21 KiB
Agent handoff — cross-machine continuity
Last updated: 2026-07-21, with Themes Arc 4 stage 3 implemented and
fully gated on the statusline-segments feature branch (awaiting
review; not merged). This file is the bridge between development
machines. If you are an agent reading on a fresh clone: this document
plus the docs/*-framing.md files ARE your memory. Read this fully
before taking on work, seed persistent memory from it, and update this
file (and commit it) whenever project state changes materially — the
next machine reads it the way you just did.
1. Where the project stands (2026-07-21)
- Canonical
main@bb17ec9(#123 merged atop #124), protocol v17 (SUPPORTED=[6..17]). The rebasedstatusline-segmentsbranch implements protocol v18, but v18 is not on main until review and merge. - Syntax-highlight / language-detection side-quest (#114–#118)
LANDED — a one-shot arc built in sibling worktrees off main while
the user's themes lane (
theme-faces) ran concurrently in the shared checkout. All merged. What shipped:- Grammars (
crate::syntax::BUILTIN_LANGUAGES): every LSP-configured language now has one — cuda, bash, dockerfile (via the ABI-currenttree-sitter-containerfile, NOT the deadtree-sitter-dockerfilewhich pinstree-sitter ^0.20), make, cmake, python, go, javascript (+jsx), typescript (+tsx), toml, zig. - Detection chain (
resolve_active_languagein syntax.lua /buffer_languagein lsp.lua): extension → LSP filetype map → filename → shebang. New user-extensible Lua surfacespmacs.parse.shebangs/.filenamesandpmacs.parse.language_from_shebang/language_from_filename. Grammar name MUST equal thepmacs.lsp.config.<name>key (grammar detection wins over the filetype map, so it fixes the LSP id too). A buffer keeps its first-attached grammar across edits/switches (no re-sniff of a since-edited shebang). - LSP configs added: dockerfile (
docker-langserver --stdio), cmake (cmake-language-server, config viainit_options.buildDirectory="build"— it does NOT pullworkspace/configuration). Make has no server. - Substrate:
LanguageEntry.highlights_queryis now&[&'static str]— fragments joined base-first, for grammars whose bundled highlights are a; inherits:delta (cuda over c/cpp; ts over js/jsx).compute_highlight_spansFAILS CLOSED on the#is?/#is-not? localproperty predicate (no locals processing) — drops those captures so shadowed builtins aren't mis-styled.
- Grammars (
- Multi-language injections (#122) LANDED — the direct continuation
of the #114–#118 highlight arc; four review rounds, framing
docs/multi-language-injections-framing.md(Q#IJ1–IJ11). A buffer can now hold more than one language:ParseTreeBundleholdsVec<Layer>(root + injected children, depth-ascending, installed atomically so the existingStyleGate+ highlight-cache Arc gates still work). The parse worker builds child trees off the staticBUILTIN_LANGUAGEStable (lazy load preserved) viaset_included_ranges— child node offsets are ABSOLUTE, so injected spans are buffer-coordinate-native; settle resolves each layer's highlight query (SyntaxRegistry::resolve_layer_queries). First consumers: markdown fenced code +markdown_inline(retires the M9.7 block-only floor). New substrate:LanguageEntry.injections_query;default_injection_aliases+SyntaxRegistry::injection_alias_snapshot(case-folded fence names, Lua-extensible viapmacs.parse.injection_aliases, snapshotted intoParseRequestso the worker never touches theRcregistry or Lua);ParseTreeBundle.injection_capped(the 4096-layer backstop, surfaced once/buffer viapmacs.errorat settle);compute_highlight_spans_for(query, tree, source, range)(per-layer); the wireflatten_layer_spansevent-sweep → DISJOINT effective spans (deeper / later-sibling / narrower wins, keyed by(layer_index, capture_order)); GPUspans_from_segments+source_color_atfold. Two findings to keep: injection ranges exclude only NAMED children (anonymous tokens ARE the injected text — excluding them shreds a blockinlinenode; matches tree-sitter-md's own splitter), and the wire flattener runs over the WHOLE buffer via the file-style summary, so it must be an event sweep, not O(spans²). - Compile-mode (Arc 5 stage 1, #113) LANDED (2026-07-14, 7 rounds;
