.toml` — Python 3.12, hatchling, uv-managed. Deps: httpx, httpx-sse, textual. Dev deps: pytest, pytest-asyncio, respx, ruff, mypy, textual-dev, pyyaml (consumed by `docs/contracts/contract_parser.py` + `scripts/contract_drift_check.py`).
- `src/ratatoskr/__init__.py` + `cli.py` — stubs.
- `tests/test_no_worldtree_imports.py` — boundary smoke test (passes; verified 2026-05-20).
- `tests/snapshots/README.md` — recording/replay convention for SSE snapshot tests.

What's NOT in the repo yet:
- Implementation of `ratatoskr.sse_client` — next move, TDD per the contract's tracer tests.
- Gitea remote — operator provided `git@gitea.phasefinal.com:vh/ratatoskr.git` on 2026-05-20; about to be added + first push at the same commit as this update.
- CLAUDE.md customization — currently using the canonical template's
  generic CLAUDE.md. The dev team may want to add Ratatoskr-specific
  conventions on first substantive work.

**Branch:** `main`. Remote: `origin → git@gitea.phasefinal.com:vh/ratatoskr.git` (added 2026-05-20).

**Next natural moves:**
1. Implement `ratatoskr.sse_client` via TDD per `docs/contracts/sse_client.contract.md`. Vertical slice — start with `_parse_sse_id` (the foundation; tracer test `happy_simple`), then `stream_turn` (tracer test `happy_one_text_done`), then `reconnect_turn` (tracer test `happy_resume_from_seq_3`), then `cancel_turn` (tracer test `happy_cancel`). Each FN's tracer test gets RED → GREEN before any other test in that FN.
2. Record real SSE snapshot fixtures from a running Worldtree (per `tests/snapshots/README.md`) once `stream_turn` is GREEN against mocks — gives version-skew detection per design-brief §2.
3. Build presenters: `--send` stdout presenter first (simplest consumer of `stream_turn`); Textual TUI second. Both consume the same `Event` iterator.

## Recent decisions

Chronological log of decisions with `[YYYY-MM-DD]` prefix. One line per
decision. Captures rationale that won't be obvious from code alone.

