vh
9918c10acf
Operator: "thinking tokens seem to be split by token — each on a
newline, is that correct? We don't want that."
Root cause: v0.6.5 wrote each Thinking SSE delta as its own
`thinking_log.write(event.content)` call. Worldtree emits Thinking
events at token granularity (per-token or per-few-tokens), so EACH
token became its own RichLog line — visually choppy, one short
fragment per visual row. Wrong UX.
## Fix: coalesce-on-newline
Thinking deltas accumulate in `TuiPresenterState.thinking_chunk_buffer`
(new str field). On each Thinking event:
1. Append delta content to buffer.
2. Flush every COMPLETE line (chars before each `\n`) as one
thinking_log.write(line) call.
3. Leave the post-final-`\n` tail in the buffer for the next delta.
On any non-thinking event (run close):
1. Flush remaining buffer tail (if any) as one final line.
2. Write Rule(end).
Empty lines (blank paragraph separators in the model's `\n\n` flow)
are skipped — they'd render as no-content RichLog entries which
just add vertical noise. Natural paragraph breaks become single
visible lines; multi-paragraph thinking renders top-to-bottom.
## Verified live (tier-3 smoke against personal Worldtree)
Defined a `thinky-smoke` agent via `python -m ratatoskr.tier3 define`,
asked "What is 12 times 13?". Thinking pane rendered with natural
paragraph chunks:
── turn N · thinking #1 start ──
Thinking Process:
1. **Analyze the Request:** The user wants to know the result of $12 \times 13$.
2. **Calculate:**
* Method 1: Standard multiplication.
$$12 \times 10 = 120$$
$$12 \times 3 = 36$$
$$120 + 36 = 156$$
* Method 2: $(10 + 2)(10 + 3) = 100 + 30 + 20 + 6 = 156$.
── turn N · thinking #1 end ──
Each line = one natural paragraph or list item. No per-token fragments.
## Edge cases noted
- Long-running thinking with NO `\n` at all stays buffered until run
close → operator sees nothing until close. Possible follow-up: add
a length-threshold flush (e.g., > 500 chars → flush at the last
space). For now this is acceptable; thinking content typically has
`\n` breaks every few sentences.
- Empty deltas (`""`) are ignored implicitly — no buffer growth, no
flush.
- `\n` at the very start of a delta flushes whatever was buffered
before, then leaves the empty post-`\n` tail (empty string) in the
buffer, which doesn't show up as an empty line because of the
`if line:` guard.
## Contract amendment
docs/contracts/issues/13.contract.md INV-022 amended for v0.7.1
coalesce semantics. Drift-check clean.
## Tests
265/265 GREEN; ruff clean. Two updated tests:
- `test_thinking_streams_into_thinking_log` → renamed
`test_thinking_coalesces_until_newline`: 3 token-shaped deltas
with no `\n` → only Rule(start) writes, buffer holds accumulated.
- NEW `test_thinking_flushes_on_newline`: delta carrying `\n` →
Rule(start) + accumulated line + clear buffer.
- `test_thinking_closes_to_thinking_log`: 2 deltas "a", "b" +
close → Rule(start) + tail-flush "ab" + Rule(end) = 3 writes
(was 4 with per-delta).
Patch bump (v0.7.0 → v0.7.1) — internal presenter routing change;
no public-API or layout change.
Ratatoskr
A Worldtree Conversation API debug TUI. Runs up and down Worldtree's API surface — sessions, turns, persona, tools, admin events, Bifrost state — carrying messages between layers. Like the squirrel.
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.
Status
v0 scaffold. Design locked; implementation hasn't started. The dev team owns the implementation pass.
Read in this order
docs/design-brief.md— the locked design. Read this first. Every architectural decision is recorded with its rationale, the alternatives considered, and (where relevant) the operator's lock-in moment.docs/SPEC-PIN.md— what Worldtree spec version Ratatoskr is built against, where the vendored snapshot lives, and how to bump the pin.docs/conversation-api-spec.md— the vendored Worldtree spec snapshot. Read this to understand the API surface Ratatoskr consumes. Do not import anything from a Worldtree checkout — the boundary is the spec, not the code. Seedocs/design-brief.md§2.CLAUDE.md— Claude Code conventions for this repo (mostly inherited from the Corviduo template).persistent-memory.md— durable intent across context resets. Update as decisions and state evolve.
Quickstart
# 1. Environment
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
# 2. Verify the spec pin
cat docs/SPEC-PIN.md # documented Worldtree SHA + bump procedure
# 3. Tests (none yet; scaffold only)
uv run pytest
# 4. Run against a local Worldtree (once implementation lands)
# Worldtree must be running: python -m core.conversation_api
ratatoskr --agent mimir
What this repo is NOT
- NOT a polished consumer for Worldtree's end-users — that's the web app.
- NOT a Worldtree admin tool — admin CLI is separate (
sessions_cli.pylives in Worldtree). - NOT a featuretracking shadow of the web app — when the Conversation API surface grows, Ratatoskr does not necessarily grow with it.
- NOT a remote-Worldtree debug client — file-tail surfaces (persona log, server log) assume local-dev posture.
The full negative-clause list lives in docs/design-brief.md §6.
Boundary rule
Ratatoskr depends on three things only:
httpx+httpx-sse(network layer)textual(TUI framework)- Worldtree's published Conversation API spec at the pinned SHA
Hard rule: no imports from a Worldtree checkout. No core.* imports,
no from worldtree.*, no shared models, no submodule of Worldtree. The
spec is the entire surface. Boundary smoke test at tests/test_no_worldtree_imports.py
enforces this in CI.
Version-skew strategy
The dev team is decoupled from Worldtree's dev team. To detect drift when Worldtree changes the API:
- Spec-version pin in
pyproject.toml(worldtree-spec-rev). Bump explicitly; bumps are a tracked action. - Recorded-SSE snapshot tests at
tests/snapshots/. Captured against a live Worldtree; replayed in CI. Re-record after every pin bump. - Conformance smoke test — boots Worldtree via Docker compose in CI, runs a one-turn happy path. Catches integration-level drift.
See docs/SPEC-PIN.md for the bump procedure.
Consumer-side discoveries
If you find a spec gap, ambiguity, or missing-but-needed endpoint while working on Ratatoskr: route the discovery back to worldtree-dev via althing rather than via PR on Worldtree directly. The separate-team boundary is intentional and helps catch spec gaps that an in-tree consumer would paper over.
Related repos
- Worldtree — the API Ratatoskr consumes
- brokkr-smithy — authored this design brief
- Skaldsong — another Worldtree API consumer (Python; render-and-aggregate pattern)
- mead-hall — another Worldtree API consumer (TypeScript; server-side broker)