framing
docs/compile-mode-framing.mdrev 13).compile.runstreams/bin/sh -c "exec 2>&1; <cmd>"into an intercept-read-only*compilation*buffer via a Lua ANSI parser; once-per-newline error rules; unifiederror.next/error.previous(M-g n/p,C-x `, M-!). Substrate other code can use:ProcessSpec.stdin/group(group lifecycle: reap ledger, in-drain enforcement, cancellable poll readers),buf:revision(), jump_back firesbuffer.after-switch,pmacs.errors.claim,AnsiParser::finish()(observable reset), and the style-overlay stack: buffer-attachedBufferStyleSpanTranslator(once-per-edit, fragment-preserving), render-only window overlays with identity-dedupedWindow::ensure_overlay+clone_for_split, idempotent atomichandle:dispose(). - Editing-conveniences pack (editops, #111) landed (framing
docs/editing-conveniences-framing.mdrev 6). goto-line, case ops, transpose, zap-to-char, line move/duplicate/join, region sort/reverse/dedupe, delete-trailing-whitespace + opt-inpmacs.editops.trim_on_save. Substrate:pmacs.killring.kill_range/break_chain([fid])/arm_kill_prompt+commit_kill_prompt(marker lifecycle), and the origin-guard pattern for chain-sensitive minibuffer commands. - Auto-pairing (#110) landed — Arc 2 COMPLETE (framing
docs/auto-pairing-framing.mdrev 6).BUILTIN_PAIR_CHARSin pmacs-protocol leave both frontends' optimistic classifiers;builtin/runtime/pair.lualoads BEFORE lsp.lua (first-didChange ordering contract); one-shot typed-edit provenance viapmacs.editor.take_typed_edit()(buffer-revision postcondition, Q#AP9). Substrate:buf:path(),pmacs.lsp.buffer_language(buf),PMACS_FAKE_LSP_CHANGE_SINK,TestDaemon::spawn_with_config. - Themes (Arc 4) stages 1 and 2 LANDED; stage 3 IMPLEMENTED ON ITS
FEATURE BRANCH, AWAITING REVIEW.
- Stage 1 (#120,
docs/theme-faces-framing.mdrev 9): named UI faces as reservedui/ui.*theme entries; transactional split syntax/face epochs; protocol-v16ThemeFacts; snapshot/baseline symmetry; store-sourced diagnostic-count freeze. - Stage 2 (#124,
docs/gpu-set-font-framing.mdrev 5):pmacs.gpu.set_fontand authoritative protocol-v17FontFacts; frontend-local family resolution, live font reload/reflow, and visual-run caret geometry. - Stage 3 (
statusline-segments,docs/statusline-segments-framing.mdrev 3): composable strictpmacs.statuslineproviders; borrow-released per-window evaluation with failure latches; legacy-preserving TUI composition; a pure built-in LSP provider; dynamic modeline faces; protocol-v18StatuslineSegments; authoritative-empty/snapshot symmetry; and atomic GPU validation, face resolution, shaping, clipping, and cache invalidation. Acceptance 1-27 is implemented. Final gates: Clippy clean; 1,619 default + 1,793 CRDT library tests; 7 default + 8 CRDT feature acceptance; 114 M4; 109 required GPU; one-invocation workspace sweep 2,718 passed across 78 suites (19 ignored,basedpyrightfiltered);git diff --checkclean. This branch is awaiting review and must not be described as merged.
- Stage 1 (#120,
- Roadmap:
docs/roadmap-2026-07.md(ranked arcs). Position:- Arc 1 (LSP utility surface) COMPLETE — completion popup (#92/#93), panels/references/outline/hover (#94–#96), plus hardening follow-ups (#102, #105, #106).
- Arc 2 (editing table stakes) COMPLETE — query-replace (#97),
kill ring +
M-y(#103/#105/#106), comment-toggle (#107), auto-indent (#109), auto-pairing (#110). - Arc 3 (persistence) COMPLETE — saveplace/recentf (#98), desktop-save (#99), autosave/crash-recovery (#100), save-clobber fix (#101).