- `[2026-05-20]` Project name **Ratatoskr** (squirrel on Yggdrasil — runs up and down carrying messages). Earlier candidate Andvari demoted on the cursed-ring association.
- `[2026-05-20]` **Separate repo, separate dev team.** Operator's call; the in-tree-at-Worldtree/tools/ alternative was considered and rejected to dogfood the API boundary.
- `[2026-05-20]` **No Worldtree-source imports.** Spec-only dependency. Triple version-skew mitigation: spec-pin in pyproject.toml + recorded-SSE snapshot tests + conformance smoke. Initial pin: `55101e909abcd2219833266b6f905c5bc956e0f0` (Worldtree v0.19.0). See `docs/SPEC-PIN.md`.
- `[2026-05-20]` **Textual** (not rich+prompt_toolkit). Driver: debug observability is the primary purpose, and a multi-pane dashboard with persistent side panes + independent scrollback is structurally application-shell-shaped. Volva consulted via cross-frontier second-opinion and converged on the same call.
- `[2026-05-20]` **`httpx-sse`** for SSE consumption. The server emits composite `{turn_id}:{seq}` `id:` lines (Worldtree INV-014) load-bearing for SSE-resume; hand-rolled `data:`-only parsing (the skaldsong pattern) silently drops these. Ratatoskr becomes the reference Python SSE-resume implementation.
- `[2026-05-20]` **Persona-pane PII posture: label-don't-refuse.** `persona.log` is process-wide; pane title flips between `[Persona — PROCESS-WIDE]` and `[Persona — session <id>…]` based on whether log lines carry session_id. Refuse-against-non-local was considered and rejected as paternalistic.
- `[2026-05-20]` **Server-stdout pane: opt-in via `--server-log <path>`.** No auto-detection of well-known paths.
- `[2026-05-20]` **Two-stage Ctrl-C.** First cancels in-flight turn server-side; second exits app. Ctrl-D bound to immediate exit.
- `[2026-05-20]` **Single-session-per-launch + startup picker.** No in-app `/switch`. CLI flags `--session <id>` and `--new` for scripted use. Session identity always visible in Textual footer.
- `[2026-05-20]` **Markdown rendering default-on; `--raw` opt-out.** Don't pre-design `--no-stream-formatting` (Volva: add only if streaming-markdown rendering is empirically ugly).
- `[2026-05-20]` **Non-interactive `--send` mode.** Single SSE consumer module, two presenters (TUI + stdout). Keeps Ratatoskr honest as an API consumer; useful for CI / scripted probes.
- `[2026-05-20]` **First contract: `ratatoskr.sse_client`.** Bundles `stream_turn` + `reconnect_turn` + `cancel_turn` + private `_parse_sse_id` into one module — the SSE-resume flow is coupled (cancel needs `turn_id` from the SSE wire `id:`, reconnect re-uses the same parsed `SseId`), so they share a contract. Hard invariant INV-002 makes the composite `{turn_id}:{seq}` `id:` parsing load-bearing — closes the foot-gun the design-brief §3 names (hand-rolled `data:`-only parsing silently drops the `id:`). v2.1 test categories `adversarial`/`scenario`/`trace` used freely; parser warns but format spec §2.1.E permits them.
- `[2026-05-21]` **Contract converted to issue-scoped (issue #1).** Moved `docs/contracts/sse_client.contract.md` → `docs/contracts/issues/1.contract.md`. Frontmatter shape switched from module-scoped (`module:`/`purpose:`) to issue-scoped (`target_module:`/`scope:`/`prd:`) per CONTRACT-FORMAT §2.1.I. `prd:` block pins to issue #1's body hash (`abcbc49467e86f1d`). `scripts/contract_drift_check.py` returns clean. **Known parser stale-ness**: `contract_parser.py --validate` ERRORs on issue-scoped frontmatter (missing `module:`/`purpose:`) — this is CONTRACT-FORMAT §2.1.L H10, a documented Brokkr-side follow-up. Parser is a canonical sync, so we do NOT patch it locally (would drift from canonical). Treat parser ERROR-on-issue-scoped as expected until the canonical bumps.
- `[2026-05-21]` **Default issue-tracker labels seeded** (17 total). Sleipnir gating (`ready-for-agent`, `blocked-needs-contract`, `blocked-needs-dependency`), triage (`needs-triage`, `needs-architect-decision`, `needs-info`), type (`bug`, `enhancement`, `task`, `documentation`), resolution (`duplicate`, `wontfix`, `invalid`), Ratatoskr-specific area (`sse-client`, `tui`, `cli`, `observability`).

## Tried and abandoned

Log of approaches that were tried and rejected, with rationale. Future-self
defense against re-attempting the same cul-de-sac.

- `[2026-05-20]` **rich + prompt_toolkit framework choice.** Considered first (during initial shape draft). Volva flagged that §1 and §5 pulled in opposite directions: a real side-panel observability surface would silently become a widget framework reimplementation. Operator's debug-observability reframe sealed the flip to Textual. Don't re-attempt rich+pt unless the scope shrinks to transcript-first REPL (which would also flip back §5 to inline-log-presenter).
- `[2026-05-20]` **In-tree at Worldtree/tools/ratatoskr/.** Earlier draft committed to in-tree-with-import-direction-smoke-test. Rejected at operator-routing — separate dev team forces separate repo.
- `[2026-05-20]` **New `/persona/log` SSE endpoint on Worldtree.** Considered as alternative to file-tailing `persona.log`. Rejected — contract amendment + Vor round + AFK dispatch loop is weeks of consumer-side spec work for a debug feature file-tail handles in a day. Documented follow-up trigger in `docs/design-brief.md` §5: if a Worldtree-on-server / TUI-on-laptop debug case appears, the contract cost becomes worth paying.
- `[2026-05-20]` **Cross-process Last-Event-ID resume.** Considered — would require persisting per-session Last-Event-ID to `~/.config/ratatoskr/`. Deferred to v2 if/when it turns out to matter; v1 ships "reconnect, not resume-across-process."