2. How we work (the part that must not drift)
The user is expert and reviews deeply — they falsify framings and find real bugs in round after round. The cadence that has worked for ~40 PRs:
- Scout ground truth in the code before proposing anything.
- Write a framing doc —
docs/<feature>-framing.md, numbered decisions (Q#XY1…), explicit "Ground truth", "Bets", "Deferred (named)", and an acceptance-test list. Present it and wait for explicit approval ("Go for it" / "Ready to roll"). Expect 1–3 rounds of findings first; revise the doc, don't argue. - Branch off main (one feature = one branch = one PR). Commit the framing as the first commit.
- Implement. Every reviewer finding gets a bite-verified fix — a test that fails without the fix. Watch for vacuously-passing tests.
- Run the full gate suite (§3). Open the PR with
gh. - The user replies with "Findings" lists on the PR rounds too. Same discipline. They say when to merge — never merge unprompted.
- After merge: update this handoff + your memory.
Commit/PR conventions: commit messages via git commit -F <file> (no
inline backticks through the shell); end with the Claude co-author
line. PR bodies end with the Claude Code attribution. Clippy runs as
its own step, never &&-chained.
3. Gate suite (all green before any PR)
cargo fmt --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings # own step
cargo test --lib # ~1500
cargo test --lib --features crdt # ~1672
cargo test --test <the new/touched acceptance suites>
cargo test --test m4_acceptance -- --skip basedpyright
PMACS_REQUIRE_GPU=1 cargo test -p pmacs-gpu # 58
cargo test --workspace -- --skip basedpyright # full sweep
git diff --check
Machine-specific caveats — re-verify on a machine you haven't used before trusting them:
- basedpyright: the DESKTOP's local binary is broken and HANGS the
m4_5_basedpyrighttests — hence the--skipthere. The LAPTOP has a working basedpyright 1.39.9 (verified 2026-07-10: the m4_5 test passes in 0.18s), so the skip is droppable on the laptop. - GPU on the laptop: AMD Radeon 780M (RADV) — native Vulkan,
PMACS_REQUIRE_GPU=1works without lavapipe. - Flaky-under-load tests — rerun isolated before treating a sweep
failure as a regression. The m8 daemon tests and the m6 process/PTY
tests (
m6_1_pty_mode_lifecycle_started_then_exited,m6_8_supervisor_reaps_all_children_across_cycles) are timing-based;editor::composition_overhead_under_ten_percentis a render-ratio microbenchmark that fails ~1/3 even isolated single-threaded (alreadycfg!(macos)-disabled). A lone failure of one of these → rerun that test alone (-- --test-threads=1) before investigating. Also: run the workspace sweep as ONEcargo testinvocation piped to a full log — a double invocation +grep -c "test result: ok"can mask real failures with a misleading0. - GPU tests need a Vulkan device.
PMACS_REQUIRE_GPU=1makes absence a hard failure instead of a silent skip. Headless option: lavapipe (seedocs/repository-audit-2026-07-03.mdfor the CI harness how-to). On a laptop without discrete GPU, mesa/lavapipe works. - The desktop's shell is fish (no
$(...), use(...); no$UID, use(id -u)). Check$SHELLhere before assuming.
4. Substrate invariants (do not undo; tests enforce most of these)
Command boundaries (Arc 2 kill-ring substrate) —
EditorCore.command_history: HashMap<FrontendId, CommandBoundary{this, last}>,
per frontend. Rotate on: keybound command, self-insert, menu invoke,
invoke_interactive (the M-x path). Break on: unbound key, GPU
optimistic CRDT edits, pointer gestures (wheel scroll deliberately does
NOT break), unified paste. Plain pmacs.command.invoke stamps
nothing (programmatic API); invoke_interactive rotates-then-invokes
(Emacs M-x semantics). Single-codepoint optimistic CRDT inserts
classify as buffer.self-insert (exact decode; "a(" breaks instead).
Lua: ed.this_command() / ed.last_command().
Effective-edit returns — buf:insert/delete/replace return the
post-intercept (start, end, inserted_len). Callers that care
(killring, comment) compare EXACTLY against the request; length-delta
and text-at-position checks are documented defeated patterns. Always
pcall the mutator: a rejecting intercept must report, not throw
through, and failed ops must leave no state (kill chains, yank
sessions).
Kill ring — entries {id, text} with stable monotonic ids; chains
and yank sessions are per-frontend and id-checked (an index is not
stable under other frontends' pushes). OS clipboard mirrors to the
acting frontend only. Paste is a unified daemon arm keyed by the
dispatcher's AUTHENTICATED source — never a payload frontend_id.
LSP outbound positions — every Position/Range builder in
src/lsp.rs routes through outbound_position (byte → negotiated
encoding). Any new request builder must too; UTF-16 servers reject raw
byte columns on non-ASCII text. Semantic tokens: full, full.delta,
and range are three INDEPENDENT capabilities — gate each.
Persistence (Arc 3) — state-dir wiring lives in
install_state_dirs() on real entry points only, NOT EditorState::new()
(tests stay hermetic); PMACS_STATE_HOME overrides. Autosave: one
buffer owns a path's recovery slot; only recover/discard release
unclaimed crash data; adopt clears the old owner's skip cache.
Protocol — encoding-breaking bumps are deliberate and versioned
(SUPPORTED=[6..15]). v15 = CompletionPopup + StatusFacts.message.
New wire surface ⇒ bump + both-frontends support + acceptance.
Fake LSP (src/bin/pmacs_fake_lsp.rs) modes: fullonly,
rangeonly, rangeonly16 (UTF-16 + fail-closed bounds validation),
sighelp. Use these for capability-matrix tests, not real servers.
5. Hard-won ops lessons
- The checkout may be shared with the user. Check
git statusfor foreign uncommitted work before any stash/checkout/branch surgery; never assume dirty files are yours. (Their uncommitted fix was nearly orphaned once.) A clean status goes stale within minutes when two lanes are active — for parallel work,git worktree adda sibling directory off main instead of switching the shared checkout. - Never
git stashin this repo. The stash namespace is REPO-GLOBAL — one list shared across every worktree and with the user; a scripted push/pop can pop a human's years-old stash into your tree (happened during #111: a failedstash pushchained intostash pop, which grabbed the user's PR-#17-era entry). For run-tests-against-an-old-version swaps, usescripts/bite— a trap-guarded one-file swap over read-onlygit show, with an inverted verdict (exit 0 iff the tests FAIL against the old version), making bite-verification machine-checkable. - Stacked PRs: retarget the child to main BEFORE merging the parent — GitHub auto-closes a PR whose base branch is deleted and cannot reopen it (#104 → re-opened as #105).
- Scripted edits (sed/python) in files with repeated similar blocks
(
src/lsp.rsJSON builders): anchor on a unique line or you will silently edit the wrong block. This produced a vacuously-passing test and cost an hour. - Acceptance fixtures that open
.rs/.pyfiles must emptypmacs.lsp.configfirst — the after-load hook spawns real servers (rust/python/c have default configs). Language detection (grammars +pmacs.lsp.filetypes) is unaffected. - Test scratch buffers have no path ⇒ no language; use tempdir files when language matters.
- Dual-purpose session state is a reset-contract trap (#120
rounds 2–5):
last_statusdoubled as the peer emission baseline AND the stale-diag count freeze, so resetting baselines onBufferSnapshotzeroed mid-edit counts. Knowledge about a buffer belongs in shared stores (DiagnosticStoreseverity totals), never in per-session baselines; and any daemon-side reset needs its frontend mirror audited in the same round (the GPU snapshot arm missed search/menu/status the first time).
6. Named deferrals (the standing backlog, consolidated)
Editing: word kills (M-d/M-BS — need bytes-returning deleters +
prepend-on-backward append), C-SPC set-mark, C-u C-y / C-M-w,
kill-ring browser + persistence, clipboard watching, block comments +
mid-line comment spans, comment-dwim append-at-EOL, per-language
comment padding. Pairing (framing "Deferred"): wrap-region on opener,
pair-aware backspace, RET-inside-pair closer-on-own-line,
in-string/in-comment inhibit (needs node-at-byte pmacs.parse),
undo amalgamation (pair = one step), balance-aware quotes,
per-buffer toggle (config-registry-blocked). Editops deferrals (full
list in its framing): recenter (blocked on viewport facts — the GPU
never consumes daemon view_top), Unicode case/word classes,
region-spanning move/duplicate, locale collation for sort-lines,
ensure-final-newline on save.
Substrate: buffer-aware edit epoch (after-edit currently compares the
ACTIVE buffer only), wire provenance for CRDT self-insert
classification, Lua intercept probe, completion.lua still on the old
cursor-delta heuristic (migrate to this_command), the TUI's
nonempty-selection optimistic type-over gate, generated-buffer search
invalidation, cross-peer chronological undo arbitration (mixed
source/daemon history; pinned by auto-pairing acceptance),
origin-pinned buffer.after-edit fan-out (a context-switching
intercept changes what later callbacks — LSP, completion — observe).
LSP/persistence: hidden-buffer LSP attach, daemon desktop-restore, the
warning half of external-change detection (verify-visited-file-
modtime), config registry (no unified config surface yet).
Highlight/detection (from the #114–#118 side-quest + injections #122):
locals-query processing (run each grammar's LOCALS_QUERY so
#is?/#is-not? local is honored instead of the current fail-closed
drop — restores .builtin styling for non-shadowed console/require
etc.); injection follow-ups now the engine landed (#122) —
injection.combined (many matches → one shared parse; PHP-in-HTML, some
comment schemes), child-tree incrementality + range-scoped layer rebuild
(child layers cold-reparse on every settle today), injectable
runtime/Lua-registered languages (v1 resolves only against
BUILTIN_LANGUAGES), and the next injection consumers gated on new
grammars — HTML/CSS/GraphQL/SQL (<script>/<style>, JS/TS template
literals, doc-comment code); modeline detection as a 5th layer
(-*- mode: … -*- / # vim: ft=…);
byte-accurate multibyte cursor placement in move_active_cursor_to
(still steps one codepoint per LSP byte column). JSON + YAML PR #123
OPEN (grammar-gap style, tree-sitter-json/-yaml; LSP configs
vscode-json-language-server with provider pin
@t1ckbase/vscode-langservers-extracted@2.0.2, plus
yaml-language-server). The public and checkpoint branches are both at
fully gated 5c202c5, rebased onto f8096ff; the JSON and YAML
PATH-gated pmacs smokes both passed, and the PR awaits user review.
Once merged, YAML --- and TOML +++ markdown frontmatter highlight via
the #122 engine and the Jupyter reader → editable → kernel arc has both
grammar prerequisites.
GPU: auto-reconnect after daemon restart, splits/multi-buffer, gutter
riders (whitespace guides, folding, git markers).
Themes (full list in theme-faces framing rev 9 "Deferred (named)"):
popup/menu/dropdown bg + selected-row faces, ui.background /
ui.caret, ui.modeline.inactive, minimap chrome, peer-cursor
palette (+ui.selection for peer rects), ui.inlay_hint (needs the
epoch treatment on its producer), wire alpha, Indexed palette
unification, named-theme registry / light theme / persistence
(config-registry-blocked), grid-vs-wire default_style asymmetry,
mask widening (gutter bg, wash glyph recolor, statusline bg echo
surface, chrome bold/italic/underline re-shaping).
Housekeeping: F-016 lua_bindings/mod.rs split paused mid-way
(tranches 0–2 landed, ~5–8 PRs left; see
docs/lua-bindings-split-framing.md).
Full cross-cutting index of the non-themes backlog (this list + every
framing doc's Deferred section + a code sweep, themes excluded, with a
prioritization north star): docs/side-quest-backlog.md.
7. Machine-local facts (desktop) that do NOT travel
Three untracked files live only on the desktop working tree and are
deliberately never committed: docs/pmacs-gpu-editing-perf-handoff.md,
docs/session-5-stale-styling-handover.md, python_experiment.md.
Don't expect them in a clone; on the desktop, never delete them.
8. Update protocol for this file
When a PR merges, an arc opens/closes, or a decision lands: edit the snapshot (§1), append lessons (§5) and deferrals (§6) as they arise, bump the date line at the top, and commit — usually riding the same PR as the work. Keep it under ~250 lines: this is a briefing, not a log; prune sections that stop being